Beena Sarwar: Khalid Hasan: A progressive, secular vision and acerbic wit
Khalid Hasan never suffered fools, gladly or otherwise. He was particularly allergic to the self-promoting variety, and lost no chance to take such specimens down a peg or two in his own inimitable way.
An immensely humanistic, progressive and secular vision, a great love of literature, poetry, art, sport (particularly cricket) and music, a deep knowledge and understanding of history, principled stands and an acerbic sense of humour — all these traits informed his political analyses and shone through in his columns, books and conversations throughout a long, productive career.
Mr Hasan (he would approve of the formality in an obituary) started his journalistic career with The Pakistan Times, the flagship of progressive politics in Pakistan, in Lahore, 1967, after teaching at Lawrence College, Murree.
He was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s first press secretary, then had a five-year stint in the Foreign Service with postings in Paris, Ottawa and London. No one who knew him was surprised when he resigned in protest after Gen. Zia-ul-Haq overthrew the Bhutto government.
He was openly critical of the hypocrisy and violence, not to mention dictatorship, of the Zia years. Throughout this period he remained in virtual self-exile, working first in London with the Third World Foundation and the Third World Media, and then with the newly-established OPEC News Agency (OPECNA) in Vienna, Austria, for 10 years. He worked as a freelance journalist in Pakistan for two years (1991-1993) before moving to Washington DC as correspondent for The Nation, Lahore. He returned to Pakistan in 1997 to head the Shalimar Television Network in Pakistan. In 2000 he was back in Washington DC as special correspondent for the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP). In 2002, he joined The Daily Times and weekly The Friday Times as special correspondent, a post he held till the end.
At age 74, he still had the energy and ability to move with the times, maintaining a blog khalidhasan.net, which contains a record of his columns from 2002 onwards as well as other writings and historic photos.
A prolific writer and translator, Khalid Hasan has to his credit some 35 publications, including collections of his own columns and memoirs, translations of literary giants like Saadat Hasan Manto, Ghulam Abbas and Faiz Ahmed Faiz, his correspondence with Quratulain Haider, and books on cricket, media and politics. He also penned several books on Kashmir.
Khalid Hasan’s Kashmir connection goes beyond being born in Srinagar (April 15, 1935). His father the late Dr. Noor Hussain hailed from Jammu and worked for the Jammu & Kashmir Ministry of Health. Khalid Hasan is survived by his wife Juanita, and two married children. His family was with him in the hospital. He will be buried on Saturday in Vermont, his wife’s home state, as he had requested.
Another tribute by Anwar Iqbal here
IN MEMORIAM: Rest in peace, dear friend —Afzal Khan
An immensely humanistic, progressive and secular vision, a great love of literature, poetry, art, sport (particularly cricket) and music, a deep knowledge and understanding of history, principled stands and an acerbic sense of humour — all these traits informed his political analyses and shone through in his columns, books and conversations throughout a long, productive career.
Mr Hasan (he would approve of the formality in an obituary) started his journalistic career with The Pakistan Times, the flagship of progressive politics in Pakistan, in Lahore, 1967, after teaching at Lawrence College, Murree.
He was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s first press secretary, then had a five-year stint in the Foreign Service with postings in Paris, Ottawa and London. No one who knew him was surprised when he resigned in protest after Gen. Zia-ul-Haq overthrew the Bhutto government.
He was openly critical of the hypocrisy and violence, not to mention dictatorship, of the Zia years. Throughout this period he remained in virtual self-exile, working first in London with the Third World Foundation and the Third World Media, and then with the newly-established OPEC News Agency (OPECNA) in Vienna, Austria, for 10 years. He worked as a freelance journalist in Pakistan for two years (1991-1993) before moving to Washington DC as correspondent for The Nation, Lahore. He returned to Pakistan in 1997 to head the Shalimar Television Network in Pakistan. In 2000 he was back in Washington DC as special correspondent for the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP). In 2002, he joined The Daily Times and weekly The Friday Times as special correspondent, a post he held till the end.
At age 74, he still had the energy and ability to move with the times, maintaining a blog khalidhasan.net, which contains a record of his columns from 2002 onwards as well as other writings and historic photos.
A prolific writer and translator, Khalid Hasan has to his credit some 35 publications, including collections of his own columns and memoirs, translations of literary giants like Saadat Hasan Manto, Ghulam Abbas and Faiz Ahmed Faiz, his correspondence with Quratulain Haider, and books on cricket, media and politics. He also penned several books on Kashmir.
Khalid Hasan’s Kashmir connection goes beyond being born in Srinagar (April 15, 1935). His father the late Dr. Noor Hussain hailed from Jammu and worked for the Jammu & Kashmir Ministry of Health. Khalid Hasan is survived by his wife Juanita, and two married children. His family was with him in the hospital. He will be buried on Saturday in Vermont, his wife’s home state, as he had requested.
Another tribute by Anwar Iqbal here
IN MEMORIAM: Rest in peace, dear friend —Afzal Khan
posted by temporal at 2/07/2009
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