Kashmiri beacon in global journalism Salahuddin Ahmad’s legacy remembered

Srinagar, Aug 29: Days after renowned Kashmir-origin broadcaster and journalist Salahuddin Ahmad passed away at the age of 98, a programme shedding light on his life was held in Srinagar.

Ahmad passed away in Washington DC in the US on Monday and was buried on Tuesday.

The programme, organised by Kalidas Theatre at Tagore Hall in Srinagar witnessed the participation of many renowned journalists, broadcasters, and officials.

Former DG Tourism Saleem Beg was the chief guest at the event while senior journalist Yusuf Jameel was the guest of honour.

Ahmad’s nephew Zahoor Zahid talked about his uncle’s contributions to the field.

“His contribution to the field touched thousands of lives. In addition to working as a senior broadcaster in the Voice of America, he widely wrote for renowned newspapers across the world. This is a condolence meeting to shed some light on his universal legacy and what he did in the field of journalism. He also contributed immensely to Radio Pakistan when he served as DG News there,” Zahid said.

He said that Ahmad wanted Kashmir to excel and that he always wanted to be part of that.

“He had a trust to remember his son Haseeb whom he lost at a young age, and through this trust, he wanted to develop a computer science college in Kashmir,” Zahid said.

Ahmad, who now was a US citizen, actually hailed from the Nowpora area of Srinagar downtown.

Zahid said that he was a Kashmiri by heart and soul and wanted to contribute to Kashmir in every possible manner.

While dwelling on the personality of Salahuddin Ahmad, Saleem Beg dubbed his death as a great loss for the field of journalism.

“He was a great lover of Kashmir and wanted Kashmir to excel in broadcast and digital media. His personality had a great impact on the field of journalism, and interestingly, his contribution is not limited to Kashmir only but to the entire Indo-Pak and the USA. I met him in Washington in 1997, and his personality had a great impact, which was evident from his persona,” Beg said.

As the news of Ahmad’s death reached Kashmir, condolence poured in from various quarters.

Many journalists and his former colleagues took to social media to write about his death and the legacy he left.

“Extremely sad to hear that one of Kashmir's most reputed broadcast journalists Salahuddin Ahmad Shah Sahab has passed away in the United States of America. After serving Voice of America Urdu Service for 35 years, he continued to live there. He was a thoroughly professional journalist with incredible objectivity and knowledge, particularly about the subcontinent's political history,” Ahmed Ali Fayaz, a journalist, wrote in a social media post.

Others who participated in the event included former Deputy Director General of Doordarshan Shabir Mujahid, former DC Doda Farooq Ahmad Khan, Assistant Commissioner of Customs Sarjaan Ahmad Shah, and renowned writer Bashir Dada.