Veteran Pakistani columnist Cowasjee passes away at 86

[A.G.Uddin]

KARACHI: One of Pakistans oldest and most renowned columnists, Ardeshir Cowasjee, passed away in Karachi on Saturday at the age of 86.
Cowasjee, whose weekly columns graced the Dawn newspaper from 1988 to 2011, was suffering from chest illness and had been admitted in a Karachi hospitals intensive care unit for the past 12 days.
Born on April 13, 1926 to Rustom Faqir Cowasjee and Mucca Rustomjee, Ardeshir joined the family shipping business after completing his education from the Bai Virbaiji Soparivala Parsi (BVS) High School and DJ Sindh Govt Science College.
He had two children with wife Nancy Dinshaw. His daughter lives in Karachi and works in the family business and his son is an architect in the US. Their mother passed away in 1992.
Now, old at 85, tired, and disillusioned with a country that just cannot pull itself together in any way and get on with life in this day and age, I have decided to call it a day, he wrote in a column in December 2011 for Dawn.
He went on to write two more columns that year before he finally put his pen to rest.
More than just a columnist
Cowasjee was known for his outspoken criticism of politicians and the religious right.
I am 86 now, too old to pen weekly columns. Besides whats there to write about with the same old politics and same old politicians. Do you really believe that they will go away? I am bored writing about them again and again, he said in an interview last month.
Ardeshir Cowasjee is more than just a columnist for a Pakistani newspaper. He has become the conscience of a nation, wrote Nirupuma Subramanian in the Hindu.
I dont do it for the money, the LA Times quoted him in a 2008 interview. What they pay me wouldnt even buy this tie. Its an exercise of the mind. I do it to be sane. Because nothing works with logic in this place.
In addition to his columns, Cowasjee was also known as a successful businessman, social activist, and an active philanthropist.
Mr Cowasjee donated heavily to charities TCF school in Lyari bears witness to that, said journalist Omar Quraishi in a tweet Saturday after Cowasjees death.
His charitable organisation, the Cowasjee Foundation, was responsible for providing funding for higher education to many Pakistani students. Many of Karachis hospitals such as the Lady Dufferin Hospital, Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation and the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases have also benefited from the foundation.
Very few people know Ardeshir Cowasjee quietly tried to support upright, young journos financially, said Abbas Nasir, a former Dawn editor.
Many leading names in Pakistans journalism circles looked up to the columnist.
Amazing teacher. Worked on many stories with him in my early days in journalism, said Azhar Abbas, who now heads a leading Pakistani news channel.
Sad to hear that one of Pakistans finest & most conscientious columnists, Ardeshir Cowasjee, has passed away, said columnist Nadeem F. Paracha in a tweet sent out Saturday. May his soul rest in peace.

I am 86 now, too old to pen weekly columns. Besides whats there to write about with the same old politics and same old politicians. Do you really believe that they will go away? Dawn.com Photo

 

[tariisb]

:)ایک بہترین انسان ، ہمیشہ سچ کہا ، اور بے خوف و خطر کہا ، ​

 

[nuzhatghazali]

He was a good critic, and he was so upset and disappointed with these pakistani politicians, he had no hope with them till his last breath.

 

[zeshaan]

“May his soul rest in peace.”

 

[Aslam Rao]

*****rip*******

 

[khanaman]

RIP Mr. Cowasjee. Thoroughly enjoyed his columns and his appearances on tv where he bashed the politicians like noone has done before or after him

 

[aq.inqalabi]

it was always great to read n it was one of the greatest pleasures to watch him talk on tv about corrupt politicians and establishment!

one of his lines that always bring smile to my face n that is also factual but no other person has guts to say it : "ya sab sala charya chor log hae"

no doubt a man with clean heart!

 

[zhohaq]

May he rest in peace

My favourite columnist.
Wholly Committed to the truth. A rarity in Pakistan.
Very sad he could not see a better Pakistan

 

[mcuk2001]

إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ

 

[A.G.Uddin]

Mr. Cowasjee actually saw creation of Pakistan and the whole development and evolution of the city of Karachi infront of his eyes.Post partition Parsis (Zoroastrians) remained almost unhurt and unaffected on both sides of the border.In both the countries the community played a responsible n respectful role in different spheres of life.

He never hid his true feelings infront of anyone.I still remember how he without a lil' hesitation said in a show of P.J. Mir that all those sitting beside me are theifs/robbers.

R.I.P. the great intellect.

 

[sadia_gul]

Ya khuda, kuch achay aur suchh bolnein walay ba-zameer columnists Pakistan mein rahnein dey!!!:(

Bahot bara noqsaan hey, Allah ta'al se doa hey keh Pakistani newspapers per Cowasjee jaisay ba-zameer likharioon ko hi jaga milay...amen suma amen

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

Today, our nation is celeberating ' Youm Hussain" . Although, Ardeshir Cowasjee was a parsi but he stood firm against all evil forces of our recent times. All respect to this real Journalist of Pakistan who lived in Pakistan against all odds and faced Evil powers of Pakistan.
Let's pay tribute to real " Bin Dass" Journalist of Pakistan. We all pass comments to fake journalist. Rather, writing customary remarks why don't we recall his best columns where he stood firm against all stupid leadership of Pakistan, Qabza groups and illiterate public like us. When no one dare to write on Karachi burning issues, he wrote in the best interest of Pakistan.

