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Journalism, a passion inherited
After earning a degree in Economics, I was looking to make a career in civil service or banking when my father, Mustafa Saeed, died in August 1995. He was a correspondent of Pakistan's prestigious daily Dawn in Dera Ghazi Khan, a remote but newsy district of the Punjab (Pakistan) situated on the confluence of Balochistan, NWFP and Sindh provinces.
At his last rites in a rural setting, elders of our family and community tied my father's turban round my head as a symbol of passing on his responsibilities, and at that very moment I dumped my career plans and decided to follow his footsteps and assume his journalistic responsibility as well with the conscientiousness he used to cherish.
My first big story, which appeared to be an international one, was reporting the capture of Aimal Kasi from Dera Ghazi Khan in June 1997. Kasi had been on the FBI's list of most wanted persons for the preceding four years for the killing of CIA officials in America.
Later, I was transferred to Multan, the city of saints and agricultural hub of Pakistan. There the degree in Economics proved to be of use and reporting issues related to agro economics took the centre stage. However, it didn't diminish my interest in other subjects.
Before moving to London in 2006 to join BBC as a producer, I used to write for Dawn, BBC and Herald (a monthly news magazine).
Without compromising objectivity, I have reported unfailingly the issues that irked the powers that be like Mukhtar Mai, rebellion of Okara Military Farms' tenants, missing people and Balochistan. |
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