Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman’s death anniversary today

KARACHI: The death anniversary of Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman, founder of the largest circulated Jang Group of Newspapers in Pakistan, will be observed on Thursday (today) with reverence and respect.

He commands a position of high eminence among the builders of the fourth pillar of state in Pakistan. The Jang Group of Newspapers, which he fathered with utmost care and devotion, is his priceless legacy to Pakistan. He laid the foundation of independent journalism in the country with his tireless work and his unparalleled skills and left his contemporaries far behind.

Wherever there are people who read, write and speak Urdu language in Pakistan and the Subcontinent, they recognise the services of the daily ‘Jang’ and its founder Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman. He started his enviable journey in the field of journalism with the Partition of India, but from 1942, he formally launched the daily ‘Jang’ from Delhi. Despite unfavourable conditions, he kept the flag of impartiality and truth high in the field of journalism.

It also goes to the credit of Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman that he introduced in his group of newspapers the best printing machinery and printing methods in vogue in the advanced countries of the West.

Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman was an excellent business manager for his press enterprise. He had on his fingertips important facts about his newspapers, especially their circulation figures, the number of copies printed daily and their income from sales and advertisements. He had a brilliant memory and he remembered the names of many of his newspaper employees.

Mir Sahib encouraged the appointment of Wage Boards by the Government of Pakistan from time to time and did his best to implement in his newspapers the Wage Board Award. He strongly believed that the working journalists and press workers in his newspapers should be paid well so that able young men and women with a talent for journalistic writing may be drawn to the profession of journalism in Pakistan. Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman also played a key role in establishing the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors. On January 25, 1992, he passed away at the age of 74, but his legacy lives on.