'Mr Jinnah'

Icons are not made in a day. They take years and decades. Sometimes centuries. And not every icon in every field in every country is born every century. The late Mr M. A. Zuberi, and I call him late with great pain, as he was one such media icon gifted by nature to Pakistan, the country he loved more than anything else in life.
When I joined the Press Information Department in mid 1973 in Rawalpindi on completion of our training in the Civil Service Academy at Lahore, Pakistan had only four English language dailies of consequence - Dawn, Pakistan Times, Business Recorder and Morning News. Of the four, only Dawn and Business Recorder were independent, being in the private sector. The other two were organs of the government being owned by the National Press Trust. Of the four major Urdu language dailies, Jang and Nawa-e-Waqt were privately owned and thus independent. The other two, Imroze and Mashriq, were again government controlled, being owned by the National Press Trust. PTV and PBC were the lone stars of the electronic media in Pakistan. It was in this controlled and stifling media environment that people like the late Mr M. A. Zuberi had to write and work and say what they believed was needed to be said without provoking the sensitivities and sensibilities of the rulers. Easier said than done. But Mr Zuberi did that with remarkable ease as did a few other greats of those days like followed by Mr Ahmed Ali Khan, Mr Najibullah and Mr Majeed Nizami to mention a few.
Mr M. A. Zuberi, however, stood apart from most of his contemporaries for many other reasons. He was a journalist and an editor par excellence but so were a few other of his contemporaries. He was a man of principles but so were a few other of his contemporaries. He was a firm believer in independent but responsible journalism but so were a few other of his contemporaries. So, what was it that set him apart from others? His unwavering faith in Pakistan and its future. His unremitting commitment to the country for which he struggled as a young man and which he adopted as his home. Such was his love for this country that we, the young officers of the Information Service of the early 1970s, used to refer to him as "Mr Jinnah". I wish we had told him about it as he would have surely protested that there cannot be another Jinnah and that no one deserved to be called by that name but it would surely have given him a rare sense of satisfaction at being recognised for his great love for Pakistan.
Principled and upright, Mr M. A. Zuberi had only one identity - Pakistan. He treasured it immensely and defended it passionately at every forum, whether in Pakistan or abroad. I had the privilege and the pleasure of seeing him do that on many occasions, in Karachi and Islamabad, in New York and Washington, in Ottawa and Tokyo as he invariably formed part of the media team accompanying our Presidents and Prime Ministers on their visits abroad. Occasionally, we would lead him to a discussion by deliberately raising a point that we knew would provoke him. And having done that, we would listen and enjoy the clarity and passion with which he would put across his arguments. Usually, the late Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman, the late Ahmed Ali Khan, Mr Majeed Nizami, the late Inqilab Matri and Mr Fasih Iqbal would be in the group and would quietly enjoy as a provoked Mr Zuberi would passionately argue his points with a raised finger. And one dared not challenge him on facts and figures as he had them invariably right. He thus distinguished himself at every forum both with his incisive analysis as well as with his updated facts and figures, be it at the Planning Commission of Pakistan or the Ministry of Finance or the IMF and the World Bank headquarters in Washington D.C.
And last but not the least M. A. Zuberi the entrepreneur. How many journalists or editors do you know who took to publishing and founded a media house of repute that soon grew to be recognised as the most credible symbol of economic journalism in Pakistan? Business Recorder, which he founded, became the flagship of economic journalism in Pakistan enjoying the trust and confidence of the private and public sector alike. I have seen and known not one but almost every Finance Minister wait anxiously for the day's copy of Business Recorder before chairing a meeting on the Federal Budget. Mr M. A. Zuberi was invariably consulted on sensitive economic issues by the likes of late Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Dr Mahbubul Haq, Mr Sartaj Aziz and Mr Shaukat Aziz. Humble and modest as he was, Mr Zuberi would never take any advantage of his influence over these movers and shakers of Pakistan's economy. Consulted on sensitive national economic issues, he would never hesitate to criticise where due but always with his characteristic smile that was an almost permanent feature on his radiating face. But Mr Zuberi had little tolerance for the nonsensical and would immediately withdraw from a situation where he would sense a lack of sobriety and responsibility. Such men of steel and character are not born everyday. I was privileged to know him and to learn from him as I grew in my career in media relations and media management. And I thank Allah for granting me the opportunity to interact with the iconic Mr Zuberi and his distinguished contemporaries, each a luminary in his own right.