REFERENCE Dawn’s Oct 6 story and the furore it created. This is not the first time that Dawn has been subjected to pressure. It was very graceful of the editor to have taken the responsibility for the news item.

In the past, too, Dawn suffered persecution, denial of ads and many other forms of intimidatory tactics, but the paper didn’t deviate from its principled stands on the issue of the day. In its issue of Dec 25, 1953, Dawn expressed its defiance of the rulers of the day by leaving the editorial space blank. Instead, it merely carried a small paragraph, written by Dawn’s legendary Editor, Altaf Husain.

It read: “When the truth cannot be freely spoken, and patriotism held a crime, this editorial is left blank on the Quaid-i-Azam’s birthday to speak more eloquently than words”.

Dawn cannot be intimidated.

A. Ghaffar Muhammad Gheewala

Karachi

Published in Dawn October 26th, 2016