ISLAMABAD, Dec 17: Veteran journalist Syed Ali Abbas died of cardiac arrest at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) here on Friday at around 12 noon. He developed chest infection and was admitted to Pims.

He was 80. He leaves behind a wife, a daughter and a son. His funeral prayers will be offered at the Markazi Imambargah, G-6/2, after Zuhr prayers and will be laid to rest at the Islamabad Graveyard on Saturday.

Syed Ali Abbas did his graduation from Lucknow University in 1948 and came to Pakistan in 1949. He started his journalistic career as sub-editor with the Civil and Military Gazette, Lahore, in 1958-60 after doing his Diploma in Journalism in 1950 from Punjab University.

He joined Dawn as sub-editor in 1960, worked as Edition-in-Charge in The Star from 1971 to 1980. He also worked as acting Editor of the newspaper for a short stint and again joined Dawn Karachi, where he worked as Edition-in-Charge from 1980-1987.

He left the organization after getting retirement in 1987. He also worked with Medical Gazette in 1988-89. The late Abbas joined The News Karachi, as Edition-in-Charge in early 1990s but had to leave the organization after suffering a heart attack in 1998.

On the advice of his doctors he quit the profession and moved to Islamabad in 2002. A hard-working and conscientious journalist, Syed Ali Abbas was a well-mannered and honest person and was liked by his colleagues.