Barna, a role model for journalists

Barna, a role model for journalists

From the Newspaper
(19 hours ago) Today

By Our Staff Reporter

LAHORE, Jan 19: Minhaj Barna laid down his life for a free press and newspaper workers` rights in Pakistan, said friends and colleagues at a condolence reference they had arranged at the Lahore Press Club on Wednesday.

Senior journalists I.A. Rehman, Hussain Naqi and I H Raashed shared some memories of the late Mr Barna with the participants and described his death as a loss to journalists` cause in the country. Columnist Shafqat Tanvir Mirza and Prof Dr Mehdi Hasan called for continuing his struggle.

Mr Rehman said the fatal ailment of Mr Barna started during a month-long hunger strike in Khairpur jail in 1978 during the regime of late Gen Ziaul Haq. “The authorities released one of our colleagues, Nisar Osmani, and asked him to persuade Mr Barna to end the hunger strike. Mr Osmani advised the authorities to accept the demands of Mr Barna, as it was the only way to convince him to end the protest. Eventually, the authorities had to accept (Mr Barna`s demands).

“Mr Barna was a tireless soul and knew how to take along all, especially the workers. All the meetings of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists used to be stormy. There would be discussions, difference of opinion but the meeting would conclude after a consensus and all would abide by the decision taken during it,” recalled Mr Rehman.

The late Mr Barna played a pivotal role in the first 10-day strike in the newspaper industry of united Pakistan in 1970 for better wages and inclusion of non-journalist employees in the wage structure. However, no newspaper benefited from the experience of Mr Barna during his last years, he said.Hussain Naqi said Mr Barna was a fulltime trade unionist and a role model for journalists of all time. He was unanimously elected by journalists of united Pakistan the PFUJ secretary-general with K.G. Mustafa from the then-East Pakistan as president.

“We used to get meagre salaries and that too in instalments. We were few in numbers but had people like Minhaj Barna and Nisar Osmani and no one could dare to challenge their stance on workers` rights. Lahore now has 1,000 or so working journalists, but there has been deterioration and a lack of stability like other professions.”

Calling Mr Barna a role model for all working journalists, Mr Naqi said he was never afraid of fighting back the bosses. He was always defended by journalists whenever he was victimised by the bosses for trade union rights.

Prof Mehdi Hasan said that present day journalism required men like Mr Barna whose main contribution was to defend freedom of expression in Pakistan. He was a fulltime trade union activist who fought against the military dictators.

The PFUJ succeeded in achieving freedom of expression but still the right to access to information has been a dream. “The contributions of Mr Barna, Ahmad Ali Khan, Nisar Osmani and others should be documented for the next generations. Even most journalists are unaware of the fact that they owe their freedom and pay packages to men like Mr Barna. It would help the journalists fulfil their social responsibility. There are many ways to make money but journalism is not one of them. Ironically, the present day journalism is not playing its role of a watchdog. Rather, a majority has become a lapdog,” he said.

I H Raashed said Mr Barna and other colleagues struggled for the repeal of the obnoxious Press and Public Ordinance promulgated by Gen Ayub Khan. “The freedom enjoyed by the press, especially electronic media, is the result of tireless struggle of journalists like Mr Barna,” he said, recalling the days when he and men like Akhtar Ali Khan, son of Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, used to stand in queues to get their wages in instalments.

Shafqat Tanvir Mirza said that absence of the institution of editor from the press was to blame for the present state of affairs. “The proprietor-editor does not bother to write two sentences even if a worker dies. We journalists are also responsible, as we remained silent when two newspapers – daily Imroz and The Pakistan Times – were closed down,” he said.

Journalist Raja Aurangzeb, Asama Tariq of Pakistan Workers Federation, People`s Party`s Ghulam Abbass, former presidents of Punjab Union of Journalist Bukhtgir Chaudhry, Khalid Chaudry and Arif Bhatti, former vice-president Nawaz Tahir and ex-secretary Rana Azeem and Lahore Press Club president Sarmad Bashir also spoke on the occasion.

