Former editor of The Muslim Salamat Ali passes away

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published 7 years ago

ISLAMABAD - Syed Salamat Ali Zaidi, former editor of Islamabad’s first independent daily The Muslim, passed away on Wednesday. He was 84.

His funeral prayers were held at the Imambargah in G-9, attended by a large number of his relatives, friends, and colleagues. He was later buried at the H-11 Graveyard.

Salamat Ali had fractured his left leg some time back and was admitted to Fauji Foundation Hospital where he died.

He began his career with the Pakistan Times. He edited The Muslim for about a year and a half in the late 1990s.

He was arrested from Islamabad during the era of military dictator Ziaul Haq in 1978 for writing a critical article for the Far Eastern Economic Review. He was also arrested during the dictatorship of Ayub Khan.

Veteran journalist Nasir Zaidi said the deceased was always in the forefront in the struggle for freedom of expression. “He always stood up against dictatorship.”