|
NEWS
FILE ONE
When no one is in charge
Dawn
- February 2001
By
Zafar Samdani
THE unfortunate incident involving the Frontier
Post (FP), Peshawar, has been dealt with relatively quickly by the
government, possibly because of the grave nature of the issue, with
the appointment of a tribunal to investigate the circumstances under
which the blasphemous letter was carried by the newspaper in its issue
of January 29. One, nevertheless, wishes the authorities had
demonstrated greater urgency in taking the decision and adopted stern
measures against the groups that went on a rampage almost instantly.
The APNS has also formed a fact-finding body to probe the FP issue.
According to reports in the Press, members of the 'body' would visit
Peshawar to meet the governor of the province and ulema. It is
difficult to comprehend exactly what the plan of action is and what
purpose meetings with the governor and ulema would accomplish. The
matter is now out of hands of the provincial administration and the
ulema - the less said about some of these self-appointed guardians of
religion and morality of the people the better.
Mr A.B.S. Jafri exhaustively and candidly discussed the question of
authenticity of their credentials in a recent article. Nothing can be
added to the subject after that.
As the tribunal consisting of a judge of Peshawar High Court,
appointed on February 1, was given seven days to complete the task,
its findings must have been made public by now (and not withheld like
other such reports), there is no room for either speculations or
suggestions. But a few personal experiences, which could be viewed as
indirectly linked with the newspaper's present plight, maybe added.
They are from the brief period of my association with FP as Editor of
its Lahore issue.
Taking over a planned publication when substantial professional
staffing had already been carried out meant playing on a slippery
wicket. I did not have the heart to sack any employee appointed
despite lack of eligibility for the job. To their credit, it must,
however, be said that majority of them were diligent workers and many
of them later distinguished themselves as journalists.
The date of FP's publication from Lahore coincided with (the then)
Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's state visit to the US. Having been
invited to accompany the PM on the trip, I had a problem. I addressed
a letter of apology to Ms Bhutto, explaining why I had to forego the
privilege of being a member of her entourage. Colleagues and
well-wishers suggested postponement of the launching date. They argued
that as this had been done more than once for FP, Lahore, the roof
would not collapse because of a new deadline. The commitment was not
revocable for me.There was another complication. The prime minister
had been requested to preside over the launching ceremony. Rehmat Shah
Afridi, owner/ chief editor of FP, was doubtful that she would agree.
She had earlier been invited to a function for FP, Peshawar and she
declined; the second time she accepted the invitation but did not show
up while hundreds of guests waited for her. She declined but I was
told, only because the date suggested by us clashed with her US trip.
I was assured on behalf of her that other than this obvious problem,
she had no reservations and she would be pleased to accept an
invitation from FP, Lahore for another date. The publication of the
newspaper was undertaken from July 11, 1989, as announced but the date
of official launching was left to her convenience after her return
from the US.It was August 17, with Abdus Sattar Eidhi as the Chief
Guest.
On Aug 16, we published a supplement on the death anniversary of Gen.
Zia ul Haq. The first call I received on that morning was from Rao
Rashid, then an Adviser to PM. "You too Brutus," he said
with a mix of humour and resentment.
I replied that while I never was an admirer of the late dictator, he
remained a part of national history; we could ignore a discussion on
him. The supplement contained some articles from die-hard protagonists
of Zia and an equal number of contributions from his critics. One
article was of possibly of special interest to many people. It was in
praise of the General by a writer who had since been converted to Ms
Bhutto's cause with even greater zeal. The prime minister attended the
function as scheduled. There were two reportable aspects of that
event. One, her unqualified praise for Eidhi. Two, Afridi established
a direct link with her.
FP, Lahore, quickly found its feet. As the newspaper started settling
down, the management felt that it had established itself and began
asserting itself increasingly in staffing and policy matters, which,
in opinion, was bound to reflect negatively on the newspaper. I did
not wish to be there when the impact of these developments manifested
itself.
The management and the editor chalk out the policy of a newspaper
jointly and it is not to be subjected to whimsical or personal
reasons. It is to be consistently followed unless ground conditions
warrant a revision. But a variety of sycophants and 'professionals'
were attracted to what promised to be a rewarding hunting ground. They
made things difficult.
As for me, the hollow glory of a figurehead editor was not my concept
of the job, nor did the social status and connections editorship is
supposed to bestow on the incumbent attract me. It could not allure a
journalist who had started his career with someone like Mr Ahmed Ali
Khan.
I called it a day by March 1, 1990, that is, in less than a year's
time. My parting advice to the management was that a competent
professional editor, whose judgment was fully trusted, was the basic
prerequisite for a newspaper to sustain. Otherwise, anything could
happen. FP was then on a rising crest, the advice went unheeded. FP,
Peshawar had no editor the day it carried the blasphemous letter. Col.
