Idrees Bakhtiar spent the life to his fullest; the best tribute one can give to him is that all journalists must remain honest in their professional activities. This was said by President Arts Council Muhammad Ahmed Shah during a condolence reference of famous journalist Idrees Bakhtiar. He recalled older moments and said that when Idrees Bakhtiar came to Karachi, we were students back then and he stayed with us in hostels.

Many notable personalities were present in the event to pay homage to the late journalist. Mujahid Barelvi read his essay on Idrees which he wrote himself. He was of the view that Idrees was an unbiased and undisputed journalist. Few of the attendees expressed their condolences to the journalist community whereas few recalled the good and bad days they had spent with the towered journalist. Mazhar Abbas said that he was with Idrees Bakhtiar during the reporting of historic events such as PANAM flight hijacking. “I had an ideological disagreement with Idrees but journalistic agreement”. Idrees Bakhtiar’s career spanned over a terrific innings of 57 years. He was attached to several print and electronic media outlets. Many of his trained journalists are now serving in different media houses on key posts.

Among the speakers were, Imtiaz Faran, Dr.Tauseef Ahmed, Ex Senator Nehal Hashmi, Dost Muhammad Faizi, Dr.Qaisar Sajjad, A.H Khanzada, Athar Waqar Azeem, Faseeh Zaidi, Faheem Abbas Jaffri, Anwar Ahmed Zai, Kashif Grami, Nazeer Leghari, Arman Sabir, Idrees’s son Abrar Bakhtiar and nephew Shahab Asad whereas Shakeel Khan hosted the event.