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Veteran broadcaster Ishrat Fatima bid farewell to Radio Pakistan on Tuesday, bringing to a close her 45-year historic journey in broadcasting.

In an emotional farewell speech on Radio Pakistan News, Fatima described how painful the decision had been for her.

“Today I am saying farewell to my 45-year association with Radio Pakistan. Before bidding farewell, I would like to thank you (audience) and Radio Pakistan from the bottom of my heart,” she said.

During the announcement, Fatima appreciated all the love and respect she had received from her audience and expressed gratitude for her Creator and parents.

Not getting into many details about her decision, she requested her listeners to remember that she had always tried “very hard” to fulfil her responsibility justly — with great effort and love.

Yesterday, however, Fatima elaborated on the reasons behind her decision in a thirteen-minute-long video on her YouTube channel.

Her career in television and radio began in 1983, she told her viewers, and since then she had been extremely passionate about her job. For her, the art of stitching together words of Urdu and presenting a bulletin was what she would thrive on.

“I have always wished that until my voice is with me, my breath doesn’t break, my face stays suitable enough that you watch it happily, I would keep reading the news,” she said, expressing that for her, this skill was not only her passion but her love.

However, she revealed that she was made to feel like she was not needed at Radio Pakistan anymore. Teary-eyed, Fatima said she was driven to make a drastic decision like this one.

“Till you can be just to your work, it is your wish and right to be given that space to continue your work, but I don’t know if this is the way of our society or the entire world operates like this, that when you can’t compete with someone through your work, you start using negative ways to do it. You say let’s snatch their life, their breath, and destroy that space for them where they are working. And of course it is painful,” she confessed.

“You’re on merit, you’re being just to your work as well, and people are standing as a wall in front of you, and you’re being cornered, driving you to make a decision that we don’t need you anymore.”

Known for her Urdu diction and broadcast professionalism, Fatima received the Pride of Performance Award in 2019.

In her message, Fatima told her viewers that she waited for the work environment to get better for her, but to no avail.

“I waited for a very long time that perhaps the environment might get better for me, they might get nicer towards me, provide me the space to work, let me work on merit […] and respect my seniority, appreciate my work and give me my rightful position, for someone who fulfils the job in a just way, but that didn’t happen,” she communicated painfully.

“I was repeatedly made to feel like I am not needed anymore.”

She described Radio Pakistan as an organisation made up of walls that lacks empathy and love. She expressed her grief, saying that she wouldn’t have resigned if the organisation tried to retain her.

“If it (organisation) could think, and feel, it would have definitely stopped me. It would have embraced me and stopped me from leaving. It would have asked me not to go. And I would have stopped.”

Before concluding the video, she promised her viewers a continued connection through her social media and YouTube content, where she will be sharing stories from her life from now on.

Tributes poured in as soon as the news of Fatima’s resignation went viral. Journalist Asma Shirazi called her an icon, inspiration and a role model.

Another journalist, Zahid Ghiskhori, paid tribute to the legendary broadcaster.

Sport journalist Ahmed Najeeb Satti expressed concern over legends like Fatima being driven to this point.

Social media is also laden with Fatima’s followers expressing their love and appreciation for her commendable work and dedication over all these years.