Former KT staffer dies
dubai — Former Khaleej Times Assistant Editor and well-known Pakistan writer Najmul Hasan Rizvi passed away in Las Vegas, US, on Friday night. Rizvi, who joined KT in 1979, worked in various positions at the daily, including as Supplements and City Editor before he retired in 2008.
Rizvi hailed from Karachi, and was well known among the literati in Pakistan and the UAE as a bilingual fiction writer, columnist and broadcaster. An award-winning author, Rizvi has six collections of Urdu short stories, two novels and two anthologies of humour-based articles and TV columns to his credit. Rizvi wrote a satire column, Mr Right, in KT for seven years, and contributed short stories to KT’s erstwhile magazine Young Times.
Rizvi’s published works included novels Marvi Aur Marjina, The Peacock Valley; short stories Chashme Tamasha, Hath Bachney Waley, Pursay Ka Mausam, Internet Cafe, Oxygen, and Darya Ka Ghar.
Moon Comes to Earth was a collection of children’s stories penned by Rizvi. Hamara Badmashi Nizam (humour), Mazrat kay Sath (TV columns), Awaze Pa (memoirs), and Najmul Hasan Rizvi Kay Behtreen Afsanay (anthology of short stories compiled by Dr Ambreen Haseeb Amber) are some of his other works.
Rizvi was a recipient of various awards, including Hijra Award from the Pakistan Academy of Letters and the National Book Foundation, Pakistan. Before coming to the Gulf, Rizvi had worked in various positions as an officer of the Central Information Service.
Former colleagues remembered Rizvi as a kind gentleman and a true professional who strictly adhered to journalistic ethics.