No attention paid to journalists’ training: Zuberi
KARACHI- Veteran journalist and Chief Editor, daily Business Recorder MA Zuberi said that the noble profession of journalism had now become a mere employment and no proper attention was paid on training of the journalists. Zuberi was speaking on “My years in Journalism in Retrospect” at the first of a series of lectures meeting to honour the senior most editors on the job in Pakistan, organised by Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE) at a local hotel.
There is still hope as the press in Pakistan has managed to fill the vacuum of an effective opposition to check the excesses of men in authority, he said. He recalled the history of Pakistan since his joining daily Dawn in New Delhi in 1945 and said that Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had offered him the job in Dawn and later provided training under the guidance of senior journalists. “Apply your mind to the subject before you, honestly and objectively, do not grudge credit where it is due and do not hesitate to criticise if it is Muhammad Ali Jinnah,” Zuberi quoted Quaid-e-Azam as saying to him.
He said that he was posted at various assignments on the desk and reporting during his initial journalistic career in Delhi. When the Dawn was shifted to Karachi, the first capital of the newly created state of Pakistan, Zuberi also moved to the city. Zuberi presented his experience as a reporter and said that he covered the first budget of Pakistan.
Recalling his memories during early years of Pakistan, Zuberi said that Quaid announced the foundation of Refugee Relief Fund and asked countrymen to contribute donations. He (Quaid) asked Altaf Hussain, editor of Dawn, that the newspaper should help in the collection of the fund. “Altaf Sahib came and told me about it and I said we could do the same that Hindustan Times and Times of India newspapers did when Gandhi and Nehru asked for donations. These newspapers asked their readers to make contributions to the fund, set up by them and as a receipt they would publish their names. We could do the same,” he said.
Zuberi also recalled his various meetings with Quaid-e-Azam. He said in early days, bureaucrats were assigned ministries, which caused problems in governance. He said that when Secretary-General of Finance Chaudhry Mohammad Ali was elevated as Federal Finance Minister he (Zuberi) advised Governor General Khawaja Nizamuddin not to do so, as every bureaucrats in the country would henceforth aspire to become a minister instead of accepting federal secretary post as the end of the career line.
“I was told that we have heard you and now you can leave,” he added. Zuberi also dwelt upon the historical events in Pakistani politics. He said he left Dawn in 1964 when the then government of General Ayub Khan exerted pressure on the management on publication of anti-government editorials. “Later I was offered an Ambassadorship, which I did not accept.” Then he was offered the editorships of the newspapers Morning News and Pakistan Times, I turned down both of them. He said after detailed discussions with colleagues and friends he decided to bring out a business/financial daily and then the Business Recorder started publication in April 1965.
Source: The News
Date:3/16/2002
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