Here’s one to Jamil sahib

Published March 30, 2019
The writer is a former editor of Dawn.
The writer is a former editor of Dawn.

“WE are not taking Musharraf’s photo on the front page or elsewhere today. We don’t want to send the wrong message,” said Jamil Akhtar Sahib as we had our daily discussion on the main stories making the newspaper the following day. I murmured my agreement.

This was Dawn’s news editor sharing his nuanced understanding of the prevalent culture by telling the new editor that if the general’s photo from a public event that morning was published in the paper the following day, the government might think that the newspaper’s policy could be influenced by inviting the editor for a cup of tea. And worse still, a reader might think the same.

I had flown into Rawalpindi earlier that day because president Gen Pervez Musharraf had invited me over for an informal meeting through a mutual friend at Army House. This was a few weeks after I started my job as the editor Dawn in the summer of 2006.

That evening I’d been ushered into a garden room in that sprawling official residence of the army chief. One of his aides informed me that the general was running a bit late as a return from a trip outside the city was delayed slightly.

Anyway, a little later the general, accompanied by the mutual friend, arrived and after apologising for being late, settled down for a chat. After a while, I glanced at my watch, realising I would be cutting it fine to make the return flight to Karachi.

There are those who are truly the unsung heroes, the backbone, of any newspaper.

The general noticed it, asked me for my ticket and the mutual friend’s too, who was returning to Karachi on the same flight, and gave it to an aide to do the needful. The meeting over, we were rushed to the airport and were the last to board the slightly delayed flight.

This is when I called Jamil Sahib for our routine nightly consultation before I had to switch off the phone as we prepared for take-off. Already a bit embarrassed that we’d made everyone wait for whatever few minutes we did, I was mindful of not wanting to irritate co-passengers with a long/loud phone conversation.

Some 13 years later, I am flooded with memories of Jamil Akhtar Sahib and our four-year association at Dawn and the friendship we forged that was to last till his passing earlier this week, which left me with a void that’d be impossible to fill.

Readers readily identify reporters who have their byline in the paper as they do article writers and columnists; each piece by them is published under their own names. Most editors are known too as whatever good or bad the paper is seen to do is credited to them by the public.

Then, there are those who are truly the unsung heroes/heroines, the backbone, of any newspaper. One has to have special mettle to be counted among them. Let me tell you why. All other editorial staff no matter how tough and demanding their jobs at least get to head home at a relatively decent hour.

The newsroom journalists, the night editor, also called the edition-in-charge, led by the news editor, believe me, are wedded to the paper. They arrive in the newsroom in the late afternoon, follow the news agenda, at the same time as editing news material, and then moving on to getting the pages made to be sent for printing.

Having started my own career in the Dawn newsroom some 35 years ago, before moving to different journalistic roles and mediums, I can say from my own experience that getting into bed just before 5 a.m. and then taking a while to drift off to dreamland day in and day out is tough.

It is not just you but your family too which is signing up collectively for the strangest of lives and sacrifices. I promise you it is not easy. And particularly not easy to do this for a lifetime and retain your sense of humour. Jamil Akhtar Sahib was a man with an exceptional sense of humour who always wore a smile.

To an editor, a news editor such as him simply meant the difference between being a nervous insomniac, forever fearful of what the morning’s paper may bring in terms of rude surprises, and someone who could delegate and sleep peacefully.

His judgement was flawless and his integrity impeccable. He was a fearless man who would not think twice about telling the editor to the latter’s face they were wrong if that was indeed the case but courteous and polite to a fault. He took great pleasure in developing others, a rarity in today’s world.

His leadership was characterised by such humanity that even where a team member was demonstrably at fault he’d shoulder the responsibility himself with a smile, never finding it within him to blame anyone else.

He was a consummate professional who derived fulfilment from the fruit of his labour every day. His front-page design, apart from his flawless editing, was without parallel in the industry and he did it intuitively in seconds where others struggle for much longer.

Belonging to the old school he believed that the ultimate editorial call rested with the editor but most of the time got his way because he commanded so much respect; his judgement was spot on and he followed the news assiduously.

He was a committed family man. I remember him working out in detail the best option when his spouse needed surgery or how he was concerned about making the right choices for the education of his very bright younger son or the pride he took in talking about the achievements of his elder son.

He was a loyal, generous friend and, encouraged by an equally generous Noor Afshan Bhabi, often invited friends to his place for the most sumptuous of meals on his solitary weekly day off. I will miss Jamil Akhtar Sahib dearly. My thoughts and prayers with Bhabi, Shad and Altamash.

The writer is a former editor of Dawn.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2019

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