That Munnu Bhai passed away on Friday is tragic on many levels. Undoubtedly, he will be mourned by his family and countless friends and admirers. Yet more broadly speaking, Pakistan in general and mainstream media, particularly, has lost a formidable voice of reason. Muneer Ahmed Qureshi aka Munnu Bhai was born in the Gujranwala district of Wazirabad. He began his career as a translator and then moved on to playwriting and journalism. Aside from a regular column for a daily newspaper, he proved to be a talented and original playwright. Sona Chandi, a comedy series aired back in 1982 became a national phenomenon due to its powerful depiction of the prevailing class structures and everyday concerns endured by the vast majority of people that were characterised by domestic workers in that show. Munnu Bhai was also an outstanding poet and his work only enriched contemporary Punjabi literature. As a public intellectual, he was, for decades, a prominent figure in Lahore’s literary and cultural scenes. This is why Lahore and Pakistan will be poorer places without him. Munnu Bhai was a people’s person. A staunch socialist and humanist, he was one of the few literary icons who resisted the onslaught of authoritarianism and obscurantism, especially from the 1980s onwards. As an adherent to the art of life school of thought, his work directly resonated with peoples’ lives and doubts. Munnu Bhai was actively involved in the popular movement against Ayub Khan in 1968-69, and later sympathised with the Left-leaning Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He was also admired by the late Benazir Bhutto and weeks before his death, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visited him in Lahore. Despite his association with the family, Munnu Bhai did not stop himself from being critical of their policies and the mistakes that successive PPP governments committed while in office. Yet it is his Urdu columns that are the most striking for the way they challenged the formalistic, narcissistic style preferred by his peers. Written in a direct and engaging manner, these pieces were critical of the state as well as powerful interest groups. The latter included the corporate media itself and time and again Munnu Bhai advocated for a fourth estate that guarded itself against censorship and distortion. At the same time, he reminded all in the industry of their primary duty to uphold the public interest while speaking truth to power. Through the years, he mentored many young writers and journalists and remained active in civic movements. He was also an avid supporter of South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) and such other peace initiatives. His congenial temperament and friendly disposition were among his greatest assets. Even those who disagreed with his Leftist views never stopped engaging with his ideas. Given today’s polarised media environment, Munnu Bhai’s legacy remains important; particularly for the way in which he conducted himself in terms of sparking civilised discourse with both contemporaries and juniors alike. The government, back in 2007, bestowed on him the President’s Pride of Performance award, which served as belated recognition of his work and public service. He will always be a source of pride for Pakistan. It is time for our universities to collate his work and use them as models for the younger generation of writers and journalists. * Published in Daily Times, January 21st 2018.