UPIB

URDU PRESS IN

BRITAINSAJID MANSOOR QAISRANI

Copyright 1990 Sajid Mansoor QaisraniAll Rights Reserved

First Edition: February 1990

Price Rs. 95.00

Cover: Designed by Najaf Syed

Published by Mashal PublicationsP.O. Box 1208, Islamabad

Printed at Sun Printing and PackagingP-987 Saidpur Road Rawalpindi

ISBN 969 8094 00 8

TTTTTo the memory of myo the memory of myo the memory of myo the memory of myo the memory of myfather who not only inspiredfather who not only inspiredfather who not only inspiredfather who not only inspiredfather who not only inspiredhis children but also allhis children but also allhis children but also allhis children but also allhis children but also allthose around him to thinkthose around him to thinkthose around him to thinkthose around him to thinkthose around him to thinkand progress.and progress.and progress.and progress.and progress.

CONTENTS

Page

List of illustrations and tables 3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5

PREFACE 7

CHAPTER ONE: INITIAL PHASE 9

Urdu in the land of English 9The first Urdu periodicals 13The official Urdu press of World War I 17

CHAPTER TWO: EMERGENCE OF THE 21MODERN URDU PRESS

The long gap 21The new wave of immigrants 22The birth of the immigrant Urdu press 26The first modern Urdu paper 28

CHAPTER THREE: THE CONTEMPORARYURDU PRESS 35

Growth of the weekly press 35“Scissors editing” or the daily Urdu press 38The fringe press 43

CHAPTER FOUR: CONTENT ANALYSIS 49

From immigrants to settlers 49Distribution of pages 51Tackling the community’s problems:How serious is the Urdu press 57Quality of news 59Editorial policy 61Advertisements 63

CHAPTER FIVE: PRESSURES ANDPROBLEMS 71

Advertisement revenue 71Distribution 73Circulation 77Katibs 77

CHAPTER SIX: PROSPECTS 83

Now 83Tomorrow 86

APPENDIX I: List of current Urdu papers 89

APPENDIX II: List of Interviewees 92

APPENDIX III: Bibliography 94

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List of Illustrations and Tables

Page

1. Title page of Ainah-e-Angrezi Saudagari 11

2. Editorial page of January-April 1896 issue of the 12Ainah-e-Angrezi Saudagari

3. Photograph of Frederic Pincott 15

4. Title page of Al-Haqiqah 16

5. Map of South Asia showing areas to which most of theBritish Indian immigrants belong 23

6. Table showing contents of the Urdu papers 55

7. Office of daily Jang at Lant Street, London 56

8. Advertisement of a hakim 67

9. Miscellaneous advertisements 68

10. Table on ratio of advertisements 75

11. Office of weekly Mashriq at Caledonian Road, London 76

12. Katibs at work in a London Urdu paper’s office 79

13 A sample of Urdu script 80

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My thanks are due to Richard Keeble, lecturer at the GraduateCentre for Journalism, City University London, who guided andsupervised this research right from the preliminary stages to itscompletion, and to Robert Jones, also lecturer at the GraduateCentre for Journalism, for his encouragement and usefulsuggestions. I am also grateful to Amin Moghul and Shahidmalik for reading and re-reading the script and giving valuableadvice at the time of its writing. Also to my wife Ibtesam Hasanwith whose assistance I have been able to get this book publishedin its present shape. I am also grateful to Dr. Tariq Siuddiqi andDr. Adam Nayyar for their guidance and encouragement forinitiating research work.

I am indebted to the Overseas Development Administration ofthe UK and the British Council for their financial assistance tocarry out the research in Britain and to the national Book Councilof Pakistan whose co-operation and support has enabled me topublish it.

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PREFACEThe present study is an attempt to look at the Urdu press ofBritain and various stages of its development. With one dailypaper, four weeklies and about two dozen fortnightly, monthlyand quarterly publications, it was a sizeable foreign languagepress of the United Kingdom when this study was undertakenin 1986. In spite of its magnitude and history – the first Urduperiodicals date back to the 1880s – no serious study of itsevolution, content and trends has been undertaken so far.

