The Blackmailers

 

On the front page of every Dawn newspaper is written: "Founded by Quaid-e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah”. Dawn newspaper is the portal to an intriguing cobweb of media houses, human networking, and business interests that have profoundly influenced Pakistan since 1947. Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah launched the Dawn newspaper in Delhi on 26 October 1941, intending to establish it as the party organ of the All India Muslim League. 

On the eve of launching the dawn, Jinnah summed up the paper's purpose in these words:

"The Dawn will mirror faithfully the views of Hindustan's Muslims and the All Hindustan Muslim League in all its activities: economic, educational and social, and more particularly political, throughout the country fearlessly and independently and while its policy will be, no doubt, mainly to advocate and champion the cause of the Muslims and the policy and program of the All Hindustan Muslim League, it will not neglect the cause and welfare of the peoples of this sub-continent generally".

Dawn’s first editor was Pothan Joseph. In 1944, Altaf Husain succeeded Pothan after he resigned due to differences with Jinnah. In 1947, senior Dawn staff, led by Altaf Husain, moved to Karachi, which became the head office of the newspaper. It is not clear if Yusuf Haroon owned Dawn in 1941 or some years later. In the latter case, we can assume that Jinnah himself was the owner of Dawn. We are told that, in 1950, for a brief period, the “owners” discontinued Dawn over ownership issues and restarted it as Herald. Altaf Husain edited Dawn till 1965. He was followed by Jamil Ansari (1965-1966), and Yusuf Haroon became editor in 1966.

Despite not being part of the National Press Trust, Dawn remained a pliant newspaper throughout the Ayub Martial Law and the hybrid rule that remained in vogue till April 1969, after the Martial Law was lifted in 1962. During this period, except for the friendly sparring with Ayub Khan's regime, Yusuf Haroon remained on the right side of the military dictator.

Yusuf's dubious relationship with the Martial Law regime becomes evident when we find that he became the chief editor of the Dawn newspaper in April 1966 after long-time editor Altaf Hussain decided to join Ayub Khan’s cabinet. This “ independent-looking" business tycoon cum media baron who had lived peacefully all along Ayub's Martial Law,  however, could not pull along with General Yahya Khan who replaced Ayub Khan in April 1969.  Yusuf left   Pakistan in a hurry to avoid arrest in 1969. He later decided to settle in New York and remained there after the Yahya Khan government fell in December 1971. Yusuf died on February 12, 2011, after a protracted illness, at 95 in New York.

The Haroon-Siagol- Lakhani  Business Empire

Headed by Amber Haroon Saigol, the Haroon-Saigol family, combines two of the most influential business houses in Pakistan – the Haroons (who have been pioneers in newspaper publishing) and the Saigols (who have been the leading investors since the 1960s in many fields such as textiles, chemicals, beauty products and, lately, consumer electronics).

Amber Haroon Saigol's father Mahmoud Abdullah Haroon set up many family businesses including Pakistan Herald Publications, Haroon Sons, and Haroon Oils. Her late husband, Azam Saigol, was one of the leading businessmen in Pakistan before his death in January 2018. He was a shareholder and director in several companies, many of them owned by his family. In 2016, he also worked as the chairman of Pakistan International Airlines, the country's state-owned air carrier.

Haroon-Saigol family also owns the Dawn  News television, City FM 89 radio station, Dawn.com news website, and English language magazines Herald and Aurora.

Amber Haroon-Saigol's daughter Nazafreen Saigol - Lakhani is the Managing Director of City FM 89 radio station, Chief Operating Officer of the Aurora Broadcasting  Services Limited, owns Dawn News television, Chief Executive Officer of Herald Entertainment (Private) Limited, and Deputy Chief Executive of the Pakistan Herald Publications (Private) Limited. She is married to Danish Ali Lakhani whose paternal uncle Sultan Ali Lakhani owns Express Tribune Media Group. Amber Haroon-Saigol's other daughter Zeina Rawjee is married to Mustafa Rawjee whose family owns many businesses in the Democratic Republic of Congo including Raw Bank of which he serves as the deputy chief executive officer.

How the Empire Influences Pakistan’s political scene

In 2017 Dawn News CEO Hameed Haroon,  his media house under criticism for Nawaz Sharif-sponsored Dawn Leaks, met with the US Consulate David Hale in Karachi to seek American influence in quashing the scandal This was done while the newspaper correspondent, accused of slandering the army at the behest of a mysterious “strategic media cell”, purportedly headed by Maryam Nawaz Sharif, had almost been `exonerated by a toothless joint investigation team.

 In 2017, Pakistan had been set on fire by audio-visual leaks of sorts. While the politicians and the civil-military bureaucracy, 1n 2023, continue to be at each other's throats, there is a dark horse in this scramble for power which, as they say in the cricket terminology, is playing on both sides of the wicket. This often-underestimated player in the Game of Thrones is none other than Pakistan's print and electronic media. There is a third contender, though – the so-called social media that is challenging the dominance of the traditional media conglomerates that have played the role of power manipulators since 1947.

