Imroze , the Newspaper That Was

SO WHAT if the Imroze , once the nation's most respected newspapers, has closed down? Who is bothered? Who remembers that when it first came out on March 4, 1948, it had Faiz  Ahmad Faiz as its Chief Editor, and Chiragh Hassan Hasrat as its Editor? Who remembers Faiz? Who remembers Hasrat? This is the age neither of Imroze , nor of Faiz, nor yet of Hasrat. It is as well that they are no more.

          Why did the Imroze  die? Before Ayub Khan 's Martial Law , it used to be such a serene voice of sanity. No screaming headlines. Seriously concerned with the serious issues of the day. No slogans but a lot of substance. A literary magazine  every week ( Qismat-i-lmi-o-Adabi ). Short stories, verse, and literary criticism. The Punjabi  page, and quite the most distinguished editorial page to the last day.

          The editorial page used to have three regular features-the light column, "Harf-o-Hikayat," started by Hasrat himself, and carried forward by Ahmad Nadeem Qasimi  and later by others, "Pas-Manzar" and "Imroze -o-Farda." Informative and incisive.

          And look at the galaxy of stars who wrote for the paper: Ibn-i-Insha, Intizar Husain, Abdullah Malik , Zaheer Babur (also Chief Editor once), Hameed Jhelami , Prof. Mohammad Sarwar , Tufail Ahmad Khan , Hamid Akhtar , Amjad Husain , Munnoo Bhai , Col. Masud Ahmad , and a host of others, not forgetting my own life-long friend Shafqat Tanvir  Mirza , the last in a long line of distinguished Imroze  editors.

          I admit that Imroze  was running in the red for the last several years but it was for no fault of its staff. Its wings were clipped, when like other papers and magazines in the Progressive Papers Ltd ., founded by the late Mian Iftikharuddin , were taken over by Gen . Ayub Khan 's military regime in 1959.

          Then came the National Press  Trust (NPT), and all PPL papers were handed over to the NPT. Later, the Mashriq  and The Morning News  were added to the list. So, the NPT "owned" the following newspapers: The Pakistan  Times , Imroze , Lailo Nehar , Sportimes , Mashriq, and The Morning News . Editorial policy was dictated by the Ministry of Information, and all these papers were expected to sing in praise; and not in censure of the government  of the day.

          The first casualty of this State  ownership was the weekly Lailo Nehar , once edited by such luminaries as Sufi Ghulam Mustafa Tabassam . Once an unforgiving critic of the social inequities of the day, the magazine  degenerated into a run of the mill package of inanities, lost circulation, went into the red and was closed down as an economy measure.

          Next to follow was Sportimes . A monthly magazine  devoted to sports, it never really got going. It was almost constantly running in loss. The axe fell on it some time in the 70s. The PPL now had only two papers; The Pakistan  Times  (Lahore  and Rawalpindi ), and the Imroze  (Lahore and Multan ). The Pakistan Times held its own in spite of policy constraints; because it was the only English  language newspaper in the North; and Southern papers, since they arrived late, were no threat to it.

          This, however, was not the case with Imroze , which had local competitors, which were a lot freer even under years of direct Martial Law . Therefore, it began losing out to them steadily and became an increasingly heavy burden on the PPL and NPT finances.

          The IJI  Government, not too keen to lose money on a losing concern (Moneymakers never like to lose money, or they would not be moneymakers) decided that enough was enough, and that the Imroze  must close down. On November 25, the sun finally set on the paper, and never perhaps to rise again.

          The question here is: Could the Imroze  not have been saved under any circumstances? If closure was inevitable, who was responsible for it? Quite clearly, the governments of President  Ayub, and those that followed (Barring President Yahya Khan, who could not care less what the papers were writing).

          Had the Imroze  been unfettered, it might have revived and regained much of its lost circulation. But that wasn't to be. Imroze has passed into history.

          "Raat gaee baat gaee ," said Hasrat once. But is it as simple as that? The Government having faced no opposition to the Imroze  closure will not stop at that. Other papers in the Press  Trust will now follow. The IJI  does not need them. No one needs them. The PPL were throttled into insolvency and there are no takers in the private sector. The city has taken it as if nothing has happened. I can only quote from Munir Niazi :

Iss shehr-i-sangdil ko jala dena chahiey

Phir iss ki raakh ko bhi ura dena chahiey

AND NOW for a rather angry letter from my friend Zaman Khan  from Faisalabad . Writing about a piece I did on November 15, he says:

I must state here that no sane person will disagree with whatever you have written about Z. A. Bhutto , Nasrullah, and other political leaders. But what about the recent loot, plunder, and swindling committed by the rulers which has affected poor people in the villages? Can't you see the co-ops crash with your normal glasses? Or do you need special glasses for that?

    It is a pity (and a matter of shame) that you should be suggesting that the intelligentsia should be playing the fiddle while Pakistan  is burning.

    I will have no objection if you become part and parcel of the Nawaz Sharif  Administration. That is your right. But please come out openly and say that you are with Mr. Nawaz Sharif. That will make things clear for your readers. Please state openly where your legalities lie.

This is strange logic, indeed. Does one's criticism of party 'A' makes one a proponent of party 'B,' especially when one has nothing times nothing to do with the latter? Again, Mr. Nawaz Sharif  Government's responsibility for, or involvement in, the co-ops crash does not absolve the PPP  leadership of the wrongs it has committed against itself and against the people. Mr. Khan appears to have missed my point altogether. The burden of my November 15 piece was that those who live in glasshouses should not throw stones at others.

          I had said some time ago (this is the moreover thing) that Natha Singh  and Prem Singh are essentially the same thing. What essential difference will it make (I had written) if the PPP  were to rename itself the PML  (Benazir Group) or if the Junejo PML were to rechristen itself PPP (Junejo group)?

          Does Mr. Zaman Khan  want to know whether I prefer the kettle to the pot? Mr. Khan has a selective memory. I placed my cards on the table when I wrote the piece titled "Plague  on Both Your Houses." I beg of Mr. Khan to judge me in perspective, and not because of one single passage from one single piece. Were Mr. Khan to take the trouble to review my writing since 1984, he will find that there is a certain method to my madness.

          As for the intelligentsia, it is already playing at the fiddle. I don't have to tell it to do so.

          Mr. Khan asks whether I want to become "part and parcel of the Nawaz Sharif  Administration." That is readily answered: just as Mrs. Bhutto  herself was not part and parcel of Mr. Bhutto  Administration, so is Mr. Nawaz Sharif not part and parcel of Mr. Nawaz Sharif Administration. Savvy, Amigo?

          And finally, this little playback for Mr. Khan. Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto  was, for a while, the secretary-general of the Convention Muslim  League in which capacity he proposed that all Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police should be made members of the CML. This has now virtually happened. Like it? Love it!

Friday, December 6, 1991