It was not only a national but personal loss when M.A. Zuberi died on December 12 last year. He was 90. His wife, Sultana, had passed away just a month earlier before he joined her. Between them it seemed to be a break-up of a long, painstaking innings. Mrs Zuberi did not want to be a widow so she led the way and soon after her senior partner too called it a day.
I had the pleasure of knowing Zuberi Bhai much before I became a journalist. Since Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah had chosen and entrusted my father - the late Syed Shamsul Hasan, Assistant Secretary of All India Muslim League - to be the first and last Printer and Publisher of Dawn - both when it was launched as a weekly and later as a daily from Delhi - our house in Delhi and in Karachi after partition remained a focal meeting point for the journalist community. Incidentally, the Quaid had made him the Printer and Publisher of Urdu daily Manshoor as well.
-- Obviously when Wamiq, the eldest son of Zuberi Bhai asked me to pen my thoughts about his father - the last of the media icons in particular - it was a challenging assignment since I had to travel a long way back down memory lane - from a youngster to where I am today. I came in contact with many of the top Muslim journalists who used to frequently visit our house; and one of them was Zuberi Bhai.
-- When Quaid was on a talent-hunt, he picked up M.A. Zuberi, a bright young man, to join Dawn's editorial board before partition. Altaf Hussain was its editor and Zuberi Sahib was one of the favourites of the Quaid. Others whom I had come to know in my early days included Altaf Sahib, Manzoorul Haq, Ashiq Bhai, Shakoor Sahib, Asheer Bhai, Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman, Zamir Siddiqui, Shamim Ahmed, Z.A. Suleri, Ayub Ahmad Kirmani, Tufail Ahmad Jamali, Hasan Riaz Sahib, Zuhair Siddiqui, I.H. Burney, Zawwar Hasan, Fareed Jafri, Asrar Bhai, M.A. Mansuri, Ahmed Hasan, Zamir Niazi, Minhaj Barna, Nisar Usmani and I. A. Rehman.
-- At that time I had never thought that one day I too would become a journalist, since my father wanted me to be a lawyer. As I was fond of writing from the university days I used to contribute to various newspapers' letters to editor columns and it always gave me immense pleasure when some managed to get published. When I completed my Masters degree, my father wished for me to pursue a career in Law. I decided that while studying law I would try to use journalism as a stepping stone. I consulted Zuberi Bhai. He advised me to see Altaf Husain. I got a job as an apprentice sub-editor in Dawn, though Altaf Sahib had discouraged me from becoming a journalist; he wanted me to take CSS exams and become a bureaucrat. My obduracy left him with no choice.
-- Having come through the top I found myself misplaced among seniors. I learnt that Mir Sahib was to launch Daily News and its editor Shamim Ahmed was recruiting staff. I again sought Zuberi Bhai's advice and landed in Daily News as apprentice reporter.
-- It was only when I became Editor of Daily News in early 1969 that my meetings with Zuberi Sahib became frequent. He was a leading member and office-bearer of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE). On many occasions we travelled together to attend conferences, etc. Throughout my interaction with Zuberi Bhai, I found in him an affectionate elder, always there to help with some good advice. On many occasions when the press was passing through repressive times, though himself a fearless person both with his pen and gift of the gab, he used to caution me to avoid unnecessary journalistic bravado.
-- Zuberi Bhai had seen Pakistan come into being having contributed his bit to the movement with his pen. He had also braved many stormy periods when press was under stress and duress. Since he was a walking history of how we came to be what we are, it used to give us great pleasure to hear from him how we got Pakistan, what a great leader the Quaid really was, and how he fought for Pakistan, human rights and freedom of the press under the British Raj. Like many others I always pleaded with him to write his memoirs to bequeath to others as cherished legacy.
-- He was a charming narrator and was full of anecdotes - real stories that many did not know including how the Quaid's greatest speech of August 11, 1947 -described as Magna Charta for Pakistan- was censored. He used to recall the day (August 11) when F.E. Brown, his colleague in Dawn that evening (edition-in-charge) received a phone call from the then Press Information Department. Brown was advised against publishing a certain portion of Quaid's speech.
-- And the story as narrated by him goes: "Mr Altaf Husain, Mr M. Ashir and I were also present in the office. The text of speech was before Mr Altaf Husain... Mr Altaf Husain wanted to know who wanted this deletion. Were these instructions from the Quaid himself, or was it somebody else's idea?" The advice was conveyed by the then Principal PRO but nobody was there to own it. Zuberi Bhai was deputed by Altaf Sahib to convey to the then Secretary General of the Cabinet Division, Choudhry Muhammad Ali, his message that if it was not clarified who issued such instructions, he would go to the Quaid and report the matter to him."