Iqbal Jaffery passes away

Veteran journalist remembered as one of Pakistan’s most vocal critics of martial law.

KARACHI: Veteran journalist Iqbal Jaffery passed away in Islamabad on Thursday.

He will be remembered as one of Pakistan’s most vocal critics of martial law and also as one of few who weathered the fury of General Ziaul Haq’s martial law by not compromising on his journalistic principles.

Amongst his various assignments, Jaffery Sahab, as he is popularly known, reported on the 1984 sham referendum of General Ziaul Haq wherein he exposed the whole exercise by voting at several polling booths all over Karachi in one day and then going on air and reporting it on the BBC, of which he was correspondent.  Soon after, his house was encircled by the military and he was put under arrest.

Those were exciting times for journalists. Arrests and harassment were part of their everyday lives. The military government would use both carrot and stick on the media. Jaffery sahab fell for neither. And he suffered greatly as a consequence.

He will also be remembered for being one of four journalists who were sentenced to flogging by a summary military court in 1978 on the charge of organising a meeting in a public place, raising slogans, displaying banners and starting a hunger strike.

Jaffery sahab’s career spanned more than two decades where he covered elections, martial law, return to democracy, the hanging of Prime Minister Bhutto, besides wars, floods and all that happened in Pakistan in the 70s and 80s.

His best reporting was during the martial law years when he worked for wire service Associated Press and the BBC and went on to become a perpetual thorn in the side of the military government.

In the process, he also came close to the Bhutto family, which was fighting the martial law government.

When she came to power, Benazir Bhutto offered Jaffery sahab a number of posts and opportunities but he would have none of it. For him, the only life he knew was as a journalist.

In the 1988 elections, Jaffery sahab got his world exclusive when in Larkana he called up Benazir Bhutto as the results poured in of the elections and got her to make her victory claim. Soon after, the PPP went on to form the government.

Jaffery sahab was a regular at the Karachi Press Club where he was also elected as Vice President.

In his later years, Jaffery sahab became the first city editor of the Karachi edition of daily The News.

In this capacity, he trained several young and upcoming journalists.

He is survived by his three sons and their families and by his wife, Rehana.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2010.