There could be nothing more tragic in life than burying your father and only brother on the same day.
"This happens in movies", Arshad told his colleague Asad. In 2011 Arshad Sharif was Bureau Chief in Dawn TV's Islamabad office, but he enjoyed very close relations with his team. I was part of Arshad's team.
When the staff came to know about his father's death, they rushed to his house, where they came to know that his younger brother, Major Ashraf Sharif, had also died in a car accident. Major was stationed at Bannu and hearing of his father's death, he rushed to Islamabad in his car. Due to overspeed, he lost control and his car collided with a tree. Arshad's father was a retired Rear Admiral from the Pakistan Navy.
For Arshad it was a great tragedy, but for his mother more was coming. What could be more tragic for a mother, than losing two sons and a husband in her life? Today, Arshad's mother lost another and final son, after losing a son and husband in 2011.
I worked with Arshad for nearly 3 years and found him a great professional journalist and mentor. Arshad was a fearless man. It was his fearless leadership that we aired some highly sensitive stories without any fear, the stories other media houses could not even think of airing.
Missing persons, agencies, secret services, mighty tycoons, mafias, politicians, we did stories on people and institutions.
In 2011, I was doing a program on missing persons and had to go out of town to shoot. Each time I found Arshad waiting for me. Once I returned at around 3am in the morning, Arshad was at the office, waiting for our safe return. We slept on the floor for a few hours. The next day, Arshad sent me home but continued to work for the rest of the day.
He was a true professional. Once, late at night, I came to know about a mysterious murder of a Chinese citizen. I called Arshad and told him I wanted to cover the story, but there was no cameraman. Wait, I am coming, Arshad said and he operated the camera for me.
I learnt many professional things from Arshad. He saved me on many critical occasions. Once, Islamabad police registered a case against me. Those days, I was working on the murder of Islamabad-based journalist Salim Shahzad.
Arshad immediately sent me to Hamid Mir, who interviewed me for his talk show. He also talked to a famous lawyer, Asma Jehangir, who included me in the Judicial commission set to probe the abduction and killing of the journalist.
Through his intelligent planning, Arshad pulled me out of that critical situation.
Arshad valued the dedication of his team members. Famous journalists Sajid Gondal, Aizaz Syed, Faisal, Mati Ullah Jan, me and all other team members, we all owe a lot to Arshad for his great support and mentoring.
Arshad's professional downfall started when he and his team got fired from Dawn over some internal politics.
Arshad joined a private Urdu TV, but could not survive the lethal politics of the local channel. He later left reporting and became a full-time anchor. Then he became famous. He became top anchor of the country. He was very famous among army men. He became a part and parcel of garrison functions.
Arshad, at the peak of his career, made a fatal mistake. State narrative builders used his innocence and on their assurance he crossed the limits of neutrality and became a party in the filthy politics.
With Arshad's death Pakistan has lost a fine journalist. Rest in peace my dear friend, great professional and mentor.
By Atif Khan
0 Comments