It was decided that a person's name and picture will not be published in any newspaper and his face will not be shown on TV.
The man who became a nightmare for the decision-makers of the homeland was Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who gave the constitution of 1973 to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and who was also the founder of Pakistan's nuclear program.
Bhutto's name and picture were ordered to disappear from the media in 1978 by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the third military dictator of Pakistan. In 1976, he was in the seventh position on the seniority list of military generals. Bhutto tried to secure his political future by making a junior general the army chief, but his attempt failed.
During the reign of General Zia, in addition to censorship, pre-censorship (before publication censorship) was also imposed. The cause of pre-censorship was Zaheer Kashmiri, who tried to prove his pen mightier than a gun by publishing some poems with a picture on the front page of the daily Eqaman Lahore. On the night of the 9th of Muharram, what did they think? He placed a picture of Bhutto under the news about Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and published some poems about the fight between Hazrat Imam Hussain and Yazid under it.
The next day was the 10th of Muharram and General Zia-ul-Haq was also forced to mourn. He issued an order through his Federal Information Secretary Lieutenant General Retired Mujibur Rahman that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's name and picture will not be published in any newspaper. Four newspapers and magazines were ordered to get their content approved by military authorities before publication. In addition to Equanim Lahore, daily Nimbar Rawalpindi, Weekly Viewpoint Lahore, and Monthly Dhank Lahore were included. At that time, Hafiz Tahir Khalil Sahib used to be the assistant editor of the daily Nibar. Every night he would prepare a copy of the newspaper and take it to a major first. Major Sahib used to remove the news and picture which he censored from the copy in front of him and also cleared the news and picture to be placed in their place. When the Lahore High Court sentenced Bhutto to death, some PPP workers started self-immolation. One day, one such self-immolation took place in Rawalpindi, and the daily Niqab carried a picture of the self-immolator on its front page. Hafiz Tahir Khalil took a copy of his newspaper and went to the pre-censorship major, he ordered to remove the picture of the self-immolator. Hafiz had an alternative arrangement in his pocket. He had prepared a piece by an Indian poet Wasim Barelvi.
How to hide what is visible from your face
How to look according to your will
The idea of decorating a house is much later
First, decide how to save this house
Major Sahib read this piece and said that this poetry is against us. It will not be published. With a smile on his face, Hafiz praised Major Sahib's literary understanding and said that Waseem Barelvi is an Indian poet and is expressing concern about the conditions in India. We want to let him and the Indian government know that India is in danger. The next day, when the newspaper hit the market, the top military officials were left banging their heads. After some time, Bhutto was hanged. Hafiz Tahir Khalil thought that this is such big news. Permission will be given to publish the photo of the person who was hanged. He pasted the photo of Bhutto along with the news of the execution and presented the copy of the newspaper to Major Sahib. The major ordered to the removal of the photo in a harsh tone. Hafiz quietly removed the photo and took out a written poem from his pocket.
The love that has gone away from us, now tell us about it
There is no seal, there is no anger, then recite the true poem
After reading the poem, Major Saheb asked whose poem is this. Hafiz said that Athar is a sophisticated poem. Major Sahib asked what is his nationality. Hafiz said that he is a Pakistani poet. Major Sahib grunted and said that tell this poet to forget Bhutto, he has been hanged. Hafiz Sahib said that the poet had said this poem long before Bhutto's execution. Major hit the table and said today you cannot fool me. Where is Major Sahib today, but the name and image of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto are still alive in the history of Pakistan, Athar Nafis's ghazal is still popular and Hafiz Tahir Khalil is still narrating these stories of the past and finding similarities in the current situation. have been.
There is a big difference between the reigns of General Zia-ul-Haq and Shahbaz Sharif. It is difficult to find parallels between a military dictator and an elected prime minister, but Tehreek-e-Insaf supporters call this period also a mini-martial law. The argument is that it is undemocratic to try military courts against those who attacked military buildings on May 9. Ironically, during the Tehreek-e-Insaf government, when we raised our voices against trying civilians in military courts, the Tehreek-e-Insaf called us foreign agents and traitors. Tehreek-e-Insaf cannot be absolved by blaming General Qamar Javed Bajwa for the human rights violations during his regime because the Tehreek-e-Insaf government had given Bajwa a three-year extension. Recently, Tehreek-e-Insaf issued a statement from its official Twitter account that Hamid Mir, who used to blame Imran Khan for the restrictions on him, is now blaming Bajwa.
In 2021, when I was banned from TV as well as newspapers, I clearly said in the BBC program Hard Talk that I was banned not by Imran Khan, but by the establishment, but Imran Khan is not acquitted because He is the Prime Minister of the country. Unfortunately, instead of admitting its mistakes, Tehreek-e-Insaaf is trying to hide its mistakes through lies. Our problem is that we raised our voice on human rights violations in the past, we have to raise this voice today. We are not related to any political party but to this school of thought of journalism whose leaders are Minhaj Burna, Nisar Usmani, and Awar Hussain Naqi. Naqi Sahib remained under reproach during the period of General Ayub Khan, was punished by the military court during the Bhutto period, and then was punished by the military court during the period of General Zia. Minhaj Burna, the leader of Naqi Sahib, said a poem in the struggle for freedom of the press, which I remember very much today that means the death of the pen, the blood of journalism
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