KARACHI, Aug 6: With the passing away in Karachi on Tuesday morning of Brigadier (retired) Tafazzul Husain Siddiqi, a former director of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Pakistan has lost a seasoned journalist and a consummate practitioner of the art of public relations.

He had been a familiar figure in the social and cultural circles of the city for over 20 years since retirement. Although no longer holding any official position, some of the newspapers and agencies continued to benefit from his experience, and frequently sought his counsel in dealing with sensitive matters concerning their profession. He strongly believed in helping to sustain a healthy environment for the functioning of the news media and maintained a close, friendly contact with senior editors up to the last. In his death, this writer has lost a loving, close friend of more than 60 years’ standing.

Brig Siddiqi was born in 1925. He belonged to a well-to-do family of Lucknow. He obtained his Master’s degree in History from Lucknow University, where his teachers included such eminent internationally known scholars as Dr D.P. Mukerjee. Brig Siddiqi had a special interest in sports, and had been a member of Lucknow University’s hockey team. He started his career as a junior sports reporter on the staff of the renowned daily, The Pioneer, of Lucknow. On migrating to Pakistan, he joined the staff of the Pakistan Times, and for all his life remained proud of his one- time association with editors of such renown as Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Mazhar Ali Khan. He was also a close personal friend of the former editor of Dawn, Ahmad Ali Khan, who was his senior colleague at the Pakistan Times. In 1953, he accepted the offer of a commission in the army public relations setup and over the years held various positions of responsibility at the GHQ in Rawalpindi, on the staff of the Corps headquarters in then East Pakistan in the 1960s, and in the Naval Headquarters in Karachi.

In 1980-81 he was promoted to Brigadier and assigned as director of the ISPR directorate, a position in which he served until his retirement. While serving in the former East Pakistan, he won the personal appreciation of such eminent senior officers as Lt-Gen Fazle Muqeem Khan and Admiral S.M. Ahsan.

Brig Tafazzul Siddiqi was admitted to the PNS Shifa over the weekend when he felt unwell and died of cardiac failure on Tuesday morning. He was buried in the Defence Officers Society graveyard after Asr prayers the same day. He is survived by his wife, Farrukh — a sister of the veteran Pakistani journalist Mr Moazzam, who is settled in London — his two sons and two daughters. His passing away will also be mourned by his exceptionally large circle of friends and admirers in Pakistan as well as Bangladesh. — M.H. Askari