It was somewhere in the late 1980s, two professionals sitting face to face in their fairly spacious offices were deeply engaged in a debate on if Pakistan’s citizens were being treated fairly. The onlooker who did not have any idea of the relationship they had with each other was surely bound to be impressed by the quality of debate they were in.
This quality reflected in their lives and the work which led them to introduce Engineering Review as the most credible and quality engineering paper in Pakistan.
Najam-ul-Hassan and Riaz-ul-Hassan, of them the latter left us all in March less than eight years after the former, were brothers the fact which was yet to unveil later but one thing was crystal clear that they were men of letters.
Despite human’s individual capacities and traits in their overall psychological profile, a large portion of analysis for one is bound to mention the other. Maybe the lives that they loved were so intertwined that they cannot be separated from each other.
Riaz-ul-Hassan’s demise brought such shared life to an end on March 21, 2020—the last man who bolstered moral grounds in professional life and also the commitment that a true human should posses to his country.
Riaz-ul-Hassan’s worth can be categorized into two parts. One that he had it in his family which has attempted to share with our readers in this issue and, two that Engineering Review that witnessed over the last four decades.
He was a genuine professional journalist and knew what to write and when. He never missed what his country needed the most—the development of the engineering industry. He had a dream of Pakistan ensuring to manufacture everything at home. He never quit his dream. His dream made him a dear one for many serious souls in Pakistan who used to lead many reputable organizations in the country.
Being the editor of a leading engineering paper in Pakistan he lived a highly simple life and his conduct never bothered anyone.
Riaz Sahib being a migrant Punjabi by his ethnicity had a great command over English and Urdu language and his stories proved his ability time and again.
What surprised many was his strong memory; he was used to not taking notes while doing a story or an interview. Never until his memory was hit by diabetes at later stages he ever missed any point in his write-ups.
Riaz Sahib was a role model, one among many who did not get attention because of his class and simplicity. He always wore shalwar kameez no matter he would attend huge conferences and moots, where attire, in a so-called Pakistani cosmopolitan culture had given weight.
In his office, he was a man who knew how to love his staff and when to be a professional editor. He was a man of humor which he did not separate from his personality till the last moment he sighed.
