Glowing tributes paid to late Minhaj Burna
LONDON: Eminent Lords, members of the British Parliament, lawyers, doctors and journalists turned up in large numbers to attend a memorial meeting held by the Pakistan Journalists’ Association (PJA), UK, at the Grand Room in the House of Commons in London to pay tribute to late Minhaj Burna. Remembering the struggles, which Burna initiated to help the journalist community win better terms of employment in the newspaper industry, the speakers said that it was all because of Burna’s tireless efforts and strong commitment with the cause of freedom of expression.
“His uncompromising struggle against the military regime of Ziaul Haq was lauded as the most daring resistance offered to a military dictator in the history of Pakistan,” they said. Lord Nazir Ahmed said that it was for the younger journalists to follow the ethics and humanitarian ethos that Burna had upheld for six decades. Lord Qurban said that the late journalist was a great trade unionist and that his loss would not be easy to recover from. British MP Rehman Chishti said that it was a matter of great satisfaction that the struggle of Burna did not go in vain. Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Wajid Shamsul Hassan, remembered Burna as a youth and later as a comrade and informed the audience that during the martial law he had the honour of giving the journalist sanctuary in his house. Former British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) journalist, David Page, remembered Burna writing to him at the BBC from a prison in Pakistan thanking the BBC for their coverage and support to the journalists’ movement during the Zia regime.
Former BBC Urdu service journalist, Asif Jillani, recalled that Burna was a student of his mother and told the audience how much that relationship was cherished by his family. Others who spoke, on the occasion, included Third World Solidarity Chairman Mushtaq Lashari, Prof Amin Mughal, QC Barrister Sibghatullah Qadri, PJA President Abbas Malik, PJA Vice President Tahir Chaudhry, Secretary General Wajahat Ali Khan, Amjad Ayub Mirza, Jehanzeb, Raza Ali Abidi, Dr Agha Shakeel, Zafar Tanveer, Abdul Qayyum Butt, Amanullah and Raja Faiz Sultan. Asif Dar hosted the meeting. amjad ayub mirza
Source: Daily Times
Date:1/29/2011
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