Sabihuddin Ghousi – mascot of tolerance and freedom
Born on December 8, 1943, in the Indian state of Manawader (Kathiawar) in a liberal and enlightened family, Sabihuddin Ghousi, President of the Karachi Press Club (KPC) and a senior journalist continues to be a giant for present-day journalists. It is not just his writings that provoke people to think but his willingness to take on anything that comes in the way of press freedom that endears him to many.
“I am the youngest of 16 brothers and sisters. We lived at Plaza Quarters on M.A. Jinnah Road and my neighbours were Christians who inspired me a lot. As a matter of fact my outlook is greatly influenced by my Christian neighbours who would narrate Bible stories for me,” he says.
Ghousi acquired his primary schooling at St Xavier’s School, situated near the Napier Barracks where dance and music was a part of the curriculum.
“My Christian neighbours who were liberal, lower middle-class people taught me to respect my elders and told me that the rich had no place in God’s kingdom,” he says.
At home too, he was brought up in an enlightened atmosphere. His father was a sessions judge in Manawader. Later, he shifted to Junagadh where he became a revenue commissioner. The family migrated to Karachi in 1947 where his father became the legal advisor to Habib Textile Mills Limited. He died in 1957.
After studying in St Xavier’s School till class five, Ghousi joined the Metropolis School from where he did his Matriculation in 1961. In 1966, he passed his B.Sc examinations from Islamia College, Karachi.
“I was a bad student but I loved books. I remember I bought the complete works of Shakespeare for Rs15 from a bookshop near Parisian Hotel in the heart of the city,” he recalls.
In 1963, Ghousi joined the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Customs House branch, as a clerk but left the job after three months and took admission in B.Sc. He also got admission in Dow Medical College (DMC), Karachi after completing his B.Sc on a seat allocated for the people of Manawader but it was cancelled. Regarding that incident, he says, “That was the first injustice I remember at the hands of the state.”
In 1967, he joined Habib Bank Limited and was posted to Faisalabad. He was active in making an association within the bank and was soon told that his services were required no more. That was when he tried his hand at journalism. In 1970, he joined the daily Sun with a recommendation from veteran journalist S. K. Pasha.
“I was under the senior journalist Ashab Naqvi who would ask me to go to Merryweather Tower on foot and jot down whatever I saw,” he says.
After an initial training of sorts, he was asked to file stories on Martin Quarters and the Zoological Garden. “I started my journalistic career from The Sun with a monthly salary of Rs100 and I still relish the company of my colleagues including Abid Ali Syed, Tarek Fateh, S. B. Zaman, Iqbal Haider, Nuzhat Amin, Aleemuddin Pathan and Ashfaq Bokhari,” he reminisces.
“The Sun was the only newspaper in Pakistan that was listed in the stock exchange and had a local rotary press. Its editor, Shamim Ahmed, introduced what are known as screaming headlines, in Pakistan. I remember when there was a cyclone in former East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1970, my editor wrote an editorial with the headline: ‘The Rivers are angry’. Similarly, The Sun carried a symbolic editorial entitled ‘Royal Bengal Tiger’ when the (late) General Yahya Khan initiated a military operation in East Bengal. Those were stormy days and our editor never allowed us to file stories with anonymous sources,” he recalls with pride.
The Sun was banned for the first time in 1972 when the Sindh Assembly passed the controversial language bill. “On December 24, 1972, I went on a hunger strike when The Sun was shut down and we all became jobless. The publication was restored but our publisher Pervez Lari was not a reliable person,” he says.
In 1974, Ghousi joined the Soviet Press and Information Department along with his two other colleagues Ashfaq Bokhari and Intezar Zaidi but resigned in 1975. “I joined Pakistan Economist at a salary of Rs400 per month whereas I got Rs1,600 at the Soviet Press and Information Department,” he recalls.
He also worked for the weekly Mayaar and joined the Pakistan Press International (PPI) in April 1976. “PPI gave me lots of exposure and I worked there for seven years,” he says. He joined the Business Recorder in 1983 went onto the Morning News in 1986 and finally to Dawn in 1988. He has also worked for The Muslim.
He, along with many other journalists, were arrested when the military government of General Ziaul Haq banned Musawaat in 1978, and was imprisoned for six months which he served at Kot Lakhpat Jail, Punjab, in a cell next to the cell of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
“On May 13, 1978 we came to know that three of our colleagues had been flogged in Lahore Jail. I learnt how to weave in jail and I always thought if it ever came to it, I could make a nice living out of weaving,” he says.
Ghousi has worked as in-charge in Dawn’s Economic and Business Review (EBR) and as city editor as well. “The job of a journalist is to uncover things and that is societyÂ’s strength. Real democracy means the right to know,” he says.
Ghousi got married in 1982 and his wife who was a teacher was a “source of strength” for him. Today he was one of the inspiring lights in the battle for the freedom of the press. He continues to fight from the frontline and younger journalists say that he never shies from fighting injustices head on.
Source: The News
Date:11/25/2007
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