Thousands take to social media to condole lonely Qamar Ahmed’s demise

By Syed Khalid Mahmood 

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

There is hardly element of surprise at watching thousands of people from different walks of life to take to social media to express their condolences immediately after learning about the death of veteran cricket journalist, Qamar Ahmed, at Karachi on June 18 because it has become more of a fashion these days to avail such opportunities for self-projection. 

Only a handful of persons among the self-proclaimed mourners seem to be aware, however, about the loneliness the man had endured at the tail end of his life. This is yet another unhealthy trend or a new normal whereby the deceased persons are showered with unstinted praise after their departure after being ignored in lifetime. 

Iqbal Saleh Muhammad, Managing Director, Paramount Books, to my knowledge, was the closest friend of Qamar Ahmed in the final phase of his life as they kept in touch on a regular basis despite their preoccupations.Starting with a traditional author-publisher relationship in 2019, it had turned into a strong bonding over the last few years. 

Iqbal Bhai, as he is affectionately known in the circle of his friends and associates, was among the very few persons whom Qamar Ahmed revered in the truest sense of the word. As a matter of fact, both of them held each other in very high esteem. 

“I am obviously feeling heartbroken, having just lost a genuine friend. He was gem of a person, whom I found extremely caring and compassionate. In my book, he was a man of principles,” Iqbal Bhai remarked in choked voice during a brief chat with PNFS. 

“Yes, it is true that we had come across each other when he was searching for a publisher to bring out his autobiography. I had heard his name for a long time because of his cricket reporting but we started meeting only when he came to me with the manuscript. Sharing immense mutual respect for each other, we became personal friends rather quickly and now he has left this mortal world which has saddened all of us,” he observed. 

“I had also spoken to him a day before his death and he was still in high spirits as ever, having been discharged from the hospital. There was no despondency of any kind which could suggest that this was going to be our last conversation,” Iqbal Bhai added. 

Riaz Babar Khan, a London-based intellectual, who broke the news about the death of Qamar Ahmed, was also saddened and grieved. “Qamar Bhai was basically a happy-go-lucky kind of person who preferred to enjoy life after work in the company of his friends. I have fond memories of having shared long sessions with him whenever he returned to London,” he recalled while talking briefly to PNFS. 

“He was a thoroughbred professional, who travelled to various continents for the coverage of cricket matches, from England to Australia and New Zealand, and from Pakistan to the West Indies. He had impeccable knowledge about the game and he was regarded very highly in the media fraternity,” Riaz Babar declared.