KARACHI: On the occasion of awarding certificates to students on completion of courses and internships at the Urban Resource Centre (URC), senior journalist Mahmood Shaam was invited as a guest lecturer as part of the URC Forum Series of Lectures here on Tuesday.

Choosing to speak on ‘The Ups and Downs in the Life of a Journalist’, Mahmood Shaam shared that he was only five years old when he came to Pakistan in 1947 from East Punjab to settle down in Jhang.

“Jhang was famous because of the folklore of ‘Heer and Ranjha’. Today it is famous for Lashkar-i-Jhangvi,” he quipped.

Speaking about the start of his journey into journalism, Mr Shaam said that he dreamt of being a publisher as a child. And he started contributing to children’s magazines of the time. In fact, it was his writing which got him admission to the prestigious Government College Lahore, because the college principal Dr Nazir Ahmad had read of his poetry in a magazine. While in college, Mr Shaam also took over the editorship of their in-house publication ‘The Ravi’.

“I did not come from a wealthy or influential family but I was able to achieve much academic success through my writing,” Mr Shaam said.

Mahmood Shaam says he was able to achieve academic success through his writing

By 1963, he was also able to bag a proper newspaper job with Nawa-i-Waqt.

Though he was enjoying being a fulltime journalist in Nawa-i-Waqt, he also got to witness difficult times as the salary to employees there used to be paid in instalments. “Our cashier was also moonlighting as a tailor to make ends meet,” he laughed.

“Soon we witnessed war with India in 1965. This was also a time to see the nation unite,” he said.

“I remember that there was a letter box fixed outside Radio Pakistan in Lahore to encourage poets to pen inspiring songs. I wrote one song for the Pakistan Air Force and one for our Navy. The Air Force song was selected and recorded in the voice of Saleem Raza,” he beamed.

The year 1967 saw Shaam move to Karachi to join the Jang newspaper. “This was the Ayub era when we had the sword of the Press and Publication Ordinance hanging over our heads,” he said.

“Then we had the Gen Yahya’s martial law when we had the freedom to criticise all politicians but not the army. Then came the elections in 1970. What followed is history. The only Pakistan left was on the West,” he said.

Changing the sad subject of the Fall of Dhaka, Mr Shaam spoke about the challenges but also the benefits of journalism. “I got to travel a lot all over the world, including China and the United States,” he said.

Remembering the 11 years of General Zia, he spoke of the Official Secrets Act of those days and the time he spent in jail for publishing something.

“At first I did time at Karachi’s Central Prison, then the central jail of Hyderabad, where we got to stay in an upgraded B class cell with attached bathroom,” he smiled.

He also remembered the Prepublication Censorship of Zia after Bhutto’s hanging. Then he also witnessed the musical chairs of the PPP and Muslim League-N in the late 1980s and 90s.

“By that time I had also taken over as the Group Editor of the Jang newspaper,” he said, before wrapping up with the slow but steady decline of the print media, reading news on smart phones and the arrival of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

“But I think AI has been present in this country since 1947. We are all slaved to machines. Still, those who can use their heads can find their way,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2025