Dear Editor,
While in India to enjoy cricket, I was saddened to read of the passing of outstanding journalist Sharief Khan.
We were not friends but I have some anecdotal comments to make about him. We shared some quality time together at the offices of Stabroek News and the Chronicle, two publications that helped to build my writing and polling skills.
He was one of the finest reporters the country produced, and a fair assistant editor and editor of the SN and Chronicle, respectively, and one of the fiercest defenders of democracy.
I knew of Sharief long before I met him in 1987 at the office of SN (which started in 1986 right after the interview of Desmond Hoyte conducted by Trinidad Express publisher Ken Gordon following the rigged election of December 1985). Sharief knew of my writings and activism in NY long before SN came into existence. And he edited several of my pieces which were published by SN.
It was Sharief who introduced me to the late David de Caires, who upon meeting me commented: “You are the guy who writes these long, breathless, sentences and unending commentaries” on Guyana’s politics and the struggle for the restoration of democracy. de Caires praised my work and thanked me for my regular contributions to his paper.
Later, it was Sharief who also introduced me (and pollster academic Prof Baytoram Ramharack) to Anand Persaud, who interviewed us about polls. SN published the poll conducted by TRPI in 1991. And Anand did a good interview with Ramharack that was subsequently published in a Sunday edition of SN.
Sharief encouraged me and others to write against the oppressive dictatorship publishing what was written, and he quietly supported our struggle in New York against the Hoyte regime since as a newspaper man he could not openly side with us. As editor of SN, he carried commentaries critical of the dictatorship written by myself, my colleagues Baytoram Ramharack and Ravi Dev. And he prodded NY activists to sustain the pressure on American politicians to force the holding of free and fair elections. He was very pleased to learn of our activities organizing protest demonstrations and leafletting against the dictatorship.
After the PPP won the October 1992 elections, Sharief was plucked from SN to become editor of the Chronicle, and he remained supportive of my work. He asked me to become the paper’s correspondent in NY on Guyanese related events and issues and to pen a Sunday column which I did for a brief period. Sharief complained that he received a lot of flack for my aggressive writings against those who were tied to the former dictatorship. He introduced me to the concept of ‘KISS’ – keep it short and simple. He loved my reports on Guyanese Americans which continued until I chose to move over to SN around 2002.
When Dr Jagan was flown to the US in March 1997 after his massive heart attack, I was in the Philippines and Sharief asked me to monitor the story. When I returned to the US, I penned several reports and commentaries on the breaking news including of Dr Jagan’s death. It was Sharief who commissioned the first polls in Guyana in 1997 and again in 2001 conducted by Vishnu Bisram for NACTA. The polls predicted PPP victories in 1997 and again in 2001. The polls were attacked by the opposition and Sharief carried the attacks as well as my responses in the Chronicle. One Olato Sam penned a nasty commentary on the poll which GC published in September 1997. Even Stabroek News ran a critical editorial on the poll in September 1997 saying “polls could be wrong and they are not ordained in heaven,” noting that polls were wrong in England.
Sharief and I stayed in touch even after I stopped writing for GC and from time to time he would ask me to verify stories out of NY which I did out of respect for his journalistic integrity.
I met him in NY some few years ago and he told me he took leave from editing to undergo medical treatment. Then he resumed editing at GC followed by a sudden departure as editor. I subsequently learnt that he was in frail health. Only last year, I found out that he was doing consulting work at the Office of the President. Attempts to reach him failed.
We will miss this outstanding journalist for whom the country shall be indebted for his quality work at SN and GC.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
