THIS IS MY STORY—58
MY JOURNEY THROUGH THE ERA OF AYUB KHAN TO THE TIMES OF IMRAN KHAN.
GHULAM AKBAR……..
I was speechless
I sat dumbfounded infront of him. I didn’t know what to say.
“It would have been beyond my capacity Enayat Sahib. I am too young. And too inexperienced—” I eventually found words.
“You are wrong Akbar Sahib. I had really gambled— sending you to Karachi—- throwing you raw in that highly competitive market. But I had a gut feeling you would not fail. Yet when I examined your performance of one year, I found it much beyond my best expectations. Your success was phenomenal.”
“Thank you Enayat Sahib, but that didn’t qualify me to run Kohistan,” I said.
“Are Mian Rasheed and Raja Zauq Akhtar qualified to run Kohistan—-?”
His question was sudden.
I was speechless.
“Isn’t there anything that can be done to save Kohistan Akbar Sahib? Now that Mashriq is rapidly overtaking Kohistan my anger is subsiding. It is a hurtful idea to me now that this great newspaper that we— me and Nasim Sahib— built so laboriously will soon pass into history.”
After a short pause I spoke.
“You can still save it Enayat Sahib. Withdraw the company liquidation case that you have filed and try to find some settlement with Mamoon Jaan that would save the newspaper.”
“I can do it Akbar Sahib but on one condition. I have informed him too about this condition—” he spoke looking into my eyes.
“What condition?” I asked.
“He should appoint you Managing Editor immediately—scrap the management system that he has assembled— ask the directors and shareholders to confine themselves only to their company meetings— As soon as he does it, I will withdraw the case and fly to London— leaving behind two capable teams to fight for leadership. I have a gut feeling you will beat Mashriq.”
Let me admit here that I did feel a kind of happy satisfaction in my mind during those moments— for being evaluated so highly by a man who was a great newspaper entrepreneur and trend- setter in the country’s Urdu journalism.
But I said to him— “It is a Utopian idea Enayatullah Sahib— I wish you could have come up with a more practical solution.”