The present attempt is not an academic treatise and should notbe taken as such. It is rather a piece of journalistic inquiry intothe subject with a view to assess the content and style of theUrdu press and together with the pressures and problems facingit today, and to throw some light on its history to put it in itsright context.

The methods of research used include the techniques that aninvestigative journalist would normally employ. All the printedmaterial available on the subject has been thoroughly used.Additionally, researchers and working journalists, includingeditors – current and past – were interviewed to elicitinformation on various aspects of the subject.

The study was undertaken in 1986 primarily for the thesis I hadto submit to the Graduate Centre for Journalism, City UniversityLondon as part of the MA in International Journalism and shouldbe read in that context. Some developments may have takenplace since then and some facts may not correspond to thosegiven in the book.

Sajid Mansoor QaisraniIslamabad11 November 1989

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CHAPTER ONE

INITIAL PHASE

Urdu in the land of English

It is a common misconception that Indian immigrants arrived inBritain only after the World War II. On the contrary, settlersfrom different parts of the Indian sub-continent had made Britaintheir home as early as the 1870s. Trade between India and Britainhad been well established by the middle of the 19th century andBritish shipping companies were employing a growing numberof Indians as seamen.

A fraction of these seamen came ashore to Britain partly to fleetheir brutal officers and partly attracted by the economic

incentives: ” ...a man who signed on in London got higherEuropean rates of pay, as opposed to the Asiatic rate he wouldhave earned if he had taken the same job in Bombay. Asianseamen could, however, only sign on in London when thesupply of European seamen was exhausted.”1

The Asian immigration which started in this way graduallyincreased and the seamen started settling down in London andat various other sea ports of Britain such as Hastings, Plymouth,and Aberdeen. In 1873, Joseph Salter, in his book The Asiaticin London refers to a well-established Asian settlement in theEast End of London.2

Some of these seamen cut their links with the sea and took upshore-based occupations. They soon established regularcontacts with one another. As Ballards put it: “These settlershad developed a specialized economic niche for themselves aswell as a social network of their own, both to sustain themselvesand to exploit that niche.”3 Salter describes the situation inthese words: “The Asiatics residing in London, as well as thoseresiding in all provincial towns are like the links in a long chain;if one link is found, the others soon come into view.”4

By the 1870s, a sizeable number of Indian intellectuals,businessmen, and students were also present in Britain. TheMuslim writer and reformist Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, whofounded the well known Aligarh University in India, visitedOxford in 1874, and the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagorewas studying English literature and music at the UniversityCollege, London in 1878. It was against this background

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11

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that the first Urdu paper, a quarterly with the title Ainah-e-Angrezi Saudagri (Mirror of British Merchandise), appearedfrom London in the 1880s.

The first Urdu periodicals

Strangely enough, Ainah-e-Angrezi Saudagri does not findmention in reviews of publications that have appeared on thesubject so far, nor is there a complete file of its issues currentlyavailable in any of the British libraries. The earliest issue(no36) found in the British Library is, datelined January-April 1896,on the basis of which the start of its publication can possibly betraced back to somewhere in 1886-87.

The paper was launched by a British firm Gilbert & RivingtonLimited from St John’s House, Clerkenwell, London. Evidentlythe paper laid special emphasis on trade news. It normallyconsisted of 52 pages of trade news, advertisements, andpictorial features. News about trade relations with Indiaobviously got prominent treatment.

The January-April 1896 issue opens with an editorial note onthe subject of “reduction in cost of telegrams to India”, a matterof obvious concern not only for the trading community butalso for the other Indians residing in Britain. There is also somenews about discoveries and inventions in a popular style. Oneof the topics covered in the issue is the “speed of the vehiclethat runs without horses”, an