WHEN DREAMS LEAD TO DISILLUSIONMENT
From the failed revolution of Field Marshal Ayub Khan
To the promise today of the emergence of New Pakistan
From the dashed expectations of over five decades.
To the surge of new hopes taking birth today.
This is my story.
My journey through the era of Ayub Khan to the times of Imran Khan.
Remembering a day when my soul ached
It was a summer day in 1963. I was then Executive Editor of Daily Kohistan which I had joined only two years earlier as a proof-reader. It was then the second largest circulated newspaper of the country—next only to Daily Jang and well ahead of Daily Nawa -i -Waqt and Imroze. Daily Mashriq at that point of time had just made its appearance on the Newsstands. It was Daily Kohistan’s main competitor.
When I remember the events of that day even today, a chill runs down my spine.
.“We have come to arrest Nasim Hijazi.
We have warrants.”
I have never felt so shocked and depressed all my life as I feel now.
The summer sun sets late. And it is the first week of September. I had been born just more than twenty-four years back—not many weeks before the first shots that heralded the World War II, had been fired.
It is quite dark now.
I am walking back from the adjacent hall in which the sheet-fed printing machines of Daily Kohistan are installed. Throughout the day till about 2 p.m the machines had been running—printing non-stop, the day’s issue. It had never been so before. By 5 a.m the machines always went silent. But on this particular day the machines had kept running till after lunch. The print order had kept mounting each hour on telephone calls from all over the area of Daily Kohistan’s reach. The final figure stood at 164000 copies. Then at 2 p.m the machines had been brought to an abrupt halt.
There had been sudden appearance of the Police at the main entrance of the building. They had the orders to ensure that no copies of Daily Kohistan would be taken out after that moment. And these orders had been served to our General Manager Malik Rafique, in my presence.
An hour later, had come the orders from the DC’soffice that Daily Kohistan had been banned for two months for inciting people to insurgency.
The decision to ban Kohistan had been taken in a high-level meeting presided by Governor Amir Mohammad Khan of Kalabagh himself. The lead story of the newspaper that day, had sent the authoritative governor into rage. There had been fierce clashes the previous day between the police and the agitating students, and as per the eye-witness account of our Chief Reporter Habib ur Rahman (Chapta), two students had been shot dead and scores injured and arrested.
The official handout had been blank on the killings.
But I as Executive Editor of the newspaper had chosen to go by Habib ur Rahman’s report who had on oath told me that he had seen with his own eyes, the dead bodies being carried away.
At about 8:30 p.m I had gone to the press for carrying out an inspection. I had learnt that the Printing Press would be sealed.
As I enter my office after having inspected the Press, I look at my watch. It is 9:15 p.m.
The whole building is giving an impression of total desolation. The day time staff has left. And the night staff hasn’t come. There is going to be no issue tomorrow.
In the office at that time with me are the Circulation Manager Mohammad Iqbal, a couple of junior functionaries and the attendants.
As I slump into my chair I feel so sad, so dejected, so desolate and so guilty that I drop my face into my hands in an effort not to cry.
Then I sense someone has entered the room. I look up. It is the grim face of otherwise ever-smiling Rana Jahangir—our General Public Relations Manager.
“Policemen have arrived to seal the press,” he tells me. “and the SHO wants to see you.’’
“Let him in, “I say in a low voice.
He goes out and returns in the SHO’s company.
As we shake hands, he says: “I am personally sorry Mr. Ghulam Akbar. But we have to do our duty.
We have orders to carry out.”
“Thanks for civility. What are yours orders?” I ask.
“We have come to arrest Nasim Hijazi. We have warrants.”
Continued……
