Jafri started his career from Civil and Military Gazette under the editorship of Mr Majid. But he left the newspaper because of ideological difference with ZA Suleri so he left and joined STAR, Hyderabad, and finally worked in Pakistan Times. He retired as assistant editor of Pakistan Times.
During his career, Jafari worked with the likes of IA Rehman, Aziz Siddiqi and Tahir Mirza. After doing MA English, he passed the CSS exam but was not selected due to his progressive ideas.
He left behind a widow, son and a daughter. He was son of Syed Karamat Hussain Jafari and brother of Marxist intellectual Syed Shafqat Hussain Jafari
Interestingly, his father – a leading educationist and former principal of Government College Lyallpur and MAO Collage Lahore – was on the Right side of the fence, while all his sons – including Dr Ajmal Jafari – were on the Left.