KARACHI, July 21: Former ambassador Saiyid Irtiza Husain passed away here on Friday. He leaves behind five children. His soyem will be held today (Sunday) at Imambargah Yasreb, DHA Phase 4 at 10.30am.

He was born at Meerut in October, 1923. After doing his BA (hons) and Masters in English literature at Allahabad, he undertook research on ‘Mid-Victorian criticism: a study of the theories of poetry of Matthew Arnold, Walter Bagehot and Walter Pater.’ But before the completion of his thesis he was appointed as an English teacher and cultural relations officer at Yazd in Iran from 1944 to 1946.

Mr Husain successfully competed in the public service commission examination held in July 1947, and was selected for the Pakistan Foreign Office in 1948.

He served at Kabul, Tehran, Tokyo, Bonn, Zahedan and Karachi in the ministry as director, and as consul-general at Ottawa and New York.

He was appointed director-general with the rank of ambassador in the ministry of foreign affairs, Islamabad, in October 1966. He served as ambassador to Malaysia from 1970 to 1973.

He set up and directed the affairs of the Institute of Strategic Studies at Islamabad till 1978 and was appointed ambassador to Burma and Singapore in January 1979.

Mr Husain retired in 1982.