KARACHI: Journalists’ fraternity and academics had gathered at conference hall of Karachi Press Club in remembrance of a friend, a teacher, a mentor and senior journalist Mr. Abul Hasanat who had departed few days ago. As those who knew him well, recalled tales of his resilience, his resolve and his courage.
One of them was Maheen A. Rashdi seasoned journalist and an educationist also spoke briefly about legendary journalist Abul Hasanat who passed after a brief illness. He was 68 and is is survived by his wife, a son and three daughters.
She said; “It feels almost wrong, standing here, speaking in Memorium of Abul Hasanat. In the hours following the news of his passing away, I waited in half a hope that perhaps he would soon send a short message asking ‘kaisa laga mera mazaaq’ and I would then get angry at him – which I habitually did – for his macabre sense of humour. While THAT didn’t happen the finality of his death still hasn’t quite registered with me. Which I am sure is the case with so many of his friends and in particular his beloved family”.
Remembering him as a man of many contradictions she said; “Hasanat was a person of many contradictions. While he was reserved in demeanor and slight in built, he was robust in his arguments and passionate about the rights and wrongs of our society. He was also doggedly loyal in his relationships. His general knowledge bank was quite amazing and for me, he was the go to encyclopedia on so many different issues. Be it Karachi politics, editorial laws and policies or literature of varying languages”.
On working with him, she said; “I had already been a journalist and a feature writer with Dawn for 10 years or so when I actually got a chance to work closely with Hasanat, then only I realized that I hadn’t even begun my career as a true journalist until the time I started writing for Hasanat and the Metro pages. Hasanat’s passion for this city’s governance and its multiple issues made him the perfect choice to lead the newly designed Metropolitan section of Dawn, a subdivision he had helped conceive and launch”.
Describing working with Abul Hasanat as best learning period in her journalism career she said; “most times he was really not the easiest of people to deal with — stubborn and refusing to budge from his point of view. I remember many instances of stomping into the city room to argue with him about something he had edited in my copy. My hot headedness and his quiet stubbornness created a funny balance and to this day I can’t quite place who would win those rounds. But I do remember that those were my best learning moments. His grim facade was a deceptive outward appearance purposely built to keep people at bay. He quite preferred it that people thought of him as a grouch, an endearment I often showered on him. I believe that his reserved persona and unapproachable personality was more an armor for his intrinsically soft heart and generous nature. If you had said that to him he would cut you down to size in a jiffy”.
Maheen A. Rashdi said; “flattery didn’t sit well with him, because it made him suspicious of the flatterer’s intention, obviously. That was Hasanat, trying to read in between the lines in every conversation. I will forever be grateful to him for allowing me to write the truth even if it meant ruffling influential feathers. But if exposing the system and stepping on important toes meant a tad bit of difference for the common man, then he was all for it”.
She further went on to say; “I truly treasure that time as a feature write for the Metro section when I was able to expose many of the erstwhile KESC’s shenanigans, the traffic police’s incompetence and the passport office malfunction. I learnt so much of civic laws and journalistic principles from Hasanat which I really couldn’t have picked up in any university course. He was a one-man educational institute and so many of us who have worked closely with him will vouch for that”.
“Unfortunately, his disregard for diplomacy and an aversion of towing the right line’ did not sit well with powers that feed the media’s economy, hence tenure as the City editor was eventually cut short. That wasn’t the best of time in Hasanat’s life and a despondency took over him from there his faith in journalism as a calling began diminishing. But Hasanat was a resilient man and he did full justice to whatever position he was given even if his true worth was more than what he was entrusted with. It was very heartening to see him writing again recently, giving rein to his knowledge of history, philosophy, literature, international relations to name some area of his proficiency”, remembers Maheen A. Rashdi.
On her concluding note Maheen A. Rashdi said; “like I mentioned before, he was not one to take well to flattery and right now he is probably spurning our attempts to remember him with flowery words. But Hasanat, my dear friend, mentor, confidante, we will continue to remember your worthwhile qualities and your idiosyncracies alike”.
