The story time told

AS the only newspaper in Pakistan to have a continuous publishing history from 1947 to the present, is uniquely placed.

Prior to partition, this newspaper was published from Delhi. On Aug 15, 1947, two editions were issued simultaneously, one from Delhi and the first-ever from Karachi. The latter edition carries the headline “May Pakistan prosper always”, quoting Lord Mountbatten. A little lower, “Qaed-e-Azam [sic] assures minorities of Islamic tolerance and regard.”
From this auspicious beginning, I have been working my way backwards and forwards through Pakistan`s chequered career. The front pages of many a momentous occasion, good or bad, serve to remind how memory and judgement become clouded with time. Agony descends into low-level ache till it becomes merely a part of the background angst of societal consciousness.
So, with a view to bringing those long-past and yet still seminal moments back into clear focus, here is a (somewhat random) sampling of this nation`s days and ways. Dawn
The issue of the military`s influence in civilian affairs, and where that has led us, is on everybody`s mind these days. In front of me I have `s front page of Oct 8, 1958.
There is a single-column picture of the then president Iskander Mirza to the left and to the right, a very slightly larger one in length of Gen Ayub Khan. The banner headline in caps reads “Constitution abrogated”, progressing in smaller lines of type to “Martial law all over the country”, “Political parties abolished”, “Parliament, legislatures and cabinets dismissed” and “Gen Ayub appointed supreme commander”. here
In every story, people look for a starting point: that it was here, this discernable, identifiable, separate-able that this particular tale began. Historians have sometimes argued that no such single point exists, for everything depends on that which went before and the best you can say about a starting point is that this is when the various strands that were destined to drive the story came together.
Looking at that long-ago moment in Pakistan`s history from the vantage point of the present, can we say that Oct 7, 1958 was when the story of one strand of Pakistan`s misfortunes began? Little would readers back then have known that variations of that front page would, over future decades, morph into an oft-repeated pattern. Can we discern, in the reporting of those statements then, the embryo of all the later military coups and the roads down which they led us? Can we detect the potential causality of where Pakistan is now?
The thought invites one to reflect on what may have happened had Pakistan gone down the other leg of the trouser of time, so to speak … how it would have been had that first military intervention never taken place. While there is no way to know, here is what I do have before me.
A banner headline, in upper case, says “Liaquat assassinated”, under which is nearly a quarter-page photograph of our first prime minister wearing his signature Karakuli cap, round glasses and half-smile. “Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan died in Rawalpindi yesterday afternoon, shortly after being shot at twice from close range by an unidentified assailant while addressing a public meeting at Company Gardens,” the story begins. “The prime minister had risen to address the mammoth gathering … when at approximately 4:20pm the assassin shot him twice with a revolver. … the assailant had hardly fired on the prime minister when he was `at once swooped on and torn to pieces by the furious mob.`”
At the bottom of the page, in the right-hand corner, is a little story titled “How came the killer so near?” It says: “In public meetings addressed by the prime minister the security arrangements are such that the front row of the audience is kept beyond revolver range. Was not this precaution observed?”
And that leads me immediately to the assassination of another prime minister, just over 50 years later. Company Gardens was renamed Liaquat Bagh. There, on that December day in 2007, Benazir Bhutto was shot by another unidentified assailant. “Garhi Khuda Bux awaits another Bhutto”, said this newspaper the next day, and I doubt there are any who can recall that afternoon, and its aftermath, without a tremendous sense of grief and frustration. Who killed her? Was the killing ordered by someone? As in the case of Liaquat Ali Khan, no answers would be forthcoming.
And then there is that April 1979 headline that causes emotions too complex to describe. “Bhutto hanged in `Pindi jail”, says yet another eight-column banner headline. The news report is not too long, with much of the page being taken up by the government press note and various people`s reactions. Two are worth mentioning. The then federal minister for statistics, Prof Khurshid Ahmed, defended President Zia`s decision and said that “it was a warning to all politicians” about overstepping their limits. And Maulana Mufti Mahmud, chief of the Pakistan National Alliance, is reported as having said that “Accountability should be a continuing process and every ruler must face it.” Dawn
I cannot end this piece without reproducing two more headlines. On July 3, 1977 the headline read: “Govt, PNA reach accord”. The report says that the sticking points over the June accord had finally been resolved and that it would be signed in a couple of days.
And then, reported on July 6, 1977: “Martial law is proclaimed: elections in October next”; “Gen Zia is CMLA, President stays”; “Top PPP, PNA leaders in protective custody”; “Sections of constitution under suspension”; “Four-man Military Council at Centre; ML Administrators for provinces; Political activities banned in the country.”
The rest, as they say, is history, and recent history at that. What conclusions are to be drawn, each person must decide for themselves.
The writer is a member of staff.
hajrahmumtaz@gmail.com 
 Source: Dawn News