by Arshid Malik

Izhar was one of the people who lead by example. He braved all odds to meet his professional standards.

Izhar Wani

Had I known you better, I would have grieved less for your memories would have been stronger and would have made life easier without you. Had I known you little, I would have grieved more for knowing a person like you – brave, talented, gentle and ever-smiling – would have provided my life with better memories.  Well, I guess there is no room for all this and we all have to live with the memories of you, whether enough or less.

Izhar Wani. The 4th day of April. Sadness descended on all those who cherish diligence and honour the brave. Aged 44, Izhar who was heading an international news agency in Kashmir was no more. After battling the roughages of the violent outrages of the Kashmiri people and reporting through thick curtains of mortar and ammunition, Izhar was a connoisseur of courage and when he learnt that malignancy was out to bring him down he fought it like a battle through and through. He never let the disease take over him till his last breaths. He fought till the end and should by all means and measures be honoured as a brave soldier who never let difficult circumstances, whether personal or curricular, steal his ever pleasant smile.

Izhar. The 4th day of April fell short of complementing itself for completeness for a ray of light was no more a part of what made it complete. Izhar.

What Izhar left behind is a legacy in terms of journalism and efficient reportage from the valley of Kashmir and generations of young people ahead in time will talk of him as an epitome. Izhar was one of the people who lead by example. He braved all odds to meet his professional standards.

Izhar. I fail to finish.

Death is inevitable and those who live their lives while living up to the standards of morals and ethics truly pass away to stay alive in the memories of all those who knew them or even acquainted with them for the shortest time and Izhar was one of them.  His works were his life’s creations and besides the good person he was to know, his works will keep him alive in our memories.

What more can I say of a man of the calibre I knew very little. A brief score encounters. But the degree of pain that clasped my heart this morning when I heard the news of Izhar’s demise is inexpressible and I am sure that even the most prolific of writers won’t have the words to put such deep feelings in black white. I am feeling depressed even after hours of engagement in my work today and it is just not going away.

I am hopeful, though, that the people who are in the profession of journalism right now and thousands of others who will join the Fourth Estate in the coming few years will ideally tend to follow what Izhar was all about – brave, honest and efficient reportage from one of the most troubled parts of the world. Well, I believe that while grieving over the demise of Izhar we should also celebrate the quality standards that he set for the rest of us to follow. We should count in the 4th day of April 2012 as a day that left us a legacy in the field of journalism via media the person who never told tall stories and believed in the littlest of us.

I hold you in my prayers Izhar and if my bereaved heart carries any weight then my prayers shall be answered.

Arshid Malik

I am not good at writing obituaries and by all means, I am not even attempting one here but just trying to express the weight of the loss that the demise of Izhar carries for me. I am not sure that all of the people who have published obituaries about him or may perhaps do so in the coming days really valued the person while he was still alive but all of that does not value anymore except the fact that each and every one of us who knew a person like Izhar or were associated with him in any manner should learn to value such people while they are still around. I am sorry if I sound “brutish” but there is no other way around this.

I must say that today I feel a little less.

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