January 30 marked a 'red letter' day and moment for the journalistic fraternity of Jammu and Kashmir when the Government of Zimbabwe honoured the Editor-in-Chief of the Brighter Kashmir newspaper, Mr. Farooq Wani, with the Zimbabwe-India Trade Council (ZITC) award for Excellence in Journalism for the year 2023.
The Ambassador of Zimbabwe, His Excellency Dr. Godfrey Majoni Chipare, handed over the Certificate of Appreciation linked to the award to Mr. Wani in national capital New Delhi today in the presence of ZITC Award Committee President, Dr. Asif Iqbal, other committee members and guests.
In conferring the award on Mr. Wani, Ambassador Chipare, speaking on behalf Dr. Iqbal, and other committee members, said that the Certificate of Appreciation was being awarded to Mr. Wani not only for pursuing his craft of journalism with professional skill, commitment and excellence, but also "with a view to encourage him and other media to pursue its duties following the dictum of 'Freedom with Responsibility”.
Ambassador Chipare warmly acknowledged Mr. Wani's nearly one-and-a-half decades contribution in the field of journalism, highlighting Mr. Wani's specific focus on current developments in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, saying that issues covered by the latter over the last 13 years has given a positive and nationalist oriented birds eye view of the region to a cross-section of Indian society. He said Mr. Wani's reporting and publishing of news of and about J&K would also encourage the younger generation, especially young aspiring Kashmiris, to consider journalism and other media as viable career options.
Later, in an exclusive interview given to Brighter Kashmir, Ambassador Chipare spoke extensively about India-Zimbabwe bilateral relations, covering a wide range of areas of mutual interest. During the course of the interview, Ambassador Chipare said bilateral ties between Zimbabwe and India were very robust and productive.
"Zimbabwe and India have excellent relations. In the post-Independence era, we have exchanged and engaged at the highest level, and have always had close and cordial relations. Zimbabwe and India share a similarity of views on most international issues and closely cooperate with each other on several multilateral fora. Both politically and at the economic level, our engagement is positive and progressive and it is benefitting the two countries. India has been a partner in the development of Zimbabwe," said Ambassador Chipare.
When asked to comment on prospects of trade and commerce with Kashmir in particular, the Zimbabwean envoy said: "Well, I see trade with the whole of India, but if there are specific products,areas or programmes of mutual interest to our two nations from that part of India (Kashmir), we would be happy to explore such opportunities.