Remembering

Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman

By Hanif Khalid

It was the one of the rare qualities of Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman, the founder of Jang group of newspapers, to fulfill his duties towards Allah with the same devotion and sincerity as he used to perform his duties towards His people. He was a devout follower of Holy Prophet (SAW) and his teachings which are now abandoned by the Muslims, while the same teachings have been adopted by America, Europe and other pan pacific countries and they are flourishing.
Throughout his life, as a sincere follower of these divine principles and rules given by Islam, he upheld the truth and faced every obstacle with perseverance. He detested deceitful people, condemned falsehood in all forms and maintained his distance from all such elements.
He was endued with humility, modesty and hard work and dedicated his entire life to journalism. With the same gifted abilities, Mir Saheb launched a two-page Jang after migrating from Delhi to Karachi, and made it the most respected Urdu language newspaper of the world. Today, Jang Group of Newspaper is Pakistan’s largest publishing house, solely because of Mir Saheb’s untiring efforts, honesty, patriotism, fearless approach towards his profession.
In February 1970, he appointed me to work in the newsroom of Jang, Rawalpindi. My appointment letter was signed by Mir Saheb’s eldest son (the current Executive Editor and Chairman of Jang Group of Newspapers). He regularly travelled from Karachi to Rawalpindi. At the time, the offices of Jang and its press were located in Gawalmandi, Daryaba, Rawalpindi. Mir Saheb was accustomed to spending most of his time in the room of the Resident Editor, Shorish Malik and General Manager/Resident Director, M Ahsan.
On every visit,  along with the Press Managers Mehmood Khan and Mr Wajahat, Mir Saheb used to meet every worker  of Jang, including plate makers Mr Justice and Mr Jordon, photographers Seth Sadiq Rafique Naz and William John Basco, Circulation Manager Chaudhry Ishaq, Incharge Advertisements  Raja Aziz, Incharge of internal pages of Jang S M Rizvi (late), members of newsroom, Abdul Karim Qaisar Imam,  Latif Qadri (late), Molvi M Niaz (late), reporters Z U Khan, Shaukat Butt, Sarshar Akhtar Malik, Sarwar Ali Kanwal (late), myself, Izhar Bhatti (late), teleprinter operator M Hussain Balti and even the peon Tassaduque Hussain and will shake hand with his entire staff irrespective of their official positions. Mir Saheb’s attitude reflected his humble, kind and down-to-earth nature.
Moreover, his contributions to Pakistani journalism - the introduction of high tech printing, and coloured graphics and introduction of modern Urdu composing system of Noori Nastaleeque and the establishment of the Press Council of Pakistan, along the lines of the British and Indian Press-are acknowledged even by his adversaries.
I was working for Jang in London when Mir Saheb and his elder son Mir Javed-ur-Rahman, took me to Flat Street (newspaper centre) and bought copies of a book containing the British Press Council’s terms and conditions, which was worth thousands of Pakistani rupees. Upon returning to Pakistan, during his meetings with the government machinery, he distributed copies of that book among the participants.
Mir Saheb disliked extravagance so much that even for internal correspondence, he preferred reusing the envelopes by writing the addresses on the backside of the envelopes. Similarly, he used to utilise papers by writing on both the sides. I have been following the footsteps of Mir Saheb for almost four and a half decades. This teaches us the lesson that economising is an exceptional practice and waste of resources should be prohibited. Though Mir Saheb was known for his prudence, he was also a very generous man. He helped many of the deserving members of the organisation anonymously. This practice is now followed by his wife, sons, daughters-in-law, as well as his grandchildren.
The founder of Pakistan’s largest publishing house, Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman, was not only a humane person but was also a fatherly figure to the aggrieved union workers. In 1970, during the then Federal Minister for Information and Broadcast, Nawabzada Sher Ali Khan’s period,  the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) held countrywide strikes to demand an increase in wages. When workers of Jang Rawalpindi called for a strike, Mir Saheb immediately flew to Rawalpindi from Karachi to address the problems of the workers. He asked the workers: “Treat Jang as your own beloved pet cow. Feed it, bathe it and enjoy its benefits. But do not butcher it; otherwise you would not be able to benefit from it.”
Before he could complete his effective and impressive speech, the workers, who had called for a strike, went back to Jang office and resumed their duties, immediately. However, some professional trade unionists campaigned for weeks until it was mutually agreed between Abdul Hafeez Pirzada and Mir Khalil-ur- Rahman to transfer the protesting workers to Quetta,  to save workers from unemployment. In order to facilitate this move of Mir Saheb, the government provided all the facilities along with news print quota to the Jang group.
With reference to that, I would also like to share some memories with the readers which I had witnessed. Before writing about any event, it is important to note that Mir Saheb never shied away from writing the truth or refraining from criticising the atrocious and brutal rulers on the editorial page of his newspaper. He considered it the right of common people to stay informed, therefore, he adhered to the universal rule of providing people with true information instead of misleading them with false or exaggerated news.
During Ayub Khan’s regime, his Foreign Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founded the Pakistan People’s Party after which he became a comrade of Yahya Khan. Z A Bhutto, during Yahya’s regime, addressed the public on the streets of Rawalpindi and said: “Our strife with Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman will continue!”
Bhutto was in close association with Yahya but after Pakistan lost its Eastern wing which later became Bangladesh, Bhutto became the first Civil Marshal Law Administrator of Pakistan. He made Abdul Hafeez Pirzada the Minister of Information and Broadcast, who pressurised the PPP workers to continue their strike. The pressure grew until Mir Saheb agreed to accommodate these workers in Quetta office, on the condition that the government gave him the permission to publish Jang from Quetta, as new appointments had to be made. After this permission was granted, Jang commenced its publishing from Quetta.
