KARACHI - Senior journalist of Sindh, Irshad Gulabani died here on Saturday afternoon.
Gulabani, associated with Daily Kawish, was admitted to Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation, where he was recently diagnosed cancer.
Irshad Gulabani, who was popular in journalistic community as ‘Ustad’, was admitted to SIUT on July 9, where he was diagnosed cancer in his kidney. A team of doctors lead by Dr Syed Adibul Hassan Rizvi conducted his operation and took out the kidney due to cancer.
After the operation, the condition of Mr Gulabani was started improving but later he was shifted to Intensive Care Unit and put on ventilator. Doctors announced his death on Saturday afternoon. He was on ventilator for about one week. After listening the news of his death, a large number of journalists and friends of Gulabani gathered at the SIUT hospital.
Dr Adibul Hassan Rizvi while talking to the journalists said that Mr Gulabani was on ventilator for five days. He said that cancer was the cause of his death, which was spread in his lungs and liver.
Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Asharraf, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, acting governor of Sindh Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, MNA Shazia Marri, other leaders of different parties and journalists while expressing their grief have offered their sincere condolences to the grieved family of late Gulabani for his death.
Gulabani was associated with Sindhi language Daily Kawish for about two decades, where he filed many reports on different issues. The condolence messages spread on social media networks including facebook and twitter.
No doubt Gulabani was an effective voice for rights of oppressed people.
He has credit of highlighting important political and socio-economic issues of Sindh, said a seasoned journalist Sohail Sangi.
Meanwhile, Karachi Union of Journalists has offered condolence and announced mourning for three days.
Renowned environmental journalist Amar Guriro expressing his sorrow over the demise of senior journalist Irshad Gulabani has said that Karachi lost a wonderful political reporter and a brave journalist. “I knew him since many years through his stories, when we were in university; we used to read his well written stories on political crisis, economical issues and on crisis with in Sindh government, very few journalists could write in such a way he used to write on political stories and latter on when I joined journalism in Karachi, we used to call him Ustad or a teacher because of his seniority and expertise in the journalism” said Guriro.
He said that besides being a great journalist, Gulabani was brave man and loyal friend and was full of life. “He was so lively person that whenever he attend any musical program, he always used to dance on classical music, we all will really miss him forever,” recalled Guriro.
During his study in Sindh University, Mr. Gulabani played active role in students’ politics on the platform of Democratic Students Forum (DSF), which reflected the leftists’ ideology.
Gulabani has left three sons and a widow as mourners. Meanwhile, he was laid to rest in Ibrahim Shah graveyard in Hyderabad.