When I was working in Haveeru, I had to meet the late Mohamed Zahir Naseer as he was the President of the Olympic Committee. But he was busy at most of the time. This is the normal response I would get.
"From which paper? Oh. Oh. So you are with Shaheeb (Haveeru former Editor, current President of Broadcasting Commission). We can talk about all the issues now. You have one and half minutes, your time begins now,"
One the minute and half was over, he would hang up. I would have to call him again the next day. Except on a few days, I would not be able to get a full response to all my questions. So I paid him a visit to the Olympic Committee one day. Zahir Naseer was at the office alone. After asking many questions, pointed at an ordinary chair and instructed me to sit down. I sat down in a different chair and was at the receiving end of his criticism. He refused to continue the meeting.
"You failed to follow instructions. This cannot be carried out today. Come tomorrow at 10. Come on time, wait outside and call the phone," he said, pointing at the Maldives Olympic Committee board out of the 20 odd boards displayed outside the building. Then he left.
I went the next morning, following his instructions to a T. When I asked him for details of the 1979 badminton team in Reunion and the bronze winning football team. He gave me a torch, with two 555 brand batteries in it. Then he ushered me into the storage unit that held various books.
"All the answers for your questions you will be able to find it here. I will be back in a while,"
After saying this he left, leaving me in the cramped, dark space. Trying to find the books in the space was a difficult task; I was covered in sweat in a few minutes. After a while I went out and sat in the said chair he had designated for me. Zahir came back to office after 1pm.
I vented out my frustrations. He gave me a don don bottle and a pack of nutro biscuits, telling me that this was the food for the day. Then he went, retrieved a book then showed me a list of the badminton squad from the book. After a while, I asked him why he had taken me to the storage unit.
"You all want to find information the easy way. Information cannot be found that way. When I make you work for it, then you will save the information. Or I will have to keep on supplying you with the same information. You have to realize the value of the information. You cannot make any changes, the information has to be as in the book," Zahir said.
Warning that my editor Shaheeb would make amendments if I changed any information in the book, he dismissed me.
State dignitary and former Minister Umar Zahir's brother, Zahir Naseer was a talented man. He spent his entire career in the sports field. He was the first person to release a paper in English; Morning Sun was released in Sri Lanka, with two issues coming out every week. In 1993, he received the Gold Pen for excellence in Journalism on the Golden Jubilee of journalism in the country. He won the national service award in the Silver Jubilee of national independence. He was the recipient of the honor award for his services to the sporting field in the country.
His first articles were on the Peter Wright Magazine published by St. Peter's College. This was followed by articles in Moonlight, "Viyafaari Miadhu", "Munnaaru" and NSA newsletter.
He was also the first doctor in the country. Zahir first served as Secretary to Foreign Lawyer at the Home Ministry. He served as Secretaries to the Foreign Ministry, Health Ministry, Finance Ministry, Special Lawyer t Health Ministry and Observer at Met Department.
In addition to serving as President of Olympic Committee, he served as Secretary of the first sports organization, Lawyer for Sports Division and Advisor on Youth Welfare and Recreation. He ran the Nasir Sports Academy (NSA) until very recently and he had founded New Sports Academy.
"Zahir was one of the most valuable personalities in the sporting field the country. The service he gave is invaluable. He worked hard to develop the sporting field in the country," former National team captain Ibrahim Ismail said.
Zahir's service to the nation will be forever immortalized in the sporting field and journalism.
