In fond memory: Cartoonist Anwar Sami passes away

He lost his life when he was hit on the head on Thursday by a car while crossing the road

KARACHI: Cartoonist and artist Anwar Sami was laid to rest in the PECHS Society Graveyard after Zuhr prayers on Friday.

Sami died at the age of 75 when he was hit on the head on Thursday by a car while he was crossing the road near his residence in Gulshan-e-Maymar. He had stepped out to buy some grocery items. He was immediately taken to the hospital, where he breathed his last a couple of hours later.

Sami was a familiar face whose work was recognised across many publications from time to time. He was mainly associated with the magazines, 'alFatah' and 'Mayaar', between 1970s and 1980s. Both magazines were eventually banned due to strict censorship laws during the time of former military ruler Gen Ziaul Haq.



Sami was actively involved in trade union politics and also supported the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists.

As a commercial cartoonist and artist, his worked was mostly on abstract art and photography.

Painting was his other hobby. His friend and journalist, Babar Ayaz, fondly remembers a portrait of Prince Aga Khan that Sami made on grains of rice. "The painting was presented to Prince Aga Khan when he visited Pakistan at that time," said Ayaz.

As a person, he was known to be true to his friends, a humble and a relaxed man who worked honestly throughout his life. As caring and friendly to his family and someone who loved to have a good laugh with both the young and the old, the artist is survived by a widow and four sons. "Before he went out and got hit that day, he had just finished a cartoon of Hakeem Saeed," told his first born, Ismat Anwar.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th,  2015.