After an 85-year long journey, Prof Sakhawat Ali Khan is now resting in his ancestral village Dhanua in Shibpur upazila of Narsingdi. However, discussion and reminiscing on his colourful life is still going on social media and mainstream media outlets. Department of Mass Communication and Journalism has been organising various types of programmes to pay best tribute to a pioneering figure in journalism education in Bangladesh.
Professor Sakhawat Ali Khan was my direct teacher. I had the pleasure of being in his loving presence. I had the opportunity to talk to him privately for four to five days for a research project of PIB (Press Institute of Bangladesh). The memories of those days in the small sitting room for teachers on the ground floor of the Arts building of Dhaka University are still fresh. In which he highlighted various unknown chapters of his journalistic life and cherished teaching career. In 2024, I had a unique opportunity to talk with Professor Sakhawat Ali Khan in his Shahinbag home for the last time. At that time, I was working for a book on this veteran academic.
Professor Sakhawat Ali Khan started his professional life in a weekly newspaper named Sonar Bangla. Renowned journalist Abdul Ghaffar Chowdhury was the head of this weekly. From there, he joined the Paygam, owned by Abdul Monem Khan, former Governor of then East Pakistan. Then on January 5, 1965, he joined Daily Pakistan, which can be mentioned as the newspaper of the National Press Trust. The newspaper started its journey on November 6, 1964, with Abul Kalam Shamsuddin, one of the famous journalists in East Pakistan, as the editor. After being pro-government in nature, many talented journalists of that time joined this newspaper along with Mr. Sakhawat Ali Khan. At that time Daily Pakistan added many innovations to journalism starting from the printing press. The newspaper had a modern printing press too. It introduced the Bangla current language (Cholti Bhasa) in writing news. However, most of the newspapers published at that time were in the Old Bangla language (Shadhu Bhasa). Professor Sakhawat Ali Khan shared two significant events of his Daily Pakistan life with me. One was in 1969’s mass uprising against Pakistani military ruler Ayub Khan. After killing of student activist Amanullah Mohammad Asaduzzaman (Shahid Asad), on 20th January 1969, angry protester burnt down office of Sakhawat Ali Khan working station Daily Pakistan on 24th January.
In 1971, Sakhawat Ali Khan was working as a senior sub-editor in Daily Pakistan. He also shared a vivid description of 25 March of 1971. He told, “On March 25th, my duty was in day shift. The day was full of excitement. Various news was coming from different directions. We discussed the current situation for a long time in the office. We understood that something bad was definitely going to happen. However, we never imagined that the Pakistan army would carry out such barbaric killings. When I left the office, I saw empty streets. I felt traumatised. Then before midnight, the machine gun started firing. I saw many slums burning from my house. Soon after the Pakistan army started its operation at night, the Biharis started militant procession. They marched next to our colony raising slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad, Allahu Akbar’.”
Sakhawat Ali Khan was student of Bangla department in the University of Dhaka. But he completed his postgraduate diploma and M.A. in Journalism from same university. After working few years in the national newspapers of Bangladesh, he joined his own department 1972. He was promoted to the rank of Professor at Dhaka University in 1992 and retired as a Selection Grade Professor in 2008. He served as the Chairman of the Department for two terms (1976-1979 and 2004-2006). He also taught Mass Communication as a part-time teacher at the Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka for twelve years (1997-2008). At that time, he worked closely with Atiquzzaman Khan and Q.A.I.M. Nuruddin to introduce modern mass communication and journalism education in the country. In this stage, I just want to mention that former journalist and sports commentator, Mr. Atiquzzaman Khan, was the founding father of journalism education in Bangladesh. He played a key role in establishing a journalism department in Dhaka University. Later under Sakhawat Ali Khan chairmanship undergraduate program was first introduced in the department in 1977.
After 2008, he continued to serve the department for five more years as a supernumerary professor. Until his death, he remained associated with the department as an honorary professor. Beyond the University of Dhaka, he also served as a part-time adviser and consultant to various private Universities in the country.
In classroom, Sakhawat Ali Khan was always a charming personality. Students found him a family man in academic life. He also taught us not only journalism but also moral ethics and core concept of learning. I want to end this write up with an example. Prof Sakhawat Ali Khan explained an English proverb to us in the class, which is still fresh in my memory. He said that the 12th century English proverb, ‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink’, has a lot to do with a student’s educational life. So, in the teaching process – if someone does not want to learn for themselves, if someone does not want to enlighten themselves, then no effort will succeed.
As an early career academic, I am trying to follow the footsteps of Prof Sakhawat Ali Khan to encourage students in learning. May be many others also trying that and it is the best tribute to a legend of journalism education in Bangladesh.
The views expressed in the article are solely those of the authors’
The writer is an Assistant professor, Mass Communication and journalism, Jagannath University. Email: [email protected]