Chishti, who retired from Inter Services Public Relations last year
was the newspaper's Editor till about four days before the
sacrilegious blunder. He had resigned as he was unhappy with the
management.
No professional newsman was in command on that day. It is not that the
Editor reads every word before it is printed but his very presence
which brings order to the proceedings. I have not been in touch with
Chishti, who is well known to many journalists from his Pakistan Times
and The Muslim days, since his exit from FP and am unaware of the
precise reasons behind his resignation. I certainly have no idea if he
felt uneasy because of undefined and unclear shadows. They had
perturbed me. There was no concrete and irrefutable evidence but I
had, at times, the feeling of being in strange environments.
A recalled incident may elaborate my misgivings. Afridi suggested one
day that we should send our own representatives to Afghanistan to
report the developments; they should be associated with Mujahideen, he
said. I agreed and replied that I would put the proposition to
reporters and find out who was ready to volunteer his services for the
assignment. Afridi said that while I talked with reporters, he would
make arrangements with Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) for taking
the reporters to the scene of action.
"In that case, we should request ISI to send to Afghanistan the
people it had given us," I said. The proposition was dropped
after that.
BACK
TO HOME
Three Frontier Post workers released
PPI - February 16, 2001
PESHAWAR :
Three Frontier Post workers, who were arrested in the publishing of
the blasphemous letter case, have been released on Thursday.
Five workers were accused and arrested in this case included Imtiaz
Hussain, Qazi Sarwar, Mujeeb-ul-Hassan, Aftab and Munawwar.
Three of them included Chief Reporter Imtiaz Hussain, Columnist Qazi
Sarwar and Computer In-charge Mujeeb-ul-Hassan have been released on
Thursday while the other two News Editor Aftab and Shift In-charge
Munawwar are still in prison.
BACK
TO HOME
Jasarat's Islamabad bureau raided
PPI - February 15, 2001
ISLAMABAD
: Peshawar police conducted a raid at Islamabad bureau office of daily
Jasarat on Wednesday to apprehend its chief editor, resident editor and
publisher allegedly involved in a blasphemy case.
However on their non-availability they returned after pursuing normal
proceedings, says a press release. BACK
TO HOME
Nawa-e-Waqt bomb blast accused arrested
PPI - March 5, 2001
KARACHI
: The Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) has arrested an accused allegedly
involved in a dozen bomb blasts, including one in daily Nawa-e-Waqt, from
Liaquatabad here on Sunday.
Reports said DSP CIA, Malir, Hussein Ahmed Salhari, was tipped off that an
accused Aziz Ahmed Qureshi, wanted in bomb blast in Nawa-e-Waqt, which
killed three persons, was present somewhere in Liaquatabad.
The police party, headed by Sub Inspectors Ashraf Gujjar and Inayatullah
Marwat, besieged the tipped-off place and forced the accused out.
During investigation, the accused confessed his association with a
subversive organisation that was involved in planting bombs at various
points in the city and was on the pay roll of RAW, the Indian secret
agency.
Besides, the accused admitted that he was sales manager in a medicine
company where an Indian agent, Rakesh, met him and talked him into
planting bombs at various places of the city in lieu of millions of
rupees.
He said according to the plan, a Bengali woman was employed who was one
day sent with a bomb packed in a gift pack to the Nawa-e-Waqt office for
getting some ads booked in the paper. The bomb went off at the pre-set
time killing three persons, including the woman on the spot.
Names of his accomplices and other members of the gang are being kept
secret and police is conducting raids for their arrest.
BACK
TO HOME
Ahmed Rashid wins Nisar Osmani Award
Business
Recorder - March 22, 2001
LAHORE : Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)
has announced to award the 'Nisar Osmani Award' to Ahmed Rashid for
showing courage in journalism and on his study, 'Taleban'.
The rise of Taleban is one of the most significant phenomena in
modern history with multidimensional impact not only on the countries
around Afghanistan, mostly Pakistan, but also on global political trends,
said an HRCP Press release issued here on Wednesday.
Ahmed Rashid spent many years studying the Taleban. During his numerous
journeys through Afghanistan he followed the Taleban's military
operations, interviewed their commanders and political leaders, assessed
the external contributions to their success and analysed their likely
impact on the region's life and politics.
His finished work, which has already been translated into several foreign
languages, has contributed to the entire world's understanding of the
Taleban movement. The award will be presented to Ahmed Rashid at a
ceremony to be held in Lahore on March 25, 2001, the release stated.
BACK
TO HOME
Dawn launches Islamabad edition
Dawn
- March 22, 2001
Dawn's Islamabad edition was launched here on Thursday as the former chief
editor of the newspaper, Ahmad Ali Khan, pressed the button around 10:30pm
to switch on the presses.
Khan Sahib flew in Islamabad in the afternoon with his wife, well-known
Urdu short story writer Hajira Masroor, specially to launch the newspaper
which is already being published from two stations - Karachi and Lahore.
