Two South Asian women journalists who set new standards of professionalism and lived courageous lives died in March.
Razia Bhatti, trail-blazing Pakistani editor, died of a brain haemmorhage in Karachi on 12 March. Veteran Sri Lankan journalist Rita Sebastian died on 29 March in Colombo after a brief illness.
Both were women with solid professional credentials, both survived threats and regularly put their lives at risk, both went beyond the day-to-day of journalism to try to bring people to their senses amidst the anarchy and carnage in their two cities: Karachi and Colombo.
Rita Sebastian was a fearless reporter and editor who lived through the darkest days of Sri Lanka´s civil war and violence, always working to the high professional standards that she set for herself even in the most trying of times.