By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 26 Mar: Veteran journalist and one of the most well known faces from Uttarakhand across the world, Harish Chandola passed away this morning at his Delhi residence. Many journalists’ organisations and Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami have expressed grief at his death.
Chandola was among the most well known faces in journalism from Uttarakhand and had held important positions in leading newspapers of the country like The Times of India, The Hindustan Times, Indian Express and The Statesman. He had been living a quiet life for the past few years near Joshimath, but had continued to write on important topics in English as well as in Hindi. In the course of his long journalistic career that spanned over 60 years, he covered a number of crucial events in modern Indian and world history.
Chandola had begun as a desk journalist in the early fifties in New Delhi when he decided to become a field reporter. In 1952, he had crossed over to Tibet and was witness to the Chinese aggression there. He was captured by Chinese PLA forces in Tibet who considered him to be an Indian spy. However, later they allowed him to move around with them even as his employers in New Delhi assumed him to be dead. He returned to India after two years. He was a prolific writer who has written some very well known books like ‘At Large in World’ published by Harper Collins and ‘Naga Story : First Armed Struggle In India’ and ‘Jang Ke Maidan Se’ in Hindi. He had also served as foreign correspondent with some of the leading English dailies for a long time. He was perhaps among the first Indian journalists to have covered international wars and lived in more than a dozen countries. One of his major contributions to the country was his role in brokering peace in Nagaland and in the signing of the famous Naga Peace Accord. He even married a Naga girl.
He had profound knowledge of developments in countries like Afghanistan and those of West Asia and the Arab world.