Ahmad Ali Khan giant of journalism
KARACHI, March 13: Mr Ahmad Ali Khan’s death here on Tuesday removes from the scene one of the giants of Pakistan’s English journalism. With Dawn, whose editor he was for 28 years, his association began before partition in Delhi in 1946 with Mr Altaf Husain as editor, and ended in Karachi in 2004.
In between he served as editor of The Pakistan Times, but returned to Dawn in 1962. Thus on the whole he was with Dawn for 42 years, 28 of them as editor, longer than any other editor. His journalistic career spanned over five decades, beginning in 1945 with Tarjuman, published in Bhopal, his hometown, where he was born in 1924.
Leftist in his orientation, Mr Ahmad Ali Khan, known to his colleagues and friends as Khan Saab, came to Karachi when Dawn started publishing here after its offices were shifted from Delhi to Karachi in the aftermath of partition, but left for Lahore in 1949 to join The Pakistan Times, where the presence of Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Mazhar Ali Khan and Zuhair Siddiqui gave him the kind of atmosphere he longed for. After a 13-year stint with The PT, during which he was detained under the Security Act as part of the government’s crackdown on leftist and progressive elements, he returned to Dawn in 1962 as an Assistant Editor. He remained there till his first retirement in 2000 -— only to return in 2003 for another short stint.
His biggest achievement was salvaging Dawn from the depression that engulfed the country and the newspaper industry in the aftermath of the secession of East Pakistan, the economic gloom in the wake of the 1971 tragedy and the gag on the press in the “new Pakistan”. With the Karnaphuli paper mill left in what became Bangladesh, the short supply of newsprint reduced the size of daily newspapers, including Dawn, to six pages. There were few advertisements from the private sector, and the government, too, denied ads to Dawn to pressure it into changing its policies and toeing the regime’s line. The financial situation was sometimes so bleak that the company did not have money to pay salaries to its employees. But Khan Saab held his ground and there was no change in Dawn’s policy.
Gradually, things started looking up. The economic side was taken care of by the publication of advertisement supplements, and gradually the number of pages increased. By the time he quit in 2004, Dawn’s Sunday edition had nearly 100 pages, in addition to regular Special Reports on such national days as March 23, August 14 and December 25. These special reports were no run-of-the-mill stuff but contained articles by eminent Pakistani and foreign scholars and academics specialising in Pakistan and the freedom movement. The high academic level of writings in these special reports added to the literature on Pakistan’s political and constitutional history and to the Muslim struggle for a separate homeland.
Also, when he assumed the paper’s stewardship, there was only one magazine, published on Sunday as part of the main edition. In 1980, Dawn Magazine started appearing as a separate form, and later many other weekly magazines were added. By the time Khan Saab retired, Dawn had five colour magazines. His editorship also saw technical changes, with the composition of copy and printing moving from hot metal and offset printing to full computerisation. It was also under him that the paper launched its Lahore edition. Dawn’s financial difficulties now were way behind.A major challenge to his editorship came in 1977 following the overthrow of the PPP government and the seizure of power by General Ziaul Haq. The situation was made worse by the pressure and intimidation brought to bear on Dawn and other newspapers to follow a conformist line. However, to the surprise and frustration of the government, Dawn under Khan Saab did not succumb to pressure and followed a liberal line that opposed the obscurantism that characterised the government’s policies.
For instance, on such issues as the presidential versus parliamentary system, the Qazi courts, and women’s position in society and ‘guided democracy’, Dawn’s editorials made it abundantly clear that it stood for a Pakistan that conformed to Jinnah’s concept of Pakistan. Dawn vehemently opposed the theocratic trends in the government’s thinking, opposed the right of a minority of clerics to interpret Islam and frame laws, and pointed out that parliament was the only forum that represented ijma (consensus) and had the right to legislate as Allama Iqbal had visualised. Of course, Dawn had to pay a price for it, for the government continued to deny or curtail its quota of ads to Dawn.
The end of the Zia regime and the coming of democracy posed new problems for Khan Saab. The press was no doubt free, but a new threat to the media emerged in the form of fascistic pressures. Dawn’s offices were surrounded by party thugs, circulation vans were attacked, its copies were snatched and burnt, hawkers roughed up, and Dawn ceased publication for a day, but Khan Saab remained firm and his policy remained unchanged.
The governments, parties and personalities he came across as a journalist and editor were many. They ranged from Jinnah and Nehru in the pre-partition days to politicians ranging from Mian Iftikharuddin and Bhutto, to generals from Ayub to Musharraf. Among the legends who were his lifetime friends were men like Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Zaheer Babar and Akhtar Hameed Khan.
It was also under his editorship that Dawn celebrated the diamond jubilee of its existence in 1997 with the publication of a 48-page supplement in which he dwelt on his role as a journalist and editor. Whether as editor, chief editor or later editor-in-chief, Khan Saab’s personality was characterised by honesty and humility, and at least two governments tried to tempt him by offering awards which he declined. His personality inspired confidence among his colleagues and enabled the younger ones to develop and grow. It was also during his editorship that women became an integral part of Dawn staff and now work alongside men in key editorial positions.
In the 50th anniversary supplement article, giving his impression of what Dawn editorship meant to him, Khan Saab wrote: “Sometimes, this has been rewarding; sometimes not. Rarely have I patted myself in the back for any achievement I could claim to have made. But my strenuous engagement in the line of duty has been a labour of love, though punctuated on occasions with a sense of futility. Frustration has often been my reward. And yet sometimes I permit myself the luxury of imagining that journalism does make sense -— or did for me.”
Source: Dawn
Date:3/14/2007
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