KARACHI, Aug 22: Shamim-ur-Rahman, a veteran journalist and special correspondent of Dawn, died on Tuesday morning after a long illness. He was 71.

Shamim-ur-Rahman was laid to rest in a cantonment graveyard in Block 17 of Gulistan-i-Jauhar.

The Namaz-i-Janaza was attended by a large number of journalists and politicians, including PPP Senators Raza Rabbani and Saeed Ghani, JI chief Syed Munawwar Hassan, adviser to the Sindh chief minister Rashid Rabbani and Special Assistant Syed Waqar Mehdi.

Mr Shamim is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son.

Mr Shamim was born in Patna, India, on July 4, 1941. His father Shah Anees-ur-Rehman, who was a graduate from the Calcutta University, had died in India in 1947.

Mr Shamim did his graduation from Karachi’s S.M. College and masters in international relations from the University of Karachi.

Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, a former chief minister of Sindh, and Javed Jabbar, a former federal minister, studied at the university at the same time.

Mr Shamim started his career as journalist with the economic service of Pakistan Press Association. Before that he had also served for a short stint as a lecturer at Islamia College, Karachi.

He also worked for Daily Sun, Karachi. But it was Pakistan Television where he was able to demonstrate his grasp over international affairs, covering the foreign office and later working as diplomatic correspondent.

Among his notable assignments was the 1988 Geneva conference on Afghanistan. Shamim-ur-Rahman also reported on some high-profile trials like those of Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif.

Since he was a cricket lover, the PTV sometimes assigned him to international events.

In that capacity he reported on some major contests, for example a triangular series between Pakistan, South Africa and West Indies in South Africa during the early 1990s.

After quitting PTV he joined the AFP news agency as its bureau chief in Karachi.

He also worked for the UAE’s Gulf News before switching over to Dawn as its special correspondent in 1993. Mr Shamim was with this newspaper till his death.

President Asif Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, Jamaat-i-Islami chief Munawwar Hassan, Tehrik-i-Insaaf head Imran Khan, a number of other political leaders, and Zaffar Abbas, the Editor of Dawn, condoled his death.

G.M. Jamali, president of Karachi Union of Journalists, appealed to Shamim-ur-Rahman’s family and to the management of Daily Dawn to submit his stories to his organisation so that these could be published in book form.