Educationist killed: Literary figure Azfar Rizvi shot dead

Rizvi along with his driver was returning home when two men opened fire.

KARACHI:

Famous educationist and literary figure Syed Azfar Rizvi, the deputy secretary general of Anjuman-e-Taraqqi-e-Urdu Pakistan, was shot dead in Karachi’s Karimabad locality by unidentified assailants on Friday.

Rizvi along with the driver Abdul Ghaffar, was returning home from the Karimabad branch of his Dhaka Coaching Centre chain when two men on a motorcycle opened fire on his car near Café Student, a police official said.

District Central SSP Amir Farooqui said Rizvi received fatal injuries while his driver was critically wounded. They were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed hospital where the driver also succumbed to his injuries. SSP Farooqui clarified that Rizvi, contrary to some media reports, belonged to the Sunni community.

Born in Dhaka on December 27, 1957, Rizvi migrated to Karachi and emerged as a notable figure in literary circles and even got elected as the treasurer of Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi. For the last 16 years he was serving as the treasurer for the Pakistan branch of Anjuman-e-Taraqqi-e-Urdu. In 2010, after the demise of former deputy secretary general, Hasan Zaheer, the Anjuman’s secretary general and famous poet, Jamiluddin Aali, appointed Rizvi at this position as well.



Recently he had compiled a compendium on Aali Jee’s life and works and in a conversation with The Express Tribune he stated his desire for the book to be launched by the country’s prime minister.

Rizvi was the founder of the Dhaka Group of Educational Institutions, under which several schools and Karachi’s famous Dhaka Coaching Centres provide tuitions to students from class IX up to university level.

Earlier on Friday, he had sent an article to the media in which he supported the MQM chief Altaf Hussain’s recent party reorganisation. He had also urged for education to be given importance as a way forward. He is survived by wife, Hasina Rizvi, four daughters and two sons.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2013.