The 'Lone Ranger'

The Dawn, Pakistan
The Magazine

February 5, 2006

By Bushra Hassan

There are very few journalists who suffer personally and professionally in their pursuit of free expression; Zafaryab Ahmed was one of them

I had met Zafaryab Ahmed during my brief stint at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute as an assistant conference co-ordinator in 1996. I was then only 17. He was in his early forties.

A loner and a bit of a recluse, I was first attracted to him by the behaviour of people around him. The peculiar silence that would follow or the hushed conversations about him. The general impression was of him having lost his sanity after undergoing torture and abuse while detained by the FIA on some mysterious charges. It had to do with child labour. I was too dumb to understand what the entire issue was and I don’t think I cared very much. I was more interested in the kind eye but the very lost expression on his face. So, I went up to his office one day, and blatantly told him that I wanted to be his friend. He was surprised. He asked me if I was sure. I told him that I felt that an adult like him could help me understand all that sustainable development was about.

I didn’t of course tell him that I wanted to be his friend because I felt sad for him, because everyone else thought he was mad and I thought it was unfair. I wanted to know the person behind the story. This was indeed the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Little did I know at that time that in the 10 years that followed, ours would prove to be a friendship that withstood time, distance and proved more beneficial for me than him in every sense of the word.

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