An irreplaceable loss

The loss of Rahimullah Yousufzai, the resident editor of The News at Peshawar, is not simply a loss to journalism. Rahimullah, from the Mardan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, stood out not only as a superb professional, but a man who was considered an expert on his own native KP, its politics, its tribal divisions, as well as seen as a journalist-expert on neighbouring Afghanistan. Among his many journalistic contributions were interviews with both the Taliban's Mullah Omar and Al-Qaeda's Osama bin Laden. As news of his death – after a 15-month struggle with cancer – went around, the one thing that stood out the most was how Rahimullah Yousufzai was remembered as a man who conducted his work and life in a quiet, but self-assured manner. He was an excellent host, and superb teacher to other journalists who were either visiting KP or attempting to complete a story regarding the region. Seen as a 'gentle' man, his views were based solidly on fact, and he belonged to a school of thought which knew that checking out facts and then putting them out before the world was paramount to journalism and to his standing as an analyst interviewed by newspapers and channels around the world as a regional expert.

Rahimullah Yousufzai was the first Pakistani to write in The Times under his own byline, and not as a correspondent from Pakistan. His voice, quiet as it may be, will be missed the most given the times we are in – especially with regard to the Afghanistan situation. Even in his last days, in ill health, he was believed to be in communication with friends and others regarding Afghanistan as the situation in that country took another turn. will be remembered by everyone who knew him in all his different capacities. In a polarised Pakistan, Rahimullah Yousafzai may just be one of the few people respected by people from nearly all ideological and political tendencies. A giant has fallen. The void left behind is vast.