THIS IS MY STORY—34
MY JOURNEY THROUGH THE ERA OF AYUB KHAN TO THE TIMES OF IMRAN KHAN.
GHULAM AKBAR
The accident That Triggered The Rise Of Kohistan
It was the 27th of October 1961. It was public holiday. It was a rare day off for me too. And Enayatullah Sahib had taken me along to Bagh-ei-Jinnah. There he talked impassionedly about his dream of transforming Kohistan into an institution-larger than life. He wanted to develop the newspaper on the British pattern. He had already paid three visits to London where he alongwith Mahmood Hashmi had launched Weekly Mashriq.
“I wish I had more of dedicated and talented workers like you. I have great ideas, but no human capital to back them”.
“I want you to take charge of Weekly Mashriq too,” he said suddenly. I agreed.
All but four pages of Weekly Mashriq used to be prepared in Lahore at that time, and sent to London by air.
Let me recall here the tragic incident that had contributed to the overnight rise in the circulation of Daily Kohistan.
It was the blood-curdling railway accident at Gambar. Hundreds had perished in it. And countless were injured. It was a catastrophe.
Enatuallah Sahib immediately sent a photographer and a reporter alongwith me in a car to the scene of the accident. It was to be the first-ever photographic coverage on a large scale in Pakistan’s journalism. Daily Kohistan had already acquired off-set printing machines through the permit that had been granted by Field Marshal Ayub Khan.
The circulation of the newspaper rose by nearly 50% in a single day. Thereafter Daily Kohistan never looked back. It had already beaten Nawa-i-Waqt and Imroze. The only newspaper that stood above it was Daily Jang of Karachi.
In December that year Enayatullah Sahib suddenly made me the incharge of the magazine section which till then had been headed by Mr Minhajuddin Islahi. Among my subordinates in the magazine section was Miskeen Hijazi who was to become head of the Journalism department some years later.
I worked hard in my new role and won admiration of Enayatuallah Sahib in a manner I had least expected.
