RAWALPINDI: Senior Journalist C.R. Shamsi died of cardiac arrest here on Friday. He was 62.

He is survived by widow, four sons and a daughter. According to his friends, his funeral will be offered on Saturday.

C.R. Shamsi worked for many national dailies in different positions — from reporter to editor.

Hailing from Chakwal, he started his journalistic career back in 1975 from Rawalpindi and since then he remained associated with his profession.

He was active trade unionist and had many positions in Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ). He also served as PFUJ general secretary and throughout his career he remained active for freedom of press and journalists’ rights.

He also played an active role in implementation of wage board awards for newspapers’ employees.

Fouzia Shahid, his long-time colleague in media organisations and in unions, said the death of C.R. Shamsi was a big loss for the journalist community.

She said that C.R. Shamsi was a voice of journalists and he always stood by workers.

“Even in the recent dharna against the proposed Pakistan Media Development Authority, he spent whole night in front of Parliament House,” she said.

“He worked with Nisar Osmani and Minhaj Burna,” she said and added that with his demise, the journalists community had lost a committed and vocal trade unionist.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2021