Kuldip Nayar

Early life and education

Nayar was born at Sialkot, Punjab, British India on 14 August 1923, in a Punjabi Sikh family. He was educated at Murray College. He completed his B.A. (Hons.) from the Forman Christian College Lahore and LL.B. from the Law College Lahore. In 1952, he studied journalism from the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University on a scholarship.

Career

Nayar was initially an Urdu press reporter. He was editor of the Delhi edition of the English newspaper The Statesman and was arrested towards the end of the Indian Emergency (1975–77). In 1978 he founded the Editors Guild of India.

He was also a human rights activist and a peace activist. He was a member of India's delegation to the United Nations in 1996. He was appointed High Commissioner to Great Britain in 1990 and nominated to the upper house of Indian Parliament, Rajya Sabha in August 1997.

He wrote syndicated columns and op-eds that were published in over 80 newspapers in 14 languages including the Deccan Herald (Bengaluru), The Daily Star, The Sunday Guardian, The News, The Statesman, The Express Tribune, Dawn, and PrabhaSakshi.

Peace activist

Every year since 2000, Nayar had been leading peace activists to light candles on the Independence days of Pakistan and India (14/15 August) at the Attari-Wagah India-Pakistan border near Amritsar.

He was a close friend of another Pakistani politician ch. Jaleel Ahmed Khan (Ex-MNA) who arranged the launch of Nayar's book (Beyond the lines : An Autobiography) in Avari hotel Lahore in 2013. Both of them participated in various peace enhancing events in both countries as ch. Jaleel Ahmed Khan a senior Pakistani politician who migrated from India in 1947 also strongly advocated peace between the two neighboring countries.

He had started a tradition of candle vigil since 1995 at Indo-Pak Wagah Border during midnight of 14–15 August for India-Pakistan Peace through celebration of Independence Day and remembering people of both sides. In later years of his life, he could not participate in this due to his old age but inspired many young folks to continue the tradition. Ten days before his death, he had flagged off 'Aman-Dosti Yatra' which was a 40-member delegation of Aaghaz-e-Dosti that marched from Delhi to Wagah Border under leadership of Aaghaz-e-Dosti founder Ravi Nitesh and Gandhi Global family's secretary Ram Mohan Rai for lighting candles for Indo-Pak Peace and thus continued his legacy. This was his last public presence.

Political commentator

As a political commentator, Nayar wrote his views freely on most politically current issues. He had supported the movement of Anna Hazare and chided the Pakistan Government for not apologising for the army atrocities in East Pakistan in 1971 that led to the formation of Bangladesh, and for allowing drugs to be smuggled into India.

Nayar has been accused of supporting "anti-Indian conspiracy theories". In a February 2010 article in Pakistani newspaper Dawn, he alleged that the Indian anti-terrorism squad leader Hemant Karkare was murdered by Hindu right-wing activists. In July 2011 US authorities confirmed that Nayar attended many events in United States hosted by and supported by Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, which had been funded by Pakistan ISI.

Author

Kuldip Nayar has written widely about current issues and historic persons, including Jawaharlal Nehru and Barry Manilow. Nayar has advocated a policy of bilateral talks and engagement with India's neighbour Pakistan. He was known for his vision of a new South Asia, in which Pakistan and India would be on friendly terms.

Nayar's autobiography is entitled Beyond the Lines. The book was released in July 2012. In 1999, he was awarded an Alumni Merit Award by Northwestern University.

Personal life

He was married and had two sons, and several grandchildren.

Nayar died in Delhi at 12:30 am on 23 August 2018. His funeral took place on 24 August 2018 at Lodhi Crematorium and was attended by former prime minister Manmohan Singh, current ministers Harsh Vardhan and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore; former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. As per his last wishes, ashes were immersed in Ravi River on the outskirts of Lahore in Pakistan by his family and friends, including Aitzaz Ahsan.

