It may sound like an overstatement but it is a fact that I have been rubbing shoulders with men of authority and destiny ever since the age of nineteen. In a small but important way I owe this good fortune to the fact that I was born as the famous writer Nasim Hijazi’s nephew. It was in his company that I first met Field Marshal Ayub Khan on June 30, 1959 in his Nathia Gali rest house. With him I was to interact in the years to follow as Editor of Daily Mashriq which was owned by the FM’s National Press Trust. In those years I had the opportunity of interacting briefly with ZAB. Earlier I had some memorable sittings with the first Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Chaudhry Mohammad Ali when he was writing a book. I first met Air Marshal Asghar Khan in 1967 when he was Chairman PIA. My lasting relationship with him began 5 years later on the platform of Tehrik-i-Istaqalal. It was on this platform that my initial contacts were established with Mian Nawaz Sharif, Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, and Khurshid Mahmood Qasoori etc. In 1984 I did the advertising campaign for MNS in the famous non-party elections. Earlier this man—destined to become Pakistan’s PM three times—had inaugurated Midas in the company of Raja Zafar ul Haque then the Minister for Information in General Zia’s cabinet. In the 1988 elections my ad agency was to conduct the ad campaign for BB Sahiba with whom I was able to establish a relationship of mutual trust from our very first meeting on August 22, 1990. I enjoyed her trust even after our political ways parted in 1995. In 1997 I had the opportunity of travelling to Libya and Tunis in the late Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi’s company. Those two weeks created a bond of friendship between us that lasted till the end of his life.
In 1997, I first met Imran Khan. I was greatly impressed with his passion for politics and his commitment to the goal of the revival of Islamic Glory.
We maintained a friendly relationship thereafter till the dying months of 2008, when in a moment of spontaneous exuberance I told him: From today, I am a member of your party. I hereby record my total faith in the greatness of your cause and the supremacy of your leadership.
IK’s face lit up with joy that was genuine.
“I feel re-assured and re-energised in my resolve today,” he said.
That is briefly my story.
Almost all my life (with the exception of 1994) I have been on the other side of the River. By the term River here I mean Power. Those who know me closely regard my survival as some kind of a miracle. Look at the immense power of the men whose wrath I have been able to survive!
Field Marshal Ayub Khan!
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto! General Zia ul Haque! Mian Nawaz Sharif! And General Pervez Musharraf !
But I do believe that miracles happen. And will continue to happen always. It is my passionate desire that I die with my boots on. And when I die IK is in command of this country’s destiny. Of one thing you can be sure—as much as I am— that I will be watching him on TV when he is sworn in. that is the kind of man I was born as. Driven by my own personal compulsions! Hating the limelight!
20-09-2013
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