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Rejoinder to Haseena Moin
I saw a very moving article on Mohsin Ali, former GM and Director Think Tank of PTV, last Sunday in the pages of Images written by Haseena Moin, a very close friend of Mohsin’s. We all respect Haseena, but she gave some incorrect facts due to her being ill-informed, which has tarnished the image of PTV and Mohsin Ali as well. The facts should be corrected as I am loyal to both Mohsin and PTV.
My association with Mohsin was about 36 years long. In fact, in his last days after retirement (he retired in May 2001), I would drive him around in my car at least twice a week. Sometimes Zaheer Khan and Kamaluddin were also with us. He used to come to the TV station mostly in the evenings and give me a call on my mobile from the GM’s office.
The article stated that PTV did not take care of him, which is not at all true.
In August 2000 when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, I was with him in the Aga Khan Hospital. He was operated upon in the hospital as a very special case (the hospital is not on PTV’s panel) due to his being a celebrity. Then, a cancer expert at Ziauddin Hospital was contacted and all his treatment expenses, from August 2000 to May 2003, were borne by PTV. Mohsin’s wife (Razia Bhabi) died in June 2000. All expenses connected with the treatment were paid for by PTV.
Even after the death of Mohsin Ali, his minor children are entitled to free medical facilities from PTV. His official car which, according to the rules, should have been withdrawn within 15 days or at the most a month, as a very special case by GM PTV Karachi, Ather Viqar Azim, was allowed to be retained by him on humanitarian grounds for nearly six months and the GM used his own personal car for his official purposes.
Last September, 2002, during PTV’s 11th Awards ceremony, Mohsin Ali was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award along with Rs50,000 cash. He was the only PTV producer who got this distinction due to his outstanding services to PTV. At the end of 2002, PTV decided that groups nine to 10 officers — in service or retired — would get a car. The office order for this was issued in February 2003.
I took personal interest along with officiating GM Manzoor Qureshi, and sent a note to MD PTV, Akhtar Viqar Azim to give a car according to the new PTV rules to Mohsin. He immediately ordered that the case be processed. It was moved on March 16 and on May 19, 2003, Transport Officer Khalid, delivered the same car (Khyber) which was being used by Mohsin on book value.
I don’t agree with Haseena Moin when she says that the bosses believed that he was wasting PTV’s time by going to the mosque to offer his prayers. Mohsin was a practising Muslim and had been offering his prayers for the last 15 years or more. It is wrong to say that only after the death of his wife and mother he used to offer prayers in the mosque. His wife died during his period as GM, and his mother died one year after his retirement.
I am a practising Muslim too. I offer my afternoon prayers sometimes in my office and sometimes in the mosque. But Mohsin, somehow, due to his wife’s illness, took at least one hour after Zuhr prayers in the mosque to say his wazifa. I, as a friend, would sometimes tell him to offer his prayers in his free time or after midnight.
As far as the living standards of the producers is concerned, PTV allows private production with the permission of PTV-HQ.
The producers have to deposit 30 per cent of the earnings to PTV. Every drama producer of PTV does this as he earns a lot of money. During the last five years (before retirement) Mohsin produced four private productions, three being written by Haseena Moin and one by Anwar Maqsood.
On one point, I agree with Haseena that he should not have been transferred from the post of GM as he was retiring in six months’ time. But he was not made producer, he became a Director, Think Tank and was allowed by the new GM Ather Viqar Azim, to sit in the camp office of MD at the station. And in the meantime, a furnished room was prepared for him at the cost of nearly Rs150,000, along with a PA’s room. Unfortunately, Haseena Moin very innocently portrays him as a mazloom and PTV as zalim, which is certainly not true.
Syed Aftab Azim is a senior producer at PTV, Karachi
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