• September 13, 2004
• Print Media
• Web Desk

LAHORE – A reception was given by the Nawa-i-Waqt Group of Newspapers to the Sitara-i­-Imtiaz recipient S. H. Hashmi on September 11.

Representing Nawa-i-Waqt , Mr. Majeed Nizami presented a shield to S.H Hashmi.

Addressing the gathering, S. H. Hashmi said he not only has busi­ness relations with Nawa-i-Waqt , but also shares the paper’s ideological vision. Before I started work, I was an avid reader and fan of Nawa-i-Waqt’s bold policy, he said. He praised Mr. Majeed Nizami’ s commitment to Islam, Pakistan and Democracy and said people like him (Mr. Majeed Nizami) are far and few nowadays. Lauding the services and courage of The Nation Editor, Mr. ArifNizami, he said bravery and boldness runs in the family blood.

Nawa-i-Waqt would keep on playing its ideological role, he said. The closure of government advertisements did not affect the Nawa-i-Waqt Group of Newspapers, he said adding the people who did this did not earn a good name for themselves in the process. This (closure of adver­tisements) had also happened in the past. It did not matter then and it did not matter now, he said adding certain individuals now stand identified.

S.H Hashmi said that the Federal Information Minister has assured him that the Federal government has directed the provinces to end the ban on Nawa-i-Waqt , but some provinces have not carried out the directions yet.

Talking about a statement at tributed to him by a newspaper, he denied he ever said the circulation of the said newspaper was greater than the collective circulation of all the newspapers in the country. “I am a business­man. How can I say something that I know is not true,” he said.

Talking about the state of Urdu in Pakistan, he said every government had given Urdu a step motherly treatment. Once a President approved the charter of the Urdu University but the University Grants Commission lost that file. This is the way our rulers treat the language that Quaid-e-Azam declared as the national language of Pakistan, he said.

The Editor-in-Chief The Nation said that S. H. Hashrni is a ‘king of advertising’. He said he had an interaction with Mr Hashmi for the last forty two years and he has always followed the principles. He said that Mr Hashmi even did not bother when his Pride of Performance award was taken away by the government because he never compromised over principles. He said that the importance of the print media would never be reduced though a lot of mushroom newspapers were being launched daily. He said though the electronic media was grow­ing rapidly but he did not agree to the assumption that the electronic media growth would minimise the importance of the, printmedia. He said that whenever the business community has to advertise their concerns, they contact the print media. He said that the print-media always carries the concerns of the masses as the electronic media can not do it properly.

He said that though he always opposed the dummy newspapers as those have a little circulation and even he left the platform of APNS and CPNE when some of the members opposed to his opinion.

Mr Nizami felicitated S. H. Hashmi on being awarded Sitara-i-Imtiaz and asked the APNS and CPNE to arrange honourable ceremonies to give respect to Mr Hashmi.

APNS and CPNE President Arif Nizami also greeted Mr Hashmi on the occasion and thanked him for participating in the ceremony arranged by the Nawa-i-Waqt , The Nation in his honour. He said that he has also two offices like President Musharraf, but he added, he was the elected president of both the bodies. He thanked Mr Hashmi for extending his cooperation during the difficult period of ban of government ads to the Nawa-i-Waqt and The Nation.

He said that the imposition of ban on ads was not new to the Nawa-i-Waqt as every government has done it and we face the tactics of each government bravely. He said that the group had no enmity to anyone but it was a matter of policy and principle for the organisation. He said tllat the Punjab Government has not released ads to the Nawa-i­Waqtup but that does not matters and we will remember their conduct. He said that keeping our principles, Nawa-i-Waqt and The Nation would play their role for the freedom of the press. Irshad Haqqani, Jamil Athar, Zia Shahid, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman Shaarni, Mumtaz Tahir and others also attended the function.

Source: The Nation

Date:9/13/2004