Shillong, Aug 8: Veteran journalist Rabiul Islam, who served as the first Executive Editor of Highland Post when the paper was launched in 2013, passed away at Apollo International Hospital in Guwahati in the early hours of Saturday.
He was 69. He died of respiratory failure following pneumonia.
Islam was a familiar name in newsrooms across Meghalaya and Assam. Born in Dhubri, he built a career that spanned decades and states, but it was in Shillong where many readers came to know his voice.
When Highland Post began in 2013, he took on the role of Executive Editor and helped shape the paper in its formative years, bringing with him the clarity and steadiness of a reporter who had seen the region change up close.
Beyond the newsroom, Islam devoted much of himself to people on the margins. He worked with Kripa Foundation in Shillong and later set up Ashray, a rehabilitation centre in his hometown Dhubri.
For him, journalism and service were not separate callings. He believed in telling stories, and in staying to help after the story was filed.
Those who knew him in Shillong and Guwahati also knew another side of Rabiul Islam — the musician.
A talented guitarist and singer, he could move from an editorial meeting to a small gathering with a guitar and hold a room with the same ease. Music, like writing, was how he connected.
He leaves behind a body of work in print, a network of colleagues who learned from him, and a quiet legacy of care through Ashray and his years with Kripa.
Highland Post remembers him as one of its own from the very beginning — a guiding editor, a colleague, and a friend.
