Tributes poured in on Twitter. RSS common secretary Dattatreya Hosabale wrote, “Tarek Fatah was an eminent thinker, author and commentator. His significant contributions to the media and the literary world will be greatly remembered. He remained committed to his principles and beliefs throughout his life and was respected for his courage and conviction.” Actor Anupam Kher wrote, “Deeply saddened to know about the demise of my friend, a true Indian at heart, a most fearless and kind-hearted man. [Tarek Fatah’s] courage was infectious!” Director Vivek Agnihotri wrote, “There was one and only Tarek Fatah — daring, funny, knowledgeable, a sharp thinker, a great orator and a fearless fighter. Tarek, my brother, it was a delight to have you as a close friend.”

Fatah was born to oldsters who migrated from Bombay to Karachi a month after Independence. He referred to as himself an “Indian born in Pakistan, a Punjabi born in Islam; an immigrant in Canada with a Muslim consciousness, grounded in a Marxist youth.” He studied biochemistry in University of Karachi, was a vigorous leftist activist in faculty, and graduated earlier than shifting gears to journalism — a profession that earned him laurels and brickbats. He joined Karachi Sun as a reporter in 1970 and later grew to become an investigative reporter with Pakistan’s state-broadcaster Pakistan Television. In 1977, the Zia-ul Haq authorities charged him with sedition, after which he migrated to Saudi Arabia and at last settled in Canada in 1987. There, he joined Toronto radio station CFRB Newstalk 1010 as a broadcaster and, after a number of stints throughout Canada’s media panorama, later grew to become a columnist for Toronto Sun.

Fatah’s politics have been controversial. He lamented the Partition and questioned the Pakistani navy’s affect over the federal government, and was outspoken towards Islamic extremism. He criticised American funding of terrorist teams in Saudi Arabia throughout the Afghan conflict, whereas supporting each Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders for the 2016 presidential race; recommending immigration curbs for nations harbouring Islamic terrorists.

Fatah typically got here below hearth for spreading disinformation: in 2017, he endorsed a later debunked concept of Muslims taking part in mosque taking pictures in Quebec; in 2018, he tweeted a doctored picture of a madrassa trainer instructing youngsters that Islam is superior to Hinduism, earlier than AltNews debunked it; throughout the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, he tweeted a 2018 communally charged video from Udaipur, claiming it was just lately recorded in Delhi; throughout the anti-CAA protests, he tweeted a video of burqa-clad ladies dancing, claiming it was from the Shaheen Bagh protest website, earlier than others identified he had already tweeted it twice in 2017.

He was additionally the writer of Chasing a Mirage, a critique of recent Islam, and The Jew just isn’t my enemy, a historical past of the connection between the Muslim and Jewish communities.