Izhar, Kode and Nasir Zaidi

Who knew that a scion of the village of Muzaffarnagar, “Sambahalida”, who had the royal mood of the subcontinent, the custodians of the keys to the royal treasury of the subcontinent, and the British imperialism, like his own testicles even in his childhood, by honoring the royal glory of his forefathers. Protest against the cruel character and behavior of the people and nurture the thought of freedom of expression with the dignity of the human being. The hot head of the earth will make “Multan” his mantle, the man of temptation and difficulties will become the iron, the value of hard work will be the source, the value of struggle will be the source of dignity, the Lucknowi will be in the pursuit of sustenance. He would not have any hesitation in delivering the “cut blisters” to the beggars without caring about the harshness of Multan. There will be no signs of pride and arrogance like the guardians of the treasure of the Parkhas, the Sikh who sleeps with his hand in his mother’s hand will consider “education” as the ladder of progress for life, narrow hand and the palace of slums only. He will understand the abode of comfort, his mother’s dream of becoming “consciously educated” will be interpreted academically, and he will not be silent on any persecution.

Who knew that this student from Dhan Pan was so concerned about the rights of the workers and their freedom that he often forgot to wait for his mother in the hut, holding books in his hands, he joined the laborers of Colony Mill Multan. He used to join the protest against the oppression of the “capitalist”, then suddenly he learned the skill of giving language to his seeing and hearing abilities, and the spokesman of freedom of expression “Al-Fatah”, a colony worker in Multan. When he started writing about the labors, one day it was reported that Pakistan’s youngest journalist, Nasser Zaidi, who was caught in the eye of oppression, had been arrested and arrested for reporting on labor rights.

May the economic needs of the slum dwellers have slipped in the persistence of the “Lucknowi mother” who gave courage and courage to the brave “Nasir Zaidi”, the mother who is a young prisoner of freedom of press “Nasir Zaidi”. But she was not only proud, but she was the courage and courage of her son in the effort of freedom of journalism. He shamed the oppression and “Nasser Zaidi” became involved in the struggle for journalism and civil rights. But sir! When does oppression stop with its bloody intentions and violation of human rights?

After chewing the democratic rights of the people, the oppression of the dictator General Zia was moving towards increasing, civil liberties were being chosen in the walls, in this case, the convoy of “Freedom of Press” of “Minhaj Burna and Nisar Usmani” Mian Tufail was hired to create a rift in the “journalistic fraternity” to defeat the freedom of expression and the morale of the journalists, who was running the length and breadth of the country with his protest tactics in the leadership. The Islamic and Shariah Minister of Information Mahmood Azam Farooqui of Zia’s Shura created the “Dasturi Group” in “PFUJ”.

Commander-in-Chief Zia-ul-Haq and Information Secretary General Mujeeb thought that they would defeat the “Freedom of Press” movement against the atrocities of Zia’s darkest period and martial restrictions on expression, but the “Dasturi Group” The soldiers of “Minhaj Burna and Nisar Usmani”, the prominent leaders of expression in the self-interested and anti-journalism efforts, were not afraid of the prisoners, nor could they shake the steadfastness of “Ziai Kode” Nasir Zaidi. Nasir Zaidi writes in the documentary book titled “Seventy Years of Struggle for Freedom of Journalism” while narrating the days of restriction of expression.

“Zia-ul-Haq martial law of 1978 with its fascist pharaonic power cast a shadow over the country. The freedom to speak, write and express opinions was suppressed, everywhere was a scholar, whoever spoke was picked up, immediately punished. One year imprisonment and ten lashes, the next moment the punishment would be executed, when the voice of the people could not be silenced, the lips remained free, newspapers and magazines were closed in Sindh and Punjab, hundreds of journalists were dismissed, censorship on newspapers. was implemented.

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists started a movement against the restrictions, Lahore became the center of the movement, arrests were made for 60 consecutive days, the intensity of the movement and the full participation of the people shook the government houses, May 13, the heat of Lahore On Jobin, we were taken to the summary court along with senior journalists from Camp Jail, the group of journalists chained in chains waited for hours in the sun for the court hearing to start, we were summoned to the court, I, Khawar Naeem Hashmi, Iqbal Jafari and Fateh Mohammad Memon appeared with handcuffs in their hands, the judge looked us up and down and said in a “scared” voice, “So you are a journalist, you have violated martial law, we “Yes, we don’t believe in martial law, you have violated the constitution,” the judge said to us with a slight smile. “What do you consider yourselves as journalists?” You will know when you do hard work in jail. He was just about to take the oath when I stopped him and said, “Judge sir, stop this drama, we do not recognize your court, you have to punish.” Let them be heard” The judge stared at me and said,

“What are you saying? We have straightened out many people like you, what are you?” said the judge in anger when Khawar Naeem Hashmi spoke. Senior journalist Nasir Zaidi was given “Ahfazur Rahman Life Achievement Award” in Karachi recently for his courage and perseverance in the freedom of speech and freedom of the press movement during the martial law period. Through the efforts of “Ahfazur Rahman Memorial Committee”, this award is given to journalists who have achieved significant performance in the promotion of freedom of journalism and expression and stability of democratic values.