THIS IS MY STORY—67
MY JOURNEY THROUGH THE ERA OF AYUB KHAN TO THE TIMES OF IMRAN KHAN.
GHULAM AKBAR….
The Looming Shadow Of War
In the days to follow, the news about the clashes between the freedom-fighters and the Indian soldiers kept pouring in with great regularity.
The Song “MERAY WATAN TERI JANAT MEIN AAYNE GAYE IK DIN” used to echo everywhere the transmissions of Radio Azad Kashmir and Radio Sada-i-Kashmir were heard.
My wife alongwith our kid Inam had gone to Naukundi the last railway station of Pakistan on the Zahidan line. My Khaalu and father-in-law, the late Bashir Ahmad, was posted there as Station Master.
I flew to Karachi in the third week of August on Ejaz ul Haque’s request to use my influence with the advertising agencies for the promotion of advertisement revenue.
After a few days stay in Karachi, I flew to Quetta from where I boarded a Naukundi-bound train.
I have vivid memories of that endless journey in my mind. It took me nearly 28 hours to arrive at my destination.
On the way I passed through Noshki’ and Dalbandeen, and had the feel of Pakistan’s biggest province in quite a big way. It is not to say that I had not visited Balochistan earlier. Infact I had been to Spintangi, a railway station close to Hernai, as early as 1956. Before that I had stayed at Mitheri, a railway station close to Sibi. In 1958 I had been to Natal, close to Jhat Pat. In 1962 I had been to Kanak one of the first railway stations on the Zahidan line.
All these journeys had of course been due to the fact that my Khaalu had been posted all over Bolochistan as Station Master. In 1962 he had become my father-in-law too. At that time he was a young man of about forty-one. We had communicational relationship of close friends. I have met not many men of his integrity and honesty in my life.
In 1965 his main demand had been for getting transferred from Naukundi. I remember speaking to a high railway official in this connection. He had looked in amused disbelief at me. “Is your father-in-law insane? This is a railway station, to get posted where, huge bribes are offered. Smuggling between Iran and Pakistan isn’t done at an ordinary scale, and Nankundi figures very prominently in all this.”
