Journalist Faisal Rahman Kishwar remembered

Late journalist Faisal Rahman Kishwar was remembered by his friends and colleagues at a remembrance program in Dhaka on Tuesday. Faisal, 33, died suddenly of a cardiac arrest on March 9 in Dhaka. He was the District Coordinator for the Dhaka Tribune. Praising him as “a man of many talents”, his friends recounted their memories of Kishwar and his dedication to his work and to nature, politics and film. The remembrance program was organised by the Chhabir Larai platform of left-leaning film activists at Bishwo Shahitto Kendro in Dhaka. Faisal had a diverse career and had previously worked for The Independent, UNB and New Age. He was always very vocal in the face of injustice and played key a role in organizing people on campus to discuss politics and their rights, according to his university friends. “Kishwar’s untimely death is a great loss for society and politics,”said Firoz Ahmed, coordinator at Democratic Left Alliance. Kishwar was actively involved in filmmaking and was a member of Chalachitra Andolon in his student life. A graduate of English from Jahangirnagar University, he was also an organizer of Chhabir Larai. He produced a documentary film “Bt Brinjal in the Dock” which tells the story of the genetically modified venture in Bangladesh from the farmers’ point of view. The film was a collaborative effort by around 30 activists and journalists, including Zaeed Aziz and Delowar Jahan, whose investigative work was featured by GMWatch. “Kishwar was the one who understood the negative impact of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) on agriculture (and) his departure is a great loss for the anti-GMO movement,” said Ubinig Executive Director Farida Akhter. Prothom Alo journalist Iftekhar Mahmud said Kishwar’s documentary on BT Brinjal was the one that had stopped the controversial agenda of releasing BT brinjal to the market by half. Others remembered Faisal’s deep love of nature, his compassion for others, and his dedication to farmers and agriculture.