5
Last week in Toronto, I ran into Mazhar Zaidi, the producer of the newly released movie Zinda Bhaag. Mazhar is touring North America to promote his movie that stars Naseeruddin Shah. In 1993, Mazhar Zaidi, Tracy Wagner Rizvi, Mudassir Rizvi, I and others worked the night shift at The News in Islamabad. We were part of the team that put together the late-night edition under the watchful eyes of veteran journalist, Saleem Bukhari. Sometimes between two and three in the wee hours of the morning, we would leave with a copy of the fresh paper with us that others had neither seen nor held in their hands.
Seeing Mazhar in Toronto 20 years later reminded me of the nights we spent editing and the days we spent sleeping. Our editor, Maleeha Lodhi, and other senior editors would leave early, leaving Saleem Bukhari in charge of the 20-somethings who'd put together the late-night edition.
We had the night and the newspaper to ourselves. Every night was a new adventure though some things remained the same. For dinner, we would order the same cuisine every night. It was mostly a mild variation of a greasy plate of chana masala or daal with slightly burnt tandoori rotis, followed by an extra strong cup of tea. With 5,000 rupees per month in salary, this was all we could afford.
My own journey to a career in journalism followed an atypical path. I graduated from the engineering university in Peshawar, but my heart was in writing. While I a student, I wrote for Musawaat, Jang, and Radio Pakistan in Peshawar. I used to visit The Frontier Post offices in Peshawar where I met the editor, late Aziz Siddiqui, cartoonist Feica, and many others. I found journalism much more exciting than engineering and decided not to pursue a career in engineering. On Siddiqui sahab’s advice, I instead joined The Frontier Post in Islamabad in 1992.
It was a good time to be a young journalist in Islamabad where several veteran journalists were willing to mentor the cub reporters. Anwar Iqbal, who was then with the UPI, ran an informal journalism academy at his house where we used to gather to file our stories. He would correct our mistakes and help us rewrite. But Anwar was not the only mentor in town. D Shah Khan and Salim Bokhari at The News, Raja Manzoor Jaffery at The Frontier Post, Ziauddin Sahab at The Dawn, and many others served as the journalism instructors to those who had joined the profession without any formal training.
While many were attracted to journalism because of the thrill and excitement of covering history as it unfolded, others, who were more career-centric, chose journalism as a stepping stone for their intended careers in civil service. Journalism offered the opportunity to practice writing and be updated in current affairs; skills needed to excel in the public service commission exams. The careerists left journalism as soon as they cleared civil service exams. Others smitten with the profession’s charms stayed on.
A career in journalism also had its downside. A large number of working journalists did not earn a living wage. While Pakistan supposedly had transitioned to a democratic set up, the working conditions for journalists were no better. Operatives of covert agencies would first try to bribe, and if that failed, would harass and intimidate those who would not willingly propagate the official narrative. The government’s control over newsprint meant that it rationed the newsprint to the outlets that supported the government. Others were denied their newsprint quota, and if that failed, even power supply was cut off to literally stop the presses.
It was sad to see that while the martial law regime openly persecuted journalists, for example my former colleague Nasir Zaidi at The News was flogged by the Zia regime, the regimes that followed Zia’s martial law did not fare any better. It was in that state of disillusionment in the post-Zia period that many young journalists started to leave the profession. Zafarullah Khan and Aniq Zafar from The Frontier Post, Mudassir and Tracy Wagner-Rizvi from The News, Khawar Azhar from The Observer are just some of the names of those who bade farewell to journalism leaving behind established careers.
Yet, there were others who did not quit journalism. Instead, they left Pakistan. BBC in London was the most common destination that attracted journalism talent from Pakistan. Raja Zulfiqar, also from The News, and Faraz Hashmi from The Dawn in Islamabad, ended up at BBC. So did Mazhar Zaidi. But he chose to return after 12 years and is now settled in Karachi. That's where he dreamt of Zinda Bhaag.
But what about those journalists who stayed on with the profession and within Pakistan? The unsung heroes who are practicing the craft in Pakistan, which has been ranked as the fifth most dangerous place for working journalists by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Since 1992, 53 journalists have been killed in Pakistan. Ayub Khattak, who wrote for Karak Times, is the latest victim. He was shot dead outside his home earlier this month. Reports suggest that Ayub’s murder is related to his coverage of illegal drug sales in the area.
The story of journalism in Pakistan is about those who stayed within Pakistan and with the profession. The average working journalist in Pakistan still does not earn a living wage. Others face threats and intimidation. Many could have run away, but they didn’t.
For them it’s not about running away (Zinda bhaag), it’s about posterity (Zindabad).
Please visit Committee to Protect Journalists for a list of the 53 journalists murdered in Pakistan where the motive behind the murder has been confirmed to be related with their profession.
