Obaidullah Baig showered with praise

Jumbo Editorial Team  

Obaidullah Baig, one of the towering personalities of the country, was showered with praise by a panel of distinguished speakers from different walks of life in an evening organised in his honour by the Idara Qalam Dost at the Sindh Governor’s House in Karachi on April 17.  

The learned speakers, including chief guest Iftikhar Arif and Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan, who presided over the ceremony, recorded their appreciation for eminent scholar, researcher, journalist and documentary filmmaker Obaidullah Baig for having rendered monumental services to society.

Mohammad Ali Siddiqi, Prof Sahar Ansari, Ghayasuddin, Ghazi Salahuddin and Khushbakht Shujaat also spoke in the enlightening programme which was conducted by Ambreen Hasib Amber.

“God has blessed him a lot. Obaidullah Baig is one such blessing in the shape of a friend. He has written many a thing under different pseudonyms, including couplets, and has made hundreds of documentaries out of which 40 odd were on the Quaid-e-Azam and the Pakistan Movement,” Iftikhar Arif, himself a noted poet, remarked.  

“Ghalib has written in one his letters that if someone’s passion became his profession he should consider himself fortunate and Obaidullah Baig is one such person, who is also extremely compassionate having considerate nature,” he added.

Obaidullah Baig extended his gratitude to the organisers for holding the event in his honour. Modestly was reflected when he looked at the stage backdrop and said while it was true that he was a writer, a journalist and a documentary filmmaker but it was difficult to think of himself as an intellectual for he knew what it meant and had read people like Ghalib, Khusrau, Iqbal and Faiz.

He said he had been a television producer for more than 30 years and wanted to become a journalist from a very early age. He also talked about his novel Rajput which was published last year. v>