Celebrated journalist Toab Khan dies

Ekushey Padak-winning celebrated journalist Toab Khan died at United Hospital in Dhaka on Saturday.

He was 87.

His family and colleagues said Toab Khan was admitted to the hospital after falling ill due to old age complications. Doctors declared him dead at 12:40pm.

The family members said the funeral and burial of Toab Khan will be held on Monday after his daughter Tania Khan returns from the US this afternoon.

The first funeral prayers of Toab Khan will be held at the Dainik Bangla office in Tejgaon.

From there, the mortal remains will be taken to the Central Shaheed Minar at 11:30am and kept there to allow people to pay their last tributes till 12:30pm.

Toab Khan’s body will be taken to the National Press Club at 1pm and another funeral prayer will be held there at 1:30pm.

The coffin will be taken to his Gulshan home in the afternoon for the last time. After the third funeral prayer at Azad Mosque in Gulshan after Asr prayers, Toab Khan will be laid to rest at Banani graveyard.

President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have expressed deep shock at the demise of journalist Toab Khan.

“Toab Khan was a pioneer in journalism in Bangladesh. The void created by his death in the country’s media industry will never be filled,” said the president in a condolence message.

“During the liberation war, Toab Khan played the role of a Shabda Sainik at the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra,” said the prime minister in a condolence message.

After independence, he served with patriotism and dedication in various media outlets and other organisations in different capacities, including Dainik Bangla, the government’s chief information officer, director general of the Press Institute of Bangladesh, and the Daily Janakantha, she said.

“The lifelong struggle of this talented journalist will be remembered through his work,” she said.

Born at Rasulpur in Satkhira on April 24, 1934, Toab Khan had a long and chequered career as a journalist.

In 2016, the government conferred the Ekushey Padak on him. In the same year, he was elected an honorary fellow by the Bangla Academy.

Toab Khan served Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the press secretary of the prime minister from 1973 to 1975.

He also served military ruler HM Ershad as the press secretary. After the fall of Ershad, in the face of the 1990 massive uprising, Toab Khan also served acting president Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed, the first interim head of the state and the government in the country, as the press secretary.

Since his student life, Toab Khan used to write about contemporary issues in various newspapers.

He started his journalism career in 1953 through the weekly Janata. In 1955, he joined the Dainik Sangbad.

In 1961, he became the news editor of the Daily News and in 1964, he joined the Dainik Pakistan.

During the war of liberation, Toab Khan joined the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra where he hosted a popular programme called ‘Pindir Pralap’.

Toab Khan became the first editor of the Dainik Bangla on January 14, 1972. The state-run newspaper was renamed from Dainik Pakistan after the independence of Bangladesh.

The veteran journalist also served as the country’s chief information officer and director general of the Press Institute of Bangladesh.

In 1993, Toab Khan joined the Bangla daily Janakantha as the advisory editor.

Toab Khan’s last working place was the Dainik Bangla where he joined as the editor in 2021 after the newspaper was republished under a new private management following a hiatus of around two decades.