This editorial today marks the passing of our founding Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, Majid Nizami. His 52 years of service to the Nawaiwaqt Group have made it into the force it is today. For the staff, an irreconcilable loss. But also an acknowledgement of the privilege it was to have worked with him.
Over the years as editor of Nawaiwaqt, the achievements Majid Nizami accumulated were many. But not one of these came to define him. In professional organisations, he earned admiration for his vociferous resistance to military rule, and a reputation for being unabashedly outspoken when dealing with presidents and prime ministers -- something not all editors were willing to risk their commercial safety on. Although known as an intensely private man, he revelled in company and charmed with ease; as much a public figure at times, as a journalist.
Dismissive of awards and accolades, he was amused by offers of government posts made to him. His refusal of these was laughingly explained as motivated more out of condescension than anything else; the only post felt to be worthy of serving at was editor. A journalist from the era where editors were valued for their sagacity and wisdom, he saw the media boom in Pakistan introduce television talkshow stars as replacements for professional journalists. Majid Nizami started his career in the newspaper industry as a folder, at the age of 12. He took his paper from litho to offset, black and white to colour, 4 pages to 14, one publication to ten, and from a single rented room in Lahore to a network spanning the length and breadth of the country. He leaves behind him a media empire as legacy, formed under his stewardship of Nida-I-Millat, the company he single-handedly established in 1962.
In his opinions, he was unapologetic. At times even bullish. But insistence was pressed with humour, argument offered with pithy logic, and victory acknowledged, but not gloated over. Famously derisive of good relations with India and devoted to the idea of pan-Islamism, Majid Nizami was staunchly and unabashedly of a politically conservative bent. Yet, in his publications a diversity of views -- at times diametrically opposite to his -- was visible, and oftentimes assumed to be only accommodated by the Editor out of amusement.
Unimpressed by authority, possessed of a merciless and precise wit, and governed by a gentle heart, the qualities that defined an iconic personality now provide us the guiding principles of this paper. Today, as the newsrooms of the Nawaiwaqt Group come to life, they transform into the living legacy of Majid Nizami. Here, we celebrate the defiances that he delighted in, and take pride in all that he held to be of value. And in the way we best know how -- the way we were taught -- The Nation and the family at the Nawaiwaqt Group pay tribute to the remarkable life, of a remarkable man.