Roedad Khan, who was above 100 years old, departed from this life in Islamabad. Though it used to be unheard of, that age is great in and of itself. In actuality, one of my great-uncles accomplished that age. Considering that neither my great-uncle nor Roedad Khan made it to 101, that appears to be the new upper limit.
It appears that there was a change in circumstances, since my other great-uncles who lived to be very old were past 80 or 90 years old. At the time, three figures in life seemed unimaginable and unheard of. My late father only lived to be 67 years old, over 24 years ago, and even my paternal uncles lived to be over 90 years old, outliving their younger brother.
Mumtaz SAhafi, whom I recall from the beginning of my reporting days as a senior, also passed away, albeit maybe not at as advanced an age as Roedad Khan. He was a reserved, gentlemanly man who didn’t say much. He was never the life and spirit of the party as a result. Particularly when covering politics, reporting entails a lot of sitting about while you wait for meetings to conclude, which never happens at the scheduled time. While that moment is gone, you need some assistance. Mumtaz Shafi did not belong to that group. The only evidence that he was capable of such an incident was his sporadic contributions; he was presumably too dignified to initiate such ones.
