THIS IS MY STORY—62
MY JOURNEY THROUGH THE ERA OF AYUB KHAN TO THE TIMES OF IMRAN KHAN.
GHULAM AKBAR…………….
Scoop Of The Decade
But I have distinct memories of the key events. The most important of these events was the holding of a conference in Lahore of the COP delegates led by their party chiefs. The most important person (in my opinion now) in this conference was Awami League’s Sheikh Mujeeb ur Rahman. And the sensational incident that I am going to narrate here throws light on the mindset of this man who was to become instrumental in the breaking-up of the Quaid’s Pakistan, and who at that time was trying to act as a loyal lieutenant of the Quaid’s sister.
It was a pretty hot afternoon I remember. I was doing some ‘editing’ work in my office when the door opened, and the excited bulk of Manzoor Malik our Chief Reporter made appearance. He was a heavy person with a childlike smiling look always adorning his roundish face.
“Are you okay Malik Sahib?” I asked as he took a chair infront me.
“I feel I am on top of the world Akbar Sahib. I have a story that may become scoop of the decade,” he said in an excited tone of voice.
“Have you?” I asked politely.
“Of course,” he replied. “First let me tell you how I got it. I was strolling around at lunch-break of the COP conference when I spotted Sheikh Mujeeb sitting with another leader on a table. I went there and occupied a chair. At that moment both suddenly got up to catch hold of Khan Wali whom they had spotted. Sheikh’s briefcase was right there infront of me in a half-open state. It took me a moment of nervous courage to put my hand in and take out a pack of papers. I had no idea of what I was laying my hands upon, but I made good my escape in a flash from there. Later in a safe place when I checked the papers I learnt about the significance of the documents. Here are these.
When I took the documents from his hand, I too had no idea of their significance. While I was checking them, I said to Manzoor Malik. “It was not very moral of you Malik Sahib.”
“I know Akbar Sahib, but journalists often have to act in highly unconventional ways,” Manzoor Malik replied.
The document was what was to become subsequently famous as Sheikh Mujeeb ur Rahman’s six-point agenda—
It was virtually a proposal for creating confederation of two mostly independent units with only flag and President’s ceremonial figure as common factors. Defense and Foreign Policy too could be common with certain strings.
I have forgotten the details now-But the substance was so mind-shattering that I remained virtually dumb-founded for a while….
Then he asked: “What do we do with it Akbar Sahib?”
“We will publish it Malik Sahib. There will be nothing else tomorrow on Kohistan’s front page except these six points of Sheikh Majeeb ur Rahman”.
