Senior journalist and former editor of daily Dawn Saleem Asmi passed away here on Saturday. He was 84.Confirming his demise,the family said Asmi had been suffering from some serious ailments for some time.
The announcement of his funeral prayers will be made once his two sons return from abroad, according to Arman Sabir, Secretary of the Karachi Press Club.
Asmi was born on November 29, 1934, in Jhansi but he spent his formative years in Delhi. After Partition, his father migrated to Pakistan and settled in Hyderabad, where he completed his school education. Later, the family moved to Karachi and Asmi did his Masters in English literature from the University of Karachi.
During his studies in college and university, Asmi played an active role in left-leaning student politics under the banner of the Democratic Students Federation (DSF) and the National Students Federation (NSF).
According to his colleagues, Asmi began his journalistic career in 1959 after completing his education. His first job was at The Times of Karachi as a trainee sub-editor and latter became city editor of The Pakistan Times.
As a member of the core team in the early 1980s, Asmi designed. During Ziaul Haq’s regime, he was sentenced to imprisonment. Later, he moved to Dubai to become the news editor of the Khaleej Times. In 1988 he returned and joined Dawn where he served as its news editor, a position he continued to hold till he was elevated as its Editor in March 2000. He retired in 2003.
Asmi’s old friend and connoisseur of art and music S.M. Shahid managed to compile a selection of his writings under the title: Saleem Asmi –Interviews, Article, Reviews.
During his stint as editor Dawn, he decided to publish Osama bin Laden’s interview by senior journalist and anchorperson Hamid Mir, even though the latter was not the paper’s staffer. Mir said in a tweet on Saturday that Asmi supported him in getting his interview with Osama bin Laden published. “When I interviewed Osama bin Laden in Nov 2001, my paper was reluctant to publish it I gave it to Dawn. Musharraf regime tried to stop the interview from being published. Asmi told me to switch off my phone and disappear and I will handle it. The next day it was published,” Mir said.
Asmi had also served as the president of the Karachi Press Club twice from 1991-93.
Several senior journalists and politicians offered condolences over the demise of Asmi. Information Minister Shibli Faraz said journalism had lost a "shining star". Pakistan People Party's Senator Sherry Rehman said Asmi carried "exceptional courage around him like a casual accessory, never talking about it, just using it when needed".
His colleague during his time at Dawn, Nizamuddin Siddiqi, said Asmi brought significant changes to the paper by introducing magazines and focused more on national news.
Asmi had also served as the president of the Karachi Press Club (KPC). According to KPC Secretary Arman Sabir, the senior journalist's funeral prayers will be decided after the arrival of his two sons who live abroad.
Salim Asmi was a good teacher who produced many journalists like me and he was kind to me ,said Abdul Sattar Qamar who served 14 years as Multan based Correspondent. After his retirement,atmosphere in "Dawn" changed and he (qamar) had to quit his job
Condolences pour in
Condolences poured in as colleagues and friends reacted to the death of the senior journalist.
Information Minister Shibli Faraz said journalism had lost a "shining star".PPP Senator Sherry Rehman said Asmi carried "exceptional courage around him like a casual accessory, never talking about it, just using it when needed".Hasan Zaidi, editor magazines Dawn, called the senior journalist a "wonderful human being".Talat Aslam, senior editor at The News, said that Asmi was like a father figure to many younger journalists.
"He was my editor when I worked for Dawn in the late 90s and he was always there to offer advice and help. He will be missed by the profession and all those whose lives he touched," he said.
Bilal Farooqui, a journalist working for The Express Tribune, said Asmi was "a guiding light for so many seeking to understand journalistic standards and practices".Dawn correspondent Nasir Jamal said there were "no words to express his feelings" at Asmi's demise. "A wonderful journalist and one of the finest editors, and more than that a great human being. I am proud to have worked under him," he said.Shazia Hasan, another Dawn correspondent, recalled Asmi taking a chance and hiring her as a 19-year-old student. "He often called me after reading my reports and would tell me to write shorter intros," she said.
"Recently, we had met at KPC and I was telling someone in front of him that editors come and go but Asmi Sahab is 'my' editor because he hired me," she said. He replied that if he was still editor he would have fired me because of my long intros for news reports drawing laughter from the people around us, she remembered.
Journalist Owais Tohid said the senior journalist was "a rock solid editor [and] a beautiful painter [who] believed in liberal values [and] stood for human rights".