Family, friends and admirers bade farewell on Thursday to editor-ambassador-parliamentarian HK Dua, who passed away peacefully on Wednesday after weeks of hospitalisation. He was 88.Former Jammu and Kashmir Governor and President of The Tribune Trust NN Vohra led the tributes as hundreds gathered at the Lodhi Road crematorium to pay last respects to the man who attained the rare distinction of leading editorial operations at major Indian dailies. Dua was Editor of Hindustan Times (1987-1994), Editor-in-Chief of The Indian Express (1994-1996), Editorial Adviser to The Times of India (1997-1998) and Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune (2003-2010).He straddled the worlds of diplomacy and politics equally effortlessly and served as media adviser to Prime Ministers HD Deve Gowda and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, both from different parties. A Padma Bhushan recipient, Dua was also India’s Ambassador to Denmark and later a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha.That he touched many lives was evident from the massive gathering at his funeral today. Among mourners were former Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, former SAD MP from Rajya Sabha Naresh Gujral, veteran journalists Satish Jacob, Shekhar Gupta, Ajoy Bose, AJ Philip, Harish Khare, Coomi Kapoor and several public intellectuals.Paying tributes to the late journalist, NN Vohra said he was deeply saddened to learn about the passing on of HK Dua. “He served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Tribune Group of Newspapers with great elan for nearly seven years (2003-2010). Of amiable temperament and uncommon clarity, Dua possessed rare intuition in sensing an evolving event which would make great news at the domestic or international level and was invariably the first to write about it,” Vohra said.The former J&K Governor added that whenever faced with serious complaints, even abuse hurled at him by political or bureaucratic quarters, whom he had editorially indicted for their faults and failings, Dua always maintained his typical quiet and calm till the storm had blown over. “I pray to the Lord to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and convey my sincere condolences to Adity, his dear wife, and to his devoted son Prashant,” Vohra said, paying condolences.Man of amiable temperament, uncommon clarityI am deeply saddened to learn about the passing on of HK Dua. He served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Tribune Group of Newspapers with great elan for nearly seven years (2003-2010). Of amiable temperament and uncommon clarity, Dua possessed rare intuition in sensing an evolving event which would make great news at the domestic or international level and was invariably the first to write about it. Whenever faced with serious complaints, even abuse hurled at him by political or bureaucratic quarters, whom he had editorially indicted for their faults and failings, Dua always maintained his typical quiet and calm till the storm had blown over. I pray to the Lord to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and convey my sincere condolences to Adtiy, his dear wife, and to his devoted son Prashant.”– NN Vohra, President, The Tribune TrustA great editor who spoke his mindHK Dua was a widely read journalist with a keen insight into unfolding events around the country. He ranks amongst our great editors, including that of The Tribune. He was known for his independence, and was not one who would shy from expressing what he wanted to convey. He was at the same time always open to the opposite view which he would always express. No wonder he was much admired.Justice SS Sodhi, Member, The Tribune TrustChandigarh MP Manish Tewari said HK Dua was a very warm human being and totally unpretentious. He knew how to call a spade a spade. Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said: “A journalistic giant has left us.” Meanwhile, former Union Minister P Chidambaram said he was deeply saddened by the passing away of HK Dua. His writing showed his deep understanding of the social and political realities of the country, and he was a fair commentator.Dua, whose first assignment as a journalist with the UNI was the coverage of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s funeral, dominated the world of political writing for decades, breaking stories and interviewing global leaders, including Margaret Thatcher.He wrote many hard-hitting front page editorials, including “National Shame” which commented on the Babri Masjid demolition; “Parliament: The bold, the beautiful and the ugly” which nudged political parties to stop fielding criminals as candidates; “India can’t be at war with itself” where he said that the 2008 communal flagration in Jammu might not have occurred if then J&K Governor Lt-Gen SK Sinha had pondered over the consequences of his move to transfer forest land to the Amarnath Shrine Board which he himself headed.Dua was equally passionate about promoting cancer care through journalism and commissioned stories at The Tribune on the “Cancer Train” (Abohar-Jodhpur Express), a daily service for patients from Punjab to Bikaner for affordable cancer care. These stories highlighted the train as a symbol of the cancer epidemic in Punjab’s Malwa region and generated a lot of awareness around the disease.