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

[h=1]Pakistanis do not learn from history[/h]Most nations try to learn from their past but we Pakistanis are determined not to do so.
“A PHENOMENON noticeable throughout history regardless of place or period is the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests. Mankind, it seems, makes a poorer performance of government than of almost any other human activity.

“In this sphere, wisdom, which may be defined as the exercise of judgment acting on experience, common sense and available information, is less operative and more frustrated than it should be. Why do holders of high office so often act contrary to the way reason points and enlightened self-interest suggests? Why does intelligent mental process seem so often not to function?”

With these words, begins American historian Barbara Tuchman’s masterpiece book, The March of Folly, which traces how rulers throughout history persist with decisions that prove to be their undoing even when they are offered viable alternatives. Tuchman gives many examples and writes in elaborate detail how folly triumphed over reason in different times and different settings.
Troy’s rulers suspended all scepticism by allowing a suspicious-looking wooden horse inside their city walls that enabled the Greeks to trick and defeat them.
King George III chose to confront the American colonies instead of conciliating them, resulting in United States independence even though many Britons advised that autonomy and parliamentary representation in London could keep the colonies within the British Empire.
Charles XII, Napoleon and Hitler all chose to invade Russia in their desire to rule all of Europe, losing to the bitter winter despite their superior military force.
Similarly, China’s nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek did not heed advice for reform, resulting in the success of the communists led by Mao Zedong.
The United States stayed in Vietnam too long, losing sight of its original objectives and getting dragged into a local civil war the outcome of which was not fully in its control.
Successive US administrations failed to listen to those who suggested that the US simply declare victory and leave Vietnam.
Had the US done so it would still have got what it eventually ended up with in Indo China — a government led by the Communist Party eager to seek investment and trade from America — but without the expense in blood and treasure that also hurt American pride and prestige.
Pakistan’s unfortunate history is replete with examples of folly. But nothing comes close to the debacle of 1971 in erstwhile East Pakistan in terms of the extent and scope of pursuing policies and making decisions that served no reasonable national purpose.
After the December 1970 elections it should have been obvious to the martial law regime of Gen Yahya Khan that the Bengalis stood firmly behind the Awami League of Shaikh Mujibur Rehman. Instead of conceding the right of the majority to draft the constitution and to form the government, the West Pakistani elite, including civilian politicians,
chose to try and militarily subjugate the people of East Bengal.
In West Pakistan, our civil and military elite whipped up anti-Indian sentiment and convinced one part of the nation that the only issue in the country’s eastern wing was a secessionist movement backed by India.
While West Pakistanis united behind the slogan of ‘Crush India’, the Bengalis charged the army with genocide, mobilised international support and, with the help of the Indian military, forced 90,000 soldiers and civilians to surrender.
The ignominy of military defeat resulted not only in the permanent loss of East Pakistan, which became Bangladesh; it has left scars on Pakistani national psyche that to this day manifest in the shape of jihadist ideology. Instead of learning lessons from the previous folly, our jihadists now want to commit the folly of confronting the United States,
replacing ‘crush India’ with the slogan ‘crush America’.
In 1971, the governor of East Pakistan, my friend Vice-Admiral S.M. Ahsan joined Lt Gen Sahibzada Yaqub Khan, commander Eastern Command, in advising the rulers in Rawalpindi to choose the wise course and to avoid folly. Both Ahsan and Yaqub resigned after detailed exchanges with their superiors, in which their advice was rejected.
Like the noble man he was, Ahsan gave the correct assessment and withdrew from the scene when he realised that his reasonable views had lost out to the unwise choices of men more powerful than him.
Most nations try to learn from their past but we Pakistanis are determined not to do so. Few books have been published, analysing what went wrong and who did what in the greatest tragedy in the country’s history.
One of these rarities is The Separation of East Pakistan by Hasan Zaheer. The book quotes Ahsan, explaining why he resigned after explaining in detail to all concerned that military action will result in unnecessary bloodshed and would not help in keeping the country united. “Throughout the meeting the president never once looked into my eyes,”
the honourable vice-admiral said. “I could no longer consider his intentions devoid of guile or devoid of guilt.”
Only time will tell if we still have men like Yaqub and Ahsan in our midst today, when folly rules supreme in all aspects of national policy as well as in opposition and media rhetoric. I do know that many senior military officers and diplomats are concerned about the dominance of jingoism, xenophobia and jihadism.
Let us heed the warnings of these thoughtful people instead of merely paying tribute to them years later when their advice would no longer be able to avert disaster or to change anything.
Why this failure to learn from history?
Both civil and military leaderships have been blind to the past, with an innate inability to accept or admit that wrong has been done. But then it takes ‘big’ men of substance and moral integrity to concede, even to themselves, that multiple past errors are largely responsible for a persistent downward slide.

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

[h=2]Mr.Cowasjee wrote that Imran Khan will deliver. Mr. Cowasjee was famous for writing on environment.

[/h]

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

For all those, who wants to read him.
http://www.columnpk.com/pehal-kis-nay-ki-by-ardeshir-cowasjee/