KARACHI: “The fight for freedom is not fought alone. The same is the case for freedom of press. And when you talk of freedom of press it all boils down to the freedom of speech,” said senior journalist and former editor of Dawn Saleem Asmi on Saturday.

Asmi Sahib, as he is known to colleagues, friends and admirers, was speaking at a programme organised by the Karachi Press Club (KPC) to honour his services for journalism here.

“You need unions to spread awareness and get the wheels moving in organisations. It is all about freedom and to ... fight ... for your rights you need to speak up,” he explained.

“Whatever anyone does, whatever anyone achieves in his or her life, it is not done alone. There are people, experiences and his or her own steam that gets them there. But the steam should be there in the first place,” he said while replying to a question about how he stepped into journalism.

‘There is a compulsive copy editor inside him’

He said that it was back in 1959 when he was looking for a job after completing his education. “I was looking for a job which I got with the newspaper. I liked what I did there so I worked hard, which helped me grow in ranks,” he said.

Lauding Asmi Sahib’s services to journalism, Dawn’s senior reporter Habib Khan Ghori said that stepping into journalism during the Ayub Khan regime he had seen plenty of ups and down in the profession. “He remained mostly on the desk, the place for the most qualified people with great English. During his time as news editor with Dawn, he brought about several positive changes and innovations, which got the paper known as the ‘paper of record’. People used to save copies of Dawn,” he said.

“As president of KPC, he took it on himself to build the roof of the club building, which was about to cave in if not saved then,” he added.

Senior journalist and Dawn’s former city editor Abul Hasanat said that he would hear Asmi Sahib’s name in radical circles as a student. “I also know about his love for literature. There is a rebel inside him. He is outspoken and yet candid in his opinions. There is also a compulsive copy editor inside him, which he has been unable to get rid of to this day,” he said.

He also praised Asmi Sahib for the many weekly magazines he introduced during his editorship days at Dawn. “There was the arty Gallery, the literary Books & Authors, the science magazine Sci-tech World and The Review, which were all started by Asmi Sahib,” he recalled.

Old friend and connoisseur of art and music S.M. Shahid remembered how he used to prepare artwork and mount pieces for exhibitions together. He also spoke about his interest in Marxism which even took him to a sweepers’ colony for stories. “But the sweepers weren’t interested,” he laughed at the memory of it all.

Commenting on his humble nature, he said that he had written his profile sketch, which couldn’t see the light of day because he made the mistake of showing it to him.

Well-known psychiatrist and rights activist Dr Haroon Ahmed, another good friend of Asmi Sahib, said that his starting the literary Books & Authors magazine led to more people reading books in the country. “Now we have big literature festivals in Pakistan but the trend of reading was dying until the magazine revived it,” he said, adding that similarly Gallery, the art magazine, helped art flourish in the country.

Earlier, KPC’s secretary Arman Sabir said that the club has decided to celebrate senior journalists by inviting them and listening to their experiences in journalism.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2019