SRINAGAR: One of the respected officers of the information department who also worked with various media organisations, post-retirement, Ali Mohammad Khan is no more. He passed away last night. He was 77.
A resident of Buchpora in Srinagar, Khan is survived by his wife and three daughters, of whom two are settled.
Khan breathed his last at around 10 pm and was laid to rest around midnight. He was immobile for some orthopaedic issues for the last many years. He has died of cardiac arrest.
For most of his career in the information department, Khan was usually being referred to as the “engine of the translation section” as he was being seen as a living dictionary of Urdu and English.
“Khan Sahib was a wonderful person – a gentleman par excellence, professionally very sound and committed, down to earth, humble and polite human being whom I have never ever once seen losing his cool or entering into an argument with anyone,” his erstwhile colleague and author, Khalid Bashir Ahmad wrote on his Facebook. “Respectful to his seniors and juniors alike, he was an asset for his department, proficient in both English and Urdu language as he was.”
“He was in the truest sense of the phrase a self-made person,” former minister and Khan’s erstwhile colleague Naeem Akhter wrote. “Having got employed at the lowest level he continued to upgrade his knowledge, skills and qualifications. While still at the entry point of his career, he was the best translator the newsroom had.”
After he retired from the service as District Information Officer, Pulwama in 1998, Khan remained associated with the Urdu newspaper Kashmir Uzma for many years. He had joined the Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) in 1958.
Khan’s friends said the family sources said they would condole the death for three days. No congregational Fateh is planned.
