Ato Khamdam is a successful journalist, an outstanding publicist, a talented and optimistic writer and publisher, whose time as the head of Adib is considered the most prosperous period of book publishing and the new development of Tajik literature.
He is also called a historical writer. In collaboration with the Russian-speaking Tajik writer L. Chigrin, he published 15 books from the Secrets of Ancient History series.
He is also recognized as an organizer and a prominent public and statesman. In the most difficult days of society, he was a people’s choice and deputy chairman of the country’s Supreme Council Committee for Culture and International Relations, then he was appointed the country’s minister of culture, which was the time of the civil war. He saw the source of all troubles in the low level of spirituality and was proud of the accomplishment of one task – to preserve and preserve the culture in the new country. As the head of the region, he transferred the copyright for his dramatic work to the Cultural Development Fund, which forced others to follow him.
Ato Khamdam worked as a senior adviser in the Office of the President of the country for 9 years (1995-2004), he is a member of the Union of Theater Workers of Tajikistan (1997) and “Honored Worker of the Republic of Tajikistan”. (1999). Currently, he is the director of the drama department of the Writers’ Union of Tajikistan, co-chairman of the Association of Publishers and Translators of the CIS and Baltic countries, a member of the Writers’ Union of Belarus, People’s Writer of the Republic of Tajikistan. Tajikistan.
Journalist and man
11 years of his leadership of the Komsomol Tajik newspaper (1977-1988) went down in the history of the Tajik press as a time of revival of the influence and prestige of the youth newspaper.
He was not only the head of the newspaper, but also a mentor of young writers, and honorably fulfilled this important task. Every employee of the “Komsomol of Tajikistan” of those years knows his loyalty and boundless love for his profession and colleagues. Under him, the newspaper became the source of the best articles, series, ideas and traditions and became the No. 1 newspaper in the RCC of Tajikistan. For the first time on the territory of this newspaper, not only in the ministries, but also in the newspaper’s hotel, the existing problems were also carried out and solved.
“Komsomol of Tajikistan” for the first time revealed the dangerous and terrible vices of society and until then the structures of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the KGB, the police, the prosecutor’s office, as well as the existence of the mafia, terrorism, localism, prostitution, self-immolation, drunkenness and other corruption, regarding fashion. Youth, unpopular sports parties , art, etc. openly spoke to the people, demanded reforms and measures from the relevant authorities, and thereby demonstrated the importance and priority of freedom of the press.
He is also known as one of those people who laid the first bricks of self-consciousness for building an independent Tajikistan and is one of the first revolutionaries of the Gorbachev period of reconstruction. “Rastokhez” and the awakening of the nation began with the “Tajik Komsomol” in the days of his leadership, it turned into a political club of students and youth with a sober heart and published articles on completely forbidden topics. At that time, it began to be called the platform of the country’s youth, the platform of freethinkers, the platform for self-knowledge of the Tajik nation and the most famous newspaper of that period in the republic, the number of its publications reached 200,000. The people who created the newspaper worked hard to identify the grave and shameful vices of society, opened shortcomings and vices of society, spoke about the importance of the national language and traditions, about the need for unity and awakening of Tajiks. . Thus, the paper broke the ice of stupor and set the ship of reconstruction on course for the dreams and hopes of our people for many years to come.
Under pressure from the governor – the communists
And this good deed did not benefit the then owners and managers. The editor-in-chief, who supported the paper’s employees in every possible way and met with many businessmen, was summoned to the authorities after each issue, pressured and threatened. But he still behaved with his employees with his own opinion. The newspaper published more stories that opened the readers’ eyes to the reality of their lives.
Withstanding the pressure, the steadfastness of the leader in his post encouraged the writers of the newspaper to new achievements. It was such enthusiasm that many of the paper’s staff remained at Ato Hamdam’s bar until his last day in office, working productively and standing up for him when needed. It was very interesting and instructive for many officials. The protest and interruption in the work of journalists came at the moment when, finally, in March 1988, they called their editor-in-chief and dismissed him from his post for lack of charges by the decision of the bureau of the Central Committee of the Komsomol. Tajikistan. Employees showed up at SeKa’s door without fear of the authorities.
Kahor Mahkamov is the first secretary of the Central Committee, the head of state is forced to receive several people and say:
“We didn’t shoot at Ato Khamdam. Before the end of the investigation, we fired him. If his innocence is proven, we will restore him to his original place!”
The government commission begins work and conducts an impartial investigation and in its report defends Ato Khamdam and the protesting journalists. This report was to be discussed in the apparatus of the Central Committee, and everyone believed that the editor-in-chief would be reinstated. However, the Seka Bureau, by its decision, accused Ato Khamdam, who spoke sympathetically with colleagues about the language and culture of our people, the past and future of the Tajiks, accused him of nationalism and subjected him to partisan punishment, released him from his duties and forbade the publication of his works, and even the staging of the production ” Khezed Sud is Coming” in the folk theater of the Kofarnikhan region.
Colleagues learned about the dismissal of the editor-in-chief and wanted to go on a hunger strike. But Ato Hamdam did not allow this …
Komsomol Ato forever…
Having passed into the hands of the new leadership, Komsomol of Tajikistan lost its positions and became one of the central newspapers. But the glory and long tradition of this newspaper will never be forgotten. With the resignation of the brave editor-in-chief, the creative school he created and organized did not disappear, but became a great lesson for his students, and they boldly continued these traditions. Even today, many people remember the years of the rise of the professional level of the newspaper with the saying “Zamoni ato hamdam”. Some of the newspaper’s former employees, referred to by the authorities as “Shaikai Ato Hamdam”, now hold positions as heads of influential publications and offices, some have opened personal publications that are highly popular and respected, and some work for world-famous media outlets. and Moscow newspapers.
This is the result of his 75 years of selfless service to the people, who replenished the creative team of the newspaper with young and courageous journalists who, without Ato Khamdam, were not journalists either then or today …
Mirza Abdullah, journalist and researcher
