Octogenarian Munnu Bhai, much-celebrated journalist, columnist, playwright, poet and hum-anist, died of protracted kidney and heart problems, here on Friday. He left behind a widow, a son and a daughter and hundreds of thousands of admirers in and outside Pakistan for his great contribution to the intellectual, literary, social and cultural life of the country. The journalistic and literary fraternity, entertainment industry, human rights bodies, social workers and political class across the board and common people have mourned death of Munnu Bhai.
President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, former president Asif Ali Zardari, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif have sent condolence messages to the bereaved family and shared their grief.
Munir Ahmed Qureshi, more commonly known as Munnu Bhai was born in Wazirabad, district Gujranwala, on February 6 in 1933. He remained affiliated with journalism for more than 60 years as sub editor, reporter and columnist in newspapers Tameer, Imroze, Pakistan Times, Masawat and Jang. His career as a drama-writer was primarily devoted to writing plays for Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV. As a playwright, Munnu Bhai's most famous TV drama to date is Sona Chandi that was released in 1982. He had also written plays such as 'Ashiana' and 'Dasht.' President of Pakistan in 2007 announced Pride of Performance Award for his services.
His Punjabi poetry is considered as one of the best works in recent Punjabi literature and poetry. A regular columnist for the Daily Jang newspaper, Munnu Bhai was considered to be among Pakistan's best and brightest columnists. His column titled Girebaan was very popular due to his creative and humanistic pieces. He also served as President of South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) for promoting a free and fair media to better understand regional conflicts, with a particular focus on the nuclear arms race, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the Kashmir dispute and other regional conflicts.
Munnu Bhai, a great humanist and social worker had devoted his life since 2000 to the treatment of thalassemia patients who suffered from inherited blood disorder with inability of their body to produce adequate amount of Haemoglobin in the red blood cells and thus suffered severe anaemia.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.