KARACHI, Aug 24: Speakers at a meeting at the Arts Council of Pakistan here on Friday paid tribute to eminent poet and journalist Khalid Alig, and observed that he embodied some of the finest traditions of culture and honesty. The programme was arranged by the “Friends of Khalid Alig”.

“He was a poet of resistance with the character that he never accepted monetary benefits from the influential and the mighty,” Raza Rabbani, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, remarked in his keynote speech.

“He never compromised on his principles and leftist ideology for which he suffered a lot and faced the wrath of dictators,” Mr Rabbani said.

President of the Sindh High Court Bar Association Abrar Hassan, Secretary-General of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Iqbal Haider, Ahfaazur Rehman, Rahat Saeed, Nusrat Mirza, M.B. Naqvi and Sarwar Jawed also spoke at the meeting.