THIS IS MY STORY—78
MY JOURNEY THROUGH THE ERA OF AYUB KHAN TO THE TIMES OF IMRAN KHAN. GHULAM AKBAR………
The Fall of Kohistan
Remembrance of events that occurred more than half a century ago makes me feel hugely rostalgic. I wish those giants of personalities my uncle and spiritual guide Nasim Hijazi, and my mentor and first boss Enayatullah hadn’t been driven apart due to misunderstanding created and nurtured by some lesser mortals for their petty objectives and gains. Daily Kohistan would then have not only overtaken Daily Jang but gone swiftly ahead of it. It would have been the only media houses not owned by an individual or a family It is highly likely that it would have been managed by a group of working professionals rather them investors. That had been Enayatullah Sahib’s dream. A dream shattered by a clash of EGOs. The birth of Daily Mashriq was to bring great relief in the Jang camp. Suddenly Jang once again stood unchallenged.
Of course there had occurred a patch-up between Mamoon Jan and Enayatullah Sahib, but the resultant managemetn was too flawed to meet the challenge of a hostile PML government. Initially my relationship with Ejaz ul Haque the Business and Administration Chief had been quite cordial but then as he started acting in self interest and making silly decisions, a strain started coming between us. When Enayat Sahib learnt about it he did try to persuade his nephew to seek my help in marketing and not to ignore my suggestions. But Ejaz ul Haque though a good man had some inbuilt flaws that he had no power to correct.
Kohistan’s future started coming under doubts. On the other hand Bhutto was working behind the scenes to build up his support is the ranks of bureaucracy both civil and military.
His resignation when came was no surprise. He planned masterfully a train journey from Rawalpindi to Lahore which was to give an accurate reflection of the popular following he had built through his dissent and his stance on Tashkent Declaration.
The journey was to have a stopover at Lahore. And I was a part of those thousands who had filled every conceivable space at the Lahore Railway station. The date was April 10, 1966.
