Admirers pay rich tribute to journalist Shahriar Shahid

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DHAKA, Nov 28, 2018 (BSS) – Academics, professional colleagues, friends
and admirers today described journalist Shahriar Shahid as a man with clean
heart having utmost devotion for humanity and profession as they rallied in a
memorial meeting, 12 days after he embraced a sudden death.

“Shahriar loved to see dreams for all good things and tried to realize
them,” former Dhaka University (DU) Vice-Chancellor Professor AAMS Arefin
Siddique told the memorial service at the Jatiya Press Club auditorium.

Siddique, who taught Shahriar in the university’s mass communication and
journalism department, said “Shahriar was someone with vision and mission. .
. his demise caused an irreparable loss to the professional arena as well as
his family” .

Emotions gripped the discussion as his university friends and colleagues
in the mainstream media including Bangladesh Sangbad Sangsthsa (BSS), where
Shahriar served as the managing editor, recalled his virtues as a human being
and his affections and love for them alongside his professional pursuits and
organizational capacity.

The speakers recalled his Sufi spiritual views of inclusiveness, love and
universal brotherhood and said he tried to instill into the mind of others
the sense of love as well.

They also reviewed his contribution to the studies of Liberation War that
yielded 30 books, the documentation of particular battles based on concerned
veterans’ interviews and region based battles alongside some documentaries to
his credit.

Jatiya Press Club general secretary and Shahriar’s university classmate
Farida Yasmin chaired the condolence meeting moderated by private news agency
UNB’s chief news editor Mahfuzur Rahman while former BSS chief editors
Mufakhkharul Anam and Azizul Islam Buiyan and former BSS chief news editor
Swapan Kumar Saha recalled the memories of Shahriar’s induction and
excellence as a journalist.

Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) vice president Syed Ishtiaq
Reza, Shahriar’s classmates former BSS City Editor Ajit Kumar Sarker,
journalist M Rahmat Ali, BEPZA general manager Nazma Binte Alamgir, Banker
Shawkat Aziz, BSS Chief News Editor Anisur Rahman, special correspondents
Madhusudan Mandal, Anup Kumar Khastagir, DU’s Journalism Department
professors Abdur Razzak Khan, Robaet Ferdous, Mafizur Rahman, and Saownte
Haydar addressed the discussion, among others.

“He was a guru for the young generation journalists as he appeared as a
pioneering figure for journalism of the current age . . . he virtually
spearheaded a campaign for good journalism,” Reza, also the Editor in Chief
of G TV said.

He added: “We lost a man with clean heart with his demise.”

Shahriar, son of illustrious journalist and now defunct Bangladesh Times
Editor AKM Shahidul Haque, breathed his last at a city hospital on November
17 at the age of 55.

He is survived by his wife, only son and a host of relatives and admirers.