Likewise, when Field Marshal Ayub Khan passed away in his hometown, Rehana, the Z A Bhutto, issued a general order that all the newspapers would publish the news of Ayub Khan like ordinary obituary without black margin, which was usually given on the death of a famous personality.
As Mir Saheb was a fearless journalist, so instead of violating Ayub’s orders, he gave me another idea to publish the news of Ayub Khan’s demise with an outline of the verse, ‘Inna Lillahi wa inna alaihi raji’un’ in reverse format. Hence, Jang Rawalpindi published the news of Ayub’s death with a black colour outline of Quranic verse, despite the Marshal Law Administrator’s restriction. Readers of Jang still remember that spirit and they admired Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman for his courageous and dauntless attitude.
MKR, who was the founder and editor-in-chief of Jang group, always ensured that he hired the best writers for his organisation. He appointed me to become the editor of Jang, London from 1975 to 1977. In 1978, when Jang offices were situated in East London area, near old street tube station, Mir Saheb entrusted me with the task of training his beloved son, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. He also arranged a special function at Jang’s London office for this purpose.
Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman bought expensive professional cameras and other relevant equipment for the office. At that time, I used to cover Wimbledon Tennis Tournaments and other British and Pakistan High Commission’s events as a professional journalist. Mir Shakil inherited his father’s greatness too as few years ago he openheartedly declared that his father had put him under my coaching in Jang London.
It is crucial to inform the readers about Mir Saheb’s stance against the military Marshal Law Administrator after the civilian Chief Marshal Law Administrator’s rule was over. During Zia’s regime, the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcast, Raja Zafar ul Haq, now one of prominent leaders of Muslim League (N), criticised Jang in favour of one of his contemporaries. He even stated that Jang should shut down if it cannot abide by the instructions of the Marshal Law Administration.
The decision to shut down Jang was to be made in the Federal Cabinet meeting, headed by General Zia-ul-Haq. Gujranwala’s famous politician, Ghulam Dastgir Khan and Hazara division’s Raja George Sikandar Zaman were also part of the Federal Cabinet. When Raja Zafar-ul-Haq raised the point of action against Jang, the aforementioned ministers and their associates vehemently opposed it. Consequently, the suggestion was rejected by the Cabinet owing to the reason that the same day, Mir Saheb published his article, entitled “Raja saheb apna record durust farma lain”  (Raja Saheb keep your record straight) on page 7 and 8. That article was to-the-point, well-reasoned and impressive, and thus, it changed the opinion of General Zia and his Cabinet. Because of Mir Saheb’s article, the one-sided picture presented by the biased elements was proved to be false, and the conspiracy to shut down Jang was exposed.
Mir Khalil-Ur-Rahman always remembered those who had ever been kind to him. After the drama of shutting down Jang failed in the Cabinet, Mir Khalli ur Rahman said to me that he was grateful to Raja George Sikanadar Zaman for playing a positive role in saving Jang from an undue closure. Afterwards, Raja Sikandar Zaman told me: “Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman is a man of admirable character; he came to me and said that though the Federal Minister, Ghulam Dastgir Khan, was a dear friend of mine, but it was you who supported Jang’s stand very openly.”
Raja George Sikandar Zaman praised my efforts in explaining Jang’s point of view to him. He said that he favoured Jang’s struggle for ‘democracy and truth’.
Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman always made good friends and he treated everyone very kindly. Whenever he came to Rawalpindi, he went along with me to meet bureaucrats, secretaries of finance/trade, FBR chairman, chief controller import/ export, etc. He used to point towards me and say: “You can give my messages to Hanif; he will deliver them to me.”
From that day onwards till now, bureaucrats remember Mir Saheb for his trust on his employees.
My conscience compels me to mention another minor incident as well when Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman visited Rawalpindi for the last time, he stayed in his mansion at Embassy Road. He was in poor health at that time. I took him to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences for check-ups for at least a fortnight. I showed his x-rays to a specialist in Rawalpindi Cantt at Murree road. The day he was leaving for London from Islamabad, he asked me to have breakfast with him. I complied and went to his place where Mir Saheb, his wife Mehmooda Khalil, his daughters and also Begum Ghazala Javed, Begum Shahina Shakil, their sons Mir Ibrahim Shakil, Mir Ismael Shakil and other family members were present on the breakfast table. After the breakfast, Mir Saheb said to his family: “Hanif is not only loyal to our organisation but he is also very kind to me. I will never forget his kindness when he took me to the hospital for almost a fortnight”. Upon hearing this, I aimlessly said: ‘Mir Saheb, I am only your servant.’ Mir Saheb put his hands on his chest and said emotionally: ‘Khalid what have you said?’
On hearing this, Begum Mehmooda Khalil immediately said to me in Punjabi: ‘Khalid, why did you use the word ‘servant’ for yourself? Had Mir Saheb considered you a servant, would he have ever honoured you to eat with his sons and daughters?” I immediately realised that I used the wrong word. So I apologised to Mir Saheb.
Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman fatherly pardoned me on my apology. The same day, he flew to London but after a few weeks he passed away. He was buried in Karachi leaving me and thousands of grieving admirers behind.

Aasman teri lehad pe shabnam afshani kare
Sabza norasta is ghar ki nigehbani kare

—The writer is Resident Editor, Jang, Rawalpindi