It was a simple and soft launch without any fanfare and was attended by
the local staff, besides the Editor, Saleem Asmi, the Resident Editor, M.
Ziauddin, and the top management.
BACK
TO HOME
Hameed Haroon elected All Pakistan Newspapers Society president
Business Recorder - April 01, 2001
KARACHI :
Hameed Haroon of Dawn Group of Publications and Kazi Assad Abid of
Ibrat Group were elected as President and Secretary General of All
Pakistan Newspapers Society on Saturday.
The newly elected Executive Committee holding its first meeting, in
Karachi, also elected Zia Shahid of Daily Khabrain as Senior
Vice-President, Pir Sufaid Shah Hamdard of Daily Wahdat as
Vice-President, Muhammad Aslam Kazi of Daily Kawish as Joint Secretary
and Mushtaq Qureshi of Monthly Naey Ufaq as Finance Secretary for the
year 2001-2002.
At the Annual General Meeting chaired by outgoing president Mir
Shakil-ur-Rahman, the General Council adopted the Annual Report of the
Executive Committee for the preceding year after full-length
deliberations as well as the Annual Account of the Society. The
General Council attended by members from across the country formed an
Election Commission headed by Mahmood-ul-Aziz (Pictorial News Review)
with Yousuf Shaheen (Pakistan Times) and Seham Mirza (Dosheeza
Monthly) as members.
BACK
TO HOME
RSF flays attack on Islamabad journalist
RSF - March 31, 2001
In a
letter sent today to the Pakistani Interior Minister, Moin-ud-din
Haider, Reporters Sans Frontières (Reporters Without Borders - RSF)
expresses its concern after the attack by five armed men on Shakil
Shaikh, chief reporter for The News. RSF asks the Minister to
"give the police all means necessary to investigate this attack
that looks very much like attempted murder". RSF has asked to be
kept informed of progress in the inquiry. "If this attack on a
journalist from a well known newspaper goes unpunished, the entire
profession may justifiably feel threatened," noted Robert Ménard,
RSF's general secretary. "The Pakistani authorities must act in
every way possible to prevent a new wave of kidnapping and attacks on
journalists, as happened in 1999," added Robert Ménard.
BACK
TO HOME
Newspaper industry facing financial crunch
UPP,
March 31, 2001
KARACHI : Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, President of the
All Pakistan Newspapers Society, on Friday said that newspapers in the
country were facing a multiple crunch economically and it was important
that the advertising agencies extend maximum support to the print media.
He was addressing at a dinner hosted for the APNS members by
Orient-McCann chief S.H. Hashmi who is also the winner of the APNS
millennium award.
Mir said that newspapers were facing the crunch in respect of the
newsprint import price, which had gone upward from US $ 410 to $ 840 and
still hovered at very high levels. Added to this was the depreciation in
the value of the rupee against the dollar. The inputs for the newspaper
industry were now very costly and added to it was fall in quantum
advertising. Regional newspapers were specially affected by this
crunch.
Arif Nizami, President of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE),
speaking on the occasion, said that the print industry was indeed in a
crisis and the private sector as also the advertising agencies must play
their role in helping newspapers tide over these difficulties. He also
hoped that a satisfactory solution would be found to the issue of media
buying houses. He congratulated Hashmi on getting the APNS millennium
award.
Hameed Haroon, Chief Executive of Dawn Group, stressed the importance of
advertising agencies as supporters of the print media and thanked Hashmi
for holding the dinner.
S.M. Muneer, former FPCCI president, speaking on the occasion said
Hashmi should be given responsibility in the government and he would
best suit the water and power ministry because in a period of recession
he had increased advertising revenue to newspapers substantially.
S.H. Hashmi, thanking the guests, said Orient-McCann had increased
advertising by 47 percent overall to the print media, and he was proud
of it.
He lauded the manner in which the print media representative
organisations and the organisation of the advertising agencies in the
country had maintained democracy in their ranks.
Hashmi said that the APNS and the CPNE as also the Pakistan Advertising
Association (PAA) had held their elections, as per their constitution
regularly each year. In fact these organisations had set an example for
others in the country to emulate. He said that the organisations had
also adhered to their constitution. In fact, he said, the print media
had very often provided the nation with confidence at a time when the
nation needed it. However, on the question of the Media Buying Houses
sought to be introduced by the APNS, he said that the matter needed
careful examination and did not warrant a decision in haste and hoped
that the APNS would give due consideration to the view of the PAA on
this issue.
In his speech on the occasion Arif Nizami said that the newspapers had
acquired greater confidence and trust of the public as compared to the
electronic media because the print media had projected what the people
wanted for this country better than the electronic media.
Among those who attended the dinner were Sindh Provincial Ombudsman
Haziq-ul-Khairi and Captain Haleem Siddiqui.
|
