Writings and columns of journalist Mazhar Abbas helps the readers understand the complexities of Pakistani politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abbas\u2019s colleague and senior journalist Suhail Warraich made this observation as he spoke at the launch of Abbas\u2019s book \u2018Aur Phir Yun Hua\u2019 on the third day of the International Urdu Conference under way at the Arts Council of Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The session was moderated by Anjum Rizvi in which Warraich and Abbas talked about the book, which is a compilation of Abbas’ columns and analyses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warraich said that in today’s age where we do not have influential mediums of literary magazines and radio channels, columns are the main source of offering political messages and commentaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJournalism is the first and rough draft of history and literature embodies the conscience of the era,\u201d he said. \u201cSimilarly, today’s columns help identify sensibilities and genuine pictures of the contemporary era.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citing a column of Abbas about a conversation with a general, Warraich said that particular piece was apparently suitable for a banner-head story on the front page. \u201cBut he toned out the piece in a skilful manner that provided all the information, omitted its sensitiveness, and also managed to publish it. Otherwise, if it was a news story item that would probably not get published because of the sensitive information it had.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The journalist said that two qualities distinguished Abbas from the others \u2014 standing firm on his principles and avoiding to go to the extreme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abbas said the book offered readers informed insight on various issues, such as problems of Karachi, assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, politics of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, dynastic politics, civil-military relationship and pre-poll political engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is unfortunate that we did not learn lessons from history and forget the important developments of the past. We are still experiencing the same affairs that were experienced 70 years ago,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost anchors and columnists in the country still criticize democracy but I have to tell them that they can only write such columns in dictatorships against the democratic governments, not against dictator rulers,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citing one of his columns on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Abbas said that he had realized after the speech of Altaf Hussain on August 16, 2016, that the return of the political party was impossible then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPolitical parties still operate but today neither is the MQM in its original shape nor are the Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in their older positions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that Pakistan was a hard country for independent journalism where around 125 journalists had lost their lives while performing their duties. \u201cWe have also seen a great difference in the work of journalists before they disappeared and after they returned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abbas said that he had written his pieces and analyses mainly on the basis of his field reporting. \u201cIn Karachi, I have covered ethnic and sectarian riots where hundreds of people were killed in a single day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He remarked that he did not see the return of Nawaz Sharif in the country\u2019s practical politics. \u201cBut the credit also goes to the PML-N that the party\u2019s vote bank is still intact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abbas said the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan had spoiled the votes of the MQM in Karachi and the PML-N in Punjab and there was a need for a careful analysis of the factors behind the TLP\u2019s emergence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discussing the challenges the media faces, Abbas said the establishment had realized in 2007 that the media and judiciary were becoming more independent and at that time, policies were made to control them and curb their freedoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newspaper: The News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writings and columns of journalist Mazhar Abbas helps the readers understand the complexities of Pakistani politics. Abbas\u2019s colleague and senior journalist Suhail Warraich made this observation as he spoke at the launch of Abbas\u2019s book \u2018Aur Phir Yun Hua\u2019 on the third day of the International Urdu Conference under way at the Arts Council of [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[4],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9708"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9708\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}