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KARACHI, June 18: Journalists, intellectuals and men of letters on Friday paid tribute to the late Zamir Niazi's outstanding commitment to the cause of the freedom of the press.
Speaking at a condolence meeting, jointly organized by the Anjuman Taraqi Pasand Musanifeen, Qalam Barai Aman and the Arts Council of Pakistan, the former editor-in-chief of Dawn, Ahmad Ali Khan, recalled how Mr Niazi started collecting "press advices" issued by the government in its bid to muzzle the press.
"Independent journalists can comply with the instructions of their editors even if they do not always see eye to eye with them. But their consternation knows no bounds when they receive instructions from others, especially the government which is intolerant of dissent.
At first, Mr Niazi collected these 'press advices' in a casual manner, but later when the government institutionalized this unethical practice, he brought all his energies to bear upon this exercise which he undertook with great determination and discipline," he said.
Mr Khan said: "When a soldier falls in battle, he hands over his standard to his fellow-soldiers before he drops to the ground. In the same way, I hope, Mr Niazi instilled in youngsters a sense of the freedom of the press."
The director of the Pakistan Study Centre, Dr Syed Jaffar Ahmed, said that Mr Niazi had been variously described as a journalist, a chronicler and a man of letters. "But he was the quintessence of civility. It was his love for man that led him to the tricky field of journalism. It was also his affection for life that found expression in his book, Zameen ka noha," he said.
Noted columnist Zahid Hina said: "We live in a world of dwarfs. Men of high stature are so few and far between that they stand out. Mr Niazi was one such man. All his life he wrote about the various methods, the powers that be employed to enslave the press.
When on May 13, 1978, 'disobedient' journalists were lashed in public, Mr Niazi was most perturbed. In his books, he recorded unfortunate events, like these with remarkable precision and impartiality."
Disagreeing with Ms Hina, Dr Mohammad Ali Siddiqui said that it was idle to suggest that there would by nobody like Mr Niazi in the future. He hoped that young journalists would follow the footsteps of Mr Niazi.
The same idea was echoed by Dr Manzoor Ahmed who said he was convinced that Mr Niazi, who interacted with his young colleagues a lot, must have rubbed off his good qualities onto them.
CPNE reference
KARACHI, June 18: Tributes were paid to late Zamir Niazi at a condolence reference, organized by the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors here on Friday. Veteran journalist M.A. Zuberi, who presided over the meeting, recalled Mr Niazi's career spanning over 56 years.
Recalling the formative days of Zamir Niazi's career, Mr Zuberi said that these were the days when journalism used to be a profession and not a job. Unfortunately, he said, now journalism had become an employment like any other job.
Zamir Niazi never compromised on his professionalism and made progress from sub-editor to shift in-charge, article writer and so on, he said. He further said that the best way to pay tribute to late Niazi was to follow his foot-steps.
CPNE secretary-general Jabbar Khattak said that Zamir Niazi was of the opinion that in today's world, press freedom was no more an issue, as media was free and daily millions of words were being written. He said Zamir Niazi believed that for survival of any society, institutions like press and judiciary must be free of corruption.
In this connection, he said that the Indian society was on the road to progress because their press and judiciary were free from corruption. Prof Tauseef Ahmad said that in the history of journalism in the subcontinent, there were many journalists who had authored a number of books on press, but it was Mr Niazi who had the credit of laying the foundation of scientific research in journalism.
Riaz Siddiqui, who is associated with monthly Badalti Dunya and Manshoor, highlighted the aspect of literary pursuit and neck for research of Mr Niazi. CPNE vice-president Mahmudul Aziz conducted the reference.
