Remembering Mohsin

Mohsin Ali was fully dedicated to his work as Reuters Diplomatic Correspondent and never switched off. At dinner parties he would make excuses and leave the table for 10 minutes to watch the 9 o'clock TV news, phoning his Foreign Office contacts for reaction if necessary. At the 1973 Commonwealth summit in Ottawa, Roger Green and I came back from lunch to find Mohsin waiting for the lift at the press building. Suddenly the fire alarm sounded. As people streamed out of their  offices Mohsin said: "Never mind. I have an advance copy of the final communiqué. We have to go to the office and file the story." Mohsin later confessed that he had accidentally leaned on the fire alarm button beside the lift. But I have always wondered if it was intentional. We did get a good beat on the story. He was generous and considerate. After retiring and moving to the United States he would write me and his friends in London to ask if there was anything we needed that he could send over. I guess the days of post-war rationing in Britain were still in his mind. ■