Veteran Pakistani columnist Cowasjee passes away at 86
“I am 86 now, too old to pen weekly columns. Besides what’s 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
KARACHI: One of Pakistan’s 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 hospital’s 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 what’s 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 don’t do it for the money,” the LA Times quoted him in a 2008 interview. “What they pay me wouldn’t even buy this tie. It’s 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 Cowasjee’s death.
His charitable organisation, the Cowasjee Foundation, was responsible for providing funding for higher education to many Pakistani students. Many of Karachi’s 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 Pakistan’s 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 Pakistan’s 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.”
The end of an era. Cowasgee shaheb was a story teller.
Pakistan has survived due to these people or else Pakistan would have destroyed by now.
A Pakistani by choice; he not only loved his adopted country, but truly cared for it also. RIP Mr. Cowasjee.
He was a very steadfast columnist. May his soul rest in peace. Such persons are always needed in a society to awaken the conscious of the people and particularly of persons at helm of affairs in the Government.
In Pakistan liberals are very few and Pakistan has lost one more Liberal.
Sorry to hear about his passing away. He was salt of the earth and Pakistan has lost a good son. In an email, few years ago, when he saw my previous office address, he requested me to go to the next street and look up his old London residential building in St. James’, London SW1, not far from Buckingham Palace in Central London. I did and informed him that it had changed a lot from what he described. That is it. I have never met him. May God bless his soul. His wish has been to seee a peaceful Pakistan.
I’m not sad – Ardeshir Cowasjee lived as very few dare to live: He made an indelible positive contribution to the society and country he lived in, and has been called back to our Creator, having given us the best he could. The sadness I feel is for Pakistan, which continues to be used by the corrupt men in power. Ardeshir Cowasjee shines on brightly, in the words he left us, in the works, schools and charities he left behind, and now in the presence of Allah. While our rulers and the men of violence conduct themselves in Cowasjee’s Pakistan as before, still unaware of his wisdom and compassion.
An era has ended.
Undeterred and unintimidated, Ardeshir was a true son of karachi…Its parks and playgrounds, animals and birds will miss him..
AH.what a gentleman,he was gem of the mankind,we all miss him,it is a targic day,we needed him most in this time of crisis,
May Lord bless him ,
Sahib ji my hero cowasjee,
We miss you,
Rahim Chundrigar.
He truly was Voice of the Nation . . . rest in peace Mr. Cowasjee.
I was sad when he decided to stop writing and today that sadness has gone to another level. Thank you Mr. Cowasjee for giving us guidance. May you soul rest in peace.
I remember him personally answering all my emails, over the years; I feel it is a personal loss! Indian sub-continent has lost a figure who could tell history in first person. He shared a dream of a ‘particular’Pakistan with Mr. M.A. Jinnah, a dream that was high-jacked by the extreme right to his disappointment and disillusionment.
Sad news. RIP AC.
Another icon of wisdom, a great intellectual giant passed away in history. A heavy blow to the alumini if there is any left now. A fond farewell by his well wisher.
Sad that Pakistan and the world community has lost a true humanist who worked hard with his pen to pull Pakistan out of the current mess. RIP, and hope your mission is taken forward by other Pakistanis.
Sad. One of the true intellects and one of the few sane voices has left us. May his soul rest in peace.
They embraced us when we had nothing, taught us when we were illiterate, in return we stole and destroyed what was once their haven, and now they are gone.
It is very sad to hear the news of this great columnist Mr.Ardeshir Cowasjee’s passing away. Although I had not read all his columns because I came to know about him very recently but it will be true to say that he was a superb write and philanthropist and had great love for his ancestral city of Karachi for which he did a great deal within his capacity. He had political differences with Mr.Zulfikar Ali Bhutto during the last few years of Mr.Mr. Bhutto’s government but I gather in earlier days of their lives they were great admirers of each other.
Mr. Cowarsjee- Rest in Peace (RIP). You were one of the handfull old timers, regardless of colour, creed and religion, who were honest and contributed to the welfare of the country called Pakistan
Mr Cowasjee was one of the hero of journalism in Pakistan
This great man of Pakistan is a Parsi and in keeping with Ahura Mazda’s teaching helped his fellow man and always spoke the truth. I hope the right wing elements of Pakistan realise that it was a none-Muslim who did so much to help the people of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
A big void, indeed the voice of reason is no more.
Cowasjee summed up the sentiments of countless conscientious Pakistanis when he explained his reasons for writing his column: “I don’t do it for the money. What they pay me wouldn’t even buy this tie. It’s an exercise of the mind. I do it to be sane. Because nothing works with logic in this place.”
How true, especially the last part! Cowasjee was disillusioned with the country and its politicians. He wrote against massive corruption, against the hypocrisy and the selfishness of leaders, who have only succeeded in alienating the masses and killing their hopes of a better life.
We have lost another great human being, an honest man, one bold enough to expose the misdoings and machinations of the sharks that are constantly maneuvering for power and pelf. A sad news for the country.
Thank you for all your services to the people of Pakistan. You are an Icon. May Allah bless your Soul. Rest in Peace Cowasjee. It’s a sad day for me today.
This is really a sad news. May God rest his soul in peace. He was a too true and steadfast person to this Hippocratic society.
He once wrote a column on delay in the Asghar Khan case, I sent him an email wishing him life long life to see the end of the case…God bless him in afterlife.