The first failed coup d'état in Pakistan was masterminded by the so-called Pakistan Times Gang. It included Faiz Ahmed Faiz, editor-in-chief of the Pakistan Times, and Sajjad Zaheer, another journalist who was on the editorial board of the Pakistan Times. Faiz and Zaheer were both avowed communists.  Ostensibly, the Rawalpindi Conspiracy, as it was known, later on, was led by Major-General Akbar Khan, and supported by a cabal of 11 disgruntled army officers. However, we know that Akbar Khan was used as a   cover by the Soviet-sponsored Communist Party of Pakistan – Faiz and Zaheer were the actual brains behind the conspiracy.

According to writer Hasan Zaheer, there were three main causes of the Rawalpindi conspiracy: 1) General discontent of Pakistani army officers with the performance of PM Liaquat Ali Khan's government; 2) The continuing presence of British officers in the Pakistan army, and; 3) Discontent with the government's handling of the first Kashmir war with India. However, the reasons cited by Hasan Zaheer were also a cover for the consumption of General Tariq and his army associates. The real purpose was to pave the way for the emergence of a pro-Soviet government in Pakistan. Pakistan, under the Liaquat regime, was veering toward the U.S.

The Pakistan Times Gang, though exposed in the wake of the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case, continued to play a dominant role throughout Ayub, Yahya, and Zulfiqar Bhutto’s rule. It played the shots under the umbrella of Ayub’s infamous National Press Trust which was retained by the Yahya and Bhutto governments till laid to rest somewhere in the early 1990s by PM Muhammad Khan Junejo.

Presently, Pakistan's print and electronic media are held hostage to the whims and business interests of three leading media houses. Two of these media houses are owned by the Seth families who have their fingers in different industries and trade concerns also. The Haroons, holding the Dawn group, trace back their ancestry to the time when Sheikh Mujib Ur Rehman was on the payroll of Haroon's insurance company. The Lakhanis, owning the Express Newsgroup, also run many commercial enterprises. The Jang-Geo group is a power broker in its own right. It runs a dedicated intelligence unit to hobnob with the other power brokers in the country. Then there is a new entrant-the Sama news network, owned by the famous wheeler and dealer, and land grabbed the Aleem Khan.

All these media barons keep batteries of Spin doctors on their payroll. Writing about Spin Doctors, Ardeshir Cowasjee, a regular contributor to the Dawn newspaper, wrote:

Spin doctor, in the language of the lexicon: "A senior political spokesperson employed to promote a favourable interpretation of events" to the press and to the people. He is a politician's flak. Not an easy job, as he has to be endowed with a highly retentive memory and the capacity to lie consistently and unashamedly whilst keeping a straight face.

Cowasjee identified two prominent spin doctors in Pakistan- Husain Haqqani and Mushahid Hussain. Writing about the two, Cowasjee further remarked:

In the e foreground, during the past decade have been our two spinners, Mushahid Hussain and Hussain Haqqani. In the beginning, Mushahid was ostensibly batting for the opponents as the editor of The Muslim whilst Hussain was spinning in the Zia-Nawaz team. In 1988, Haqqani became Punjab Chief Minister Nawaz Sharif's spin doctor, with the rank of a provincial minister, a flag-flyer, spinning against Benazir and her government. In 1989 he was sent to Karachi to negotiate with Altaf Bhai on behalf of Nawaz Sharif who was getting ready to move to Islamabad.

When Jatoi became caretaker PM, Hussain Haqqani was appointed his press adviser and when Nawaz Sharif took over, he went to him in the same position. In 1992, when Nawaz Sharif decided to get rid of him (for whatever reasons) rather than sacking him, he prudently appointed him our high commissioner to Sri Lanka, from which post he resigned when Nawaz Sharif's government was dismissed.

Benazir Bhutto, on taking over in 1993, realized that Hussain's services might help her on her way and took him on as her press adviser. In July 1994 she made him information secretary, in which post he remained until June 1995, when Benazir Bhutto decided that it was time for him to go.

Summing his impressions about Haqqani and Mushahid, Cowasjee wrote:

Apparently, the secretaries feel that the longevity of the party in power is synonymous with the interests of the state. Now, clever Mushahid Hussain is flying the flag and moves around with a posse of twelve. He, too, no doubt in "the interests of the public service", will spend our money to keep Nawaz Sharif and his Chaudhrys healthy, wealthy, and wise. Such ministries in the West went out with Hitler's Third Reich. It is time we eliminated ours.

Poor Cowasjee, he would be turning in his grave fretting about how Pakistan today has plunged even deeper into intellectual prostitution. 

Saleem Akhtar Malik

The author is a Pakistan Army veteran who regularly writes on national and international affairs, defence, military history, and military technology. His talks on these subjects are aired on his YouTube Channel "The Observation Post". His blog "Sam1953.blogspot.com" features his articles. Tweets @saleemakhtar53. 

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