JEDDAH: Javed Akhtar Siddiqui, a former senior editor of Arab News, passed away at his Mumbai residence yesterday afternoon after a brief illness. He was 58 and is survived by his mother, wife and three sons, two of them working abroad. His family members and friends were present at his burial last night.
According to family sources, Akhtar was diagnosed with liver cancer 15 days ago and took treatment at Mumbai’s Leelavati Hospital. He was discharged from the hospital as a terminal case on Tuesday. He breathed his last at his Andheri residence around 3 p.m.
Recalling Akhtar’s association with Arab News for 19 years, from Sept. 17, 1989 to Feb. 4, 2008, Editor in Chief Khaled Almaeena said Akhtar contributed articles, interviews and sports commentaries for the daily. “He was excellent at editing, writing and reporting. He also supervised contributors, commissioned stories for our daily pages, weekly Sports/Review sections and was a great asset to the newspaper. Above all, he was an intelligent, motivated, hard-working, well mannered and a very helpful team member of our editorial staff,” Almaeena said.
Akhtar, a qualified engineer, began his career with Western Railway and played for its basketball team in the 1970s alongside one of India’s greatest players like Abbas Moontasir in an era when some of the top basketballers of the country were around. He played for Bombay University and represented Maharashtra state and the Railways in the national championships.
He quit the Railways to become a sports journalist, starting his new career with the now defunct Sportsweek and then joined the Daily. He pursued his journalistic career with his own expensive cameras and interviewed many legendary figures including Pakistan’s cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan and India’s veteran movie actor Dilip Kumar. He treasured some such interviews and used to play the cassettes to his friends and admirers.
Akhtar was the media in-charge of the Pakistani cricket team during its tour of India in 2007.
After his Arab News stint, he joined the Adfactors PR agency as a consultant in Mumbai looking after the media accreditation and publicity of the Indian Premier League (IPL). He traveled to almost all cricket-playing nations reporting on tours by India and Pakistan teams. “Within a short time of his joining us, he became an asset for the company through his excellent work and contacts,” Madan Bahal, managing director of Adfactors PR agency said.
Salahuddin Ahmed, former chief selector of Pakistan Cricket Board and a personal friend of Akhtar, said: “He was a born journalist and a thorough professional in his field. He covered many sporting events including Indian cricket team’s visit to Pakistan and interviewed Pakistani cricket legends including Imran Khan, Javed Miandad and Shahid Afridi. He will always be remembered for his work.”
Shahid Amin from Jeddah Cricket League; Iqbal Chaudhry, A.A.A. Merchant and Ejaz Ahmed Khan from Jeddah Cricket Association; Jabbar Hussain from Yanbu Cricket League; Riyadh Cricket Association President Abdul Qadeer Mirza; EPCA President Sikander Kamal Farooqi and Zahid Ali of Madinah Cricket Association expressed their sorrow over Akhtar’s death.
