Srinagar | WTNS | September 17:One of the Kashmir`s prominent forum of newspapers owners, Kashmir Editors Guild (KEG) on Monday elected its new body for a 2-year mandate. The Editor of daily Kashmir Observer Sajjad Haider was elected as president, Masood Hussain as Secretary-General, Shafat Kira and Manzoor Anjum as Vice Presidents and Haji Mohammad Hayat as new Treasurer of the Kashmir Editors Guild.

The elections were held after a gap of more than two years as its former body had completed its term in office. The elections were held after due nominations were filed with all its members participating in the election exercise.

The voting was held after the completion of nominations for which papers were submitted in advance. The members who participated in Tuesday polling include Fayaz Ahmad Kaloo (Greater Kashmir), Bashir Manzar (Kashmir Images), Bashir Ahmad Bashir (Srinagar Times), Sajjad Haider (Kashmir Observer), Haji Hayat (Kashmir Reader), Tahir Mohiuddin (Chattan), Manzoor Anjum (Uqab), Jeelani Qadri (Daily Afaaq), Haroon Rashid (Nida-ie-Mashriq), Shafat Kira (Kashmir Vision), Aakash Amin (Tameel-e-Irshad), Masood Hussain (Kashmir Life) Zahoor Malik (Kashmir Times) and Shameem Me’raj (Kashmir Monitor).

KEG’s new President Sajjad Haider, a journalist of repute, studied engineering in Chennai and later journalism at Tehran University. Haider began his career in 1990 during first Gulf War, which he covered for Tehran Times. He subsequently took up an assignment for National Iranian Radio and Television and moved to New Delhi. In 1994 he returned to Kashmir and contributed to various international media organizations including BBC online, Deutsche Welle, IRNA and IRIB from Srinagar. In 1997 Sajjad Haider founded the daily Kashmir Observer.

In 2006, Sajjad Haider was awarded the prestigious Chevening Fellowship by Great Britain. He studied at the Centre for Security & Diplomacy, Birmingham University. As an expert on South Asian and Middle Eastern affairs, he has been invited to global events including the ones organized by the Arab Thought Foundation in Dubai and the World Editors Forum in Gothenburg. His views have been aired internationally by Al-Jazeera, the BBC, CBC, the Voice of America and published extensively in international journals.

Masood Hussain, who was elected the Secretary-General is a journalist since 1987. After working for the Kashmir Times for over a decade, he moved to The Economic Times, which he left in 2015. He took over Kashmir Life as editor in 2018.

The newly elected Vice President, Shafat Kira, is a postgraduate in Mass Communication and Journalism who was associated with various media organizations like NDTV, Amar Ujala, Indian Express, Daily Excelsior and Deutsche Welle (Voice of Germany-Radio). Shafat Kira has been active in the field since the last 19 years and during his stint as a journalist has been associated with various other media outlets including some local news organizations also. His participation in various talk shows and programmes on diverse issues on various news platforms have earned him accolades from his colleagues in the field.

Kirra later started ‘Daily Kashmir Vision’ in 2009 and since then has been heading the news organization which has been providing a strong and a viable platform for the young and budding Journalists and Mass Communication pass outs in Kashmir.

KEG, Vice President Manzoor Ajnum, one of the senior-most Journalists had decades of experience behind his back. He has been in the field of journalism since the early 70’s and his write-ups were quite a hit during the days he was associated with Daily ‘Hamdard’ published from Srinagar.

Manzoor Anjum, a poet and a story writer was a regular contributor to ‘Khatooni Mashriq’ and various other well-read magazines and journals. It was during 1976 that Manzoor Anjum started ‘Daily Uqab’ and has since then been its Editor. His regular columns like ‘Namak Paray’ have been an apt description of the daily happenings in Kashmir.

KEG Treasurer, Haji Mohammad Hayat is a post-graduate in Sociology from Aligarh Muslim University who has been involved with various media brands launched by his group.

Mohammad Hayat started a multilingual news agency (Press Bureau of India) in 2007. The news agency became an instant hit because of its bold and up to date coverage. Later Mohammad Hayat started ‘Kashmir Conveyor’ a monthly magazine in 2009 and ‘Kashmir Reader’ a daily newspaper, was launched by the group in 2011.

Haji Mohammad Hayat is also credited with starting the first outdoor media publicity company ‘Helpline’ advertising services.