Ardeshir Cowasjee

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Ardeshir Cowasjee
Born(1926-04-13)13 April 1926
Cowasjee Group
SpouseNancy Dinshaw
RelativesCowasjee family

Ardeshir Cowasjee (13 April 1926 – 24 November 2012) (

Cowasjee Group
and was engaged in philanthropic activities in addition to being regarded as an old "guardian" of the city of Karachi.

On 3 November 2013, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi launched the Ardeshir Cowasjee Centre for Writing in his honor.[3]

Biography

Cowasjee was born on 13 April 1926 in Karachi to the

Cowasjee Group. In 1953, he married Nancy Dinshaw, with whom he had two children – Ava (daughter) and Rustom (son).[citation needed
]

Career

Cowasjee owned a family run shipping company, that at the time of the

Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) in 1973. He was jailed for 72 days in 1976 by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for which no explanation has been given to date; it is said that Prime Minister Bhutto did this because Cowasjee was becoming increasingly vocal about Bhutto's authoritarian ways. Cowasjee subsequently started writing letters to the editor of Dawn newspaper, which led to him becoming a permanent columnist. Since then, his hard-hitting and well-researched columns in Dawn have continuously exposed corruption, nepotism, and incompetence in different local, provincial, and national governments. Cowasjee's last article for Dawn was published on 25 December 2011.[citation needed
]

Los Angeles Times described him thus: "His is a stubborn non-Muslim voice in this nation created as an Islamic homeland, refusing to be silenced. Attempts have been made. His life has been threatened so often the government has provided him with 24-hour protection.[7]

Activities

Via the Cowasjee Foundation, Cowasjee was the financier of many scholarships for students wishing to pursue higher education. These included grants for both local and overseas education. They were termed "loans" and Cowasjee encouraged recipients to repay them so that others could benefit from the funds; however, he expected that the majority of the funds would not be repaid.[citation needed]

Death

Cowasjee died at the age of 86, on 24 November 2012.[8] He was suffering from chest illness and remained in hospital for twelve days.[9]

References

  1. ^ "Ardeshir Cowasjee passes away". The Express Tribune. 24 November 2012.
  2. ^ Ardeshir Cowasjee: The Curmudgeon of Karachi BY JAHANZEB ASLAM, Newsweek, 12/3/12
  3. ^ "IBA names centre after Ardeshir Cowasjee". The Express Tribune. Pakistan. 3 November 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  4. Talat Aslam
    , senior editor of The News, says: "Cowasjee's death represents the death of an old, far more cosmopolitan and tolerant Karachi. He was a Gujrati-speaking Parsi gentleman of the old school - profane, blunt, outspoken, fearless.
  5. ^ Irfan Husain. "A life lived in full – Ardeshir Cowasjee (1926-2012)". aurora.dawn.com. Archived from the original on 24 January 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2015. Ardeshir was always a flamboyant, larger than life figure. Impeccably dressed, he enjoyed the good things in life. From his art collection to his sports cars, he spent his wealth with style and taste. There are far richer people than him in Pakistan, but none have his flair. Whenever he came to my place, he would sit and chat with my mother who loved his good humour and Gujrati accent. I doubt he ever began a sentence not prefaced with "Aray, sala!"
  6. ^ Nirupama Subramanian (16 January 2010). "Old man by the sea". The Hindu. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  7. ^ Glionna, John M. (11 February 2008). "Pakistan columnist doesn't mince words". Los Angeles Times.
  8. ^ "End of an era: Verbal vigilante Ardeshir Cowasjee dies at 86". The Express Tribune. 25 November 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  9. ^ "Veteran Pakistani columnist Cowasjee passes away at 86". Dawn. 24 November 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2012.

External links

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