Awards

• 2003- Astor Award for Press Freedom
• 2007- Shaheed Niyogi Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement
• 2015- Ramnath Goenka Jeevan Gaurav award.
• 2019- Padma Bhushan (Posthumous)

Bibliography

Nayar is the author of at least 15 books:

References

References

1. "RAJYA SABHA MEMBERS BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 1952–2003". [[Rajya Sabha]].
2. (23 August 2018). "Kuldip Nayar, former Editor of The Indian Express, dies at 95". Indian Express.
3. (23 August 2018). "Kuldip Nayar- Fighter against Emergency who followed his conscience". The Economic Times.
4. (29 July 2012). "Flashback: Of the days gone by".
5. Nayar, Kuldip. (10 August 2012). "Beyond the Lines: An Autobiography". Roli Books Private Limited.
6. (25 August 2018). "Kuldip Nayar: Life and work". The Daily Star.
7. "Journalist Kuldip Nayar, Modern India's Chronicler And Conscience Keeper". NDTV.com.
8. "Hall of Achievement: Kuldip Nayar".
9. "Nayar".
10. Gupta, Shekhar. (25 August 2018). "Kuldip Nayar: The rock star Reporter who should've been Editor". The Print.
11. Shah, Priyal, and Aakanksha Chaturvedi. [https://sprf.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/SPRF-2021_Journalism-Paper_Curated-Voices_Final.pdf "Laws for Journalists in India: An Overview."]
12. Nayar, Kuldip. "LEADERS & MISLEADERS". The Guardian.
13. Nayar, Kuldip. "All stories / articles Kuldip Nayar".
14. "Geeta should have opened more doors". The Statesman.
15. Nayar, Kuldip. "Stories by Kuldip Nayar". [[The Express Tribune]].
16. Nayar, Kuldip. "Posts by Kuldip Nayar". [[Dawn (newspaper).
17. Nayar, Kuldip. (20 December 2017). "Columns by Kuldip Nayar".
18. (30 August 2010). "Who Has The Matches?". Outlook (India).
19. "List of members & addresses - Members East Bengal".
20. (21 August 2018). "The Aman-Dosti Yatra: A voice for Indo-Pak peace".
21. Rana, Yudhvir. (August 17, 2018). "'Aman Dosti Yatra' reaches Attari, backs Indo-Pak peace {{!}} Chandigarh News - Times of India".
22. (23 August 2018). "कुलदीप नैयर: साहस और गरिमा का संयोग".
23. (28 July 2018). "Dangers to secularism in India".
24. Outlook Publishing. (28 January 2008). "Outlook". Outlook Publishing.
25. (31 July 2011). "Governments to be blamed for Indo-Pak animosity: Kuldip Nayar". Daily News and Analysis.
26. Nayar, Kuldip. (20 December 2011). "The birth of Bangladesh". [[The Express Tribune]].
27. (12 January 2012). "Pakistan pushing drugs into Punjab: Kuldip Nayar". Sify.
28. Nayar, Kuldip. (19 February 2010). "Politics of terrorism". [[Dawn (newspaper).
29. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120913043353/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-07-20/us/29793885_1_kashmir-issue-kac-indian-officials L'affaire Fai: US lawmakers, Indian liberals come under scrutiny] Times of India – 20 July 2011
30. (7 September 2004). "India, Pakistan press rue Kashmir deadlock". BBC.
31. "Kuldip Nayyer". [[Herald (Pakistan)]].
32. "Kuldip Nayar's autobiography to be released on birthday in August". NewKerala.
33. (23 August 2018). "Kuldip Nayar laid to rest amid sea of politicians, scribes". The Indian Express.
34. (23 August 2018). "Kuldip Nayar laid to rest amid sea of politicians, scribes". The Indian Express.
35. "Kuldeep ashes immersed in Ravi".
36. (1 March 2003). "Award for Kuldip Nayar". [[The Hindu]].
37. (10 September 2007). "Kuldip Nayar presented lifetime achievement award". [[The Hindu]].
38. Sengupta, Arghya. (2011). "Judicial Independence and the Appointment of Judges to the Higher Judiciary in India: A Conceptual Enquiry". The Indian Journal of Constitutional Law.