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Barna, a long span of inspiring struggle

Barna, a long span of inspiring struggle

Saturday, January 15, 2011

By Afzal Khan
ISLAMABAD: Minhaj Barna was an indefatigable warrior in the struggle for press freedom and rights of workers in Pakistan. He worked ceaselessly for improvement in working conditions in the newspaper industry. He led some memorable movements of journalists against curbs by military dictators including Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan and Ziaul Haq. He was equally dedicated to waging struggle for protection of rights of workers and peasants.

My first direct association with Barna began in 1967 and spanned next two decades. Barna had been penalised and transferred from Lahore to Dhaka as correspondent of Pakistan Times. The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) held its biennial delegates meeting in Dhaka that year which proved to be the last in eastern wing.

Traditionally top leadership of the PFUJ alternated between East and West Pakistan. The Bengali journalists decided to get Barna elected unopposed as secretary general. I managed to win support from both contesting groups and was elected senior assistant secretary general.

In his new capacity and later as president of PFUJ (1973-80) Barna radicalised journalists’ trade union movement. Because of leftist past during which he actively participated in trade union activities in undivided India and later after he transitioned to Pakistan, Barna campaigned for bringing PFUJ under a broader umbrella of labour union activities in the country. Those were heady days of strong labour movements across the globe and Barna wanted journalists to be active part of a revolutionary world phenomenon.

Though he met resistance within the PFUJ whose mainstream leadership wanted to keep its peculiar identity intact, Barna finally succeeded in laying the foundation of All Pakistan Newspaper Employees Confederation (Apnec) in Ziarat.

He argued that in 1970 a 10-day successful shut down of newspapers across the country was made possible by active participation of non-journalist newspaper workers. Secondly, he was completing his two terms as president PFUJ and was barred from seeking a third under the constitution.

Barna could not sit idle and conceived the idea of Apnec embracing all employees in the newspaper industry and became its chairman after 1980. It overshadowed the PFUJ where Nisar Osmani, one of the most courageous journalists of all times, succeeded him as president and me as secretary general. Though both remained close friends till Osmani’s death, a kind of friction persisted on the issue of Barna’s insistence on subordinating PFUJ’s role to that of Apnec.

Minhaj Barna was man of strong will, steely nerves and great tenacity in pursuit of his goals. No amount of pressure and coercion could bend him or force him to yield. Under him the journalists’ movement became more proactive and resorted to frequent strikes and rallies against authoritarian measures to stifle and gag press. He particularly upheld the cause of non-journalist newspaper employees and ensured that they got much higher benefits than journalists in every wage board. He spearheaded two historic movements, one in 1970 when newspapers in East and West Pakistan shut down for 10 days and the other in 1978 when Zia closed down eight newspapers. Defying martial law, newsmen and others courted arrest, were convicted by military courts and awarded harsh sentences. It evoked worldwide condemnation and praise for the courage shown by Pakistani journalists.

When Zia failed to suppress the regular flow of volunteers courting arrest, he ordered the most shameful act of lashing a batch of four journalists.

The infamy he earned would live down in history. While we were sent to jail, Barna was picked up from Musawat office and extradited to Karachi from where he helplessly watched the progress of the movement that won international acclaim.

Senior Indian journalists would laud determination of Pakistani journalists to stand up to military dictators and compared them with their own compatriots who caved in tamely when Indira Gandhi imposed emergency.

He had great capacity to suffer pain, persecution and incarceration. In 1978 Zia succumbed to international denunciation and released us after about 40 days by creating a parallel PFJU and concocting a fake agreement. Several top journalists in the PPL were, however, sacked. Barna then launched second phase of the movement from Karachi. It could not pick up enough momentum. Barna resorted to hunger strike in jail to bolster the agitation. He observed it for several days and finally the government caved in. But the hunger strike left permanent health problems from which he never recovered.

For three decades Barna symbolised newsmen’s struggle for freedom and economic rights. The slogan: “Teray saath jeena, Teray saath marna/ Minhaj Barna Minhaj Barna” that remained the inspiring battle cry of this struggle is a befitting tribute to the contributions he made.

The writer is a senior journalist based in Islamabad