Journalist Wali Wajid laid to rest
MULTAN- Noted journalist and trade unionist Wali Muhammad Wajid was laid to rest at Shah Ashraf graveyard in Shah Rukn-i-Alam Colony on May 2, 2003. Known among his friends and admirers as Wajid Sahib, he died on May 1, 2003 night after a protracted illness.
The late Wali Wajid started his career as a schoolteacher from Multan. He joined daily Imroze in early 1960s as a reporter. He was the chief reporter when it stopped printing in 1992.
Being president of the Progressive Papers Workers Union, Multan, Wajid Sahib tried his best to re-launch the daily, but to no avail. He also worked as the Multan correspondent of Dawn for a few months.
Before failing ill about two years ago, he worked for a number of local dailies and weeklies. Wajid Sahib was a torch-bearer of trade union activities in the south Punjab, especially in Multan.
According to his contemporaries, Wajid Sahib was the man who gave awareness to the local journalists about their rights. During the martial law of Gen Zia, Wajid Sahib was put jailed for his progressive views and struggle for journalists’ rights.
On his release, he was transferred to Sukker as bureau chief of Imroze as a punishment. But, all these hardships could not weaken his conviction regarding the struggle for down-trodden classes. He had held important offices of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (Barna group) and All-Pakistan Newspapers Employees Confederation.
During imprisonment, he was reportedly subjected to severe physical and mental torture which cast a bad effect on his health. Died at the age of 70, he is survived by three sons and two daughters. Wajid Sahib also made his mark as a Naat poet and published a collection of his poetry under the title of Wazuha.
Source: Dawn
Date:5/3/2003
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