Veteran journalist Zawwar Hasan no more

KARACHI: Veteran journalist Zawwar Hasan whose career ranged from sports reporter and editorial writer to travel magazine editor and public affairs manager, passed away peacefully on Saturday after a brief illness, four months short of his 97th birthday.

Born in January 1927 in Pratpgarh, India, he did his LLB from Allahabad University, then moved to the new state of Pakistan. In 1949, he started working as a sports journalist with the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) in the then capital Karachi.

His overseas stints included attending the University of Missouri School of Journalism’s Project for Foreign Newspapermen in 1957. A keen sportsman, he is perhaps the only Pakistani reporter to have covered three Olympics: Melbourne, 1956, and Rome, 1960, for APP, and Sydney 2000, for Dawn on special assignment. In the mid-1990s, he relocated to California where his children had settled. He also leaves behind his youngest sister Zakia Sarwar, educationist and co-founder SPELTand brother Wing Cdr (R) Ali Hasan.