It was a special occasion to talk to Jamiluddin Aali- the renowned
columnist, critic and poet at his seaside apartment on a Sunday
afternoon. The wind howling outside the closed windows and sparkling
waves of the Arabian Sea in the background. Aali Sahib was very serene
and reminisced about his long association with Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman,
the founder of Jang Group of newspapers, during a chit chat with The
News.
The octogenarian talked in a monologue about the old days in Delhi
before the partition of India during the Second World War. "I
had a very long association with Mir Sahib and still remember him
vividly when he was an aspiring journalist in Delhi. He was a one-man
army in those days. He was collecting the editorial material, printing,
publishing and distributing the one-page evening newspaper all by
himself. Even at that time he had a mission and commitment to own
a grand newspaper. His office was at "Hauz Khas". It was
so engrossing to listen to Aali Sahib about the person who single-handedly
built a media empire in Pakistan.
"He had his first office at the Burns Road after he migrated
to Pakistan. There was no other thought for him other than establishing
a newspaper. He broadened the horizon of column writing in Pakistan,
literary giants like Josh Maleehabadi, Shaukat Thanvi and others wrote
columns in his newspaper".
According to Aali Sahib, one of the greatest qualities of Mir Sahib
was that he printed the news disregarding political or ideological
affiliation of the source. "He will usually not invite trouble
from the government but will never bow to the pressure tactics from
it either. He used to write instructions or news items on the empty
cigarette packs or the used envelopes. That was his one side of personality
but the other was that of a great philanthropist, who distributed
thousand of rupees to the poor without revealing it to anyone, including
me".
Asked if Mir Sahib had some poets in his closest circle, Aali Sahib
replied in negative. "He was not very fond of the company of
the poets but he used to help and guide them. It was Mir Sahib who
insisted Josh Maleehabadi to write his memoirs. Josh Sahib agreed
and wrote his autobiography, 'Yadon Ki Baraat' that became a rage
with the literary circle".
Mir Sahib, according to Aali Sahib, was a very good pay master so
much so that he was paying more than an English daily of the time.
He was good to his employees. "I never heard him rebuking or
shouting at his employees". He had a religious inclination. "I
saw him weeping at the tombs of Hazrat Ali and Hazrat Imam Hussain
in Iraq when we were visiting the country as a government delegation".
Mir Sahib was a very hard worker. He was organised and kept his work
schedule in an immaculate fashion. He expected his employees to be
dedicated to their work. "In Jang you could not afford to be
inefficient", he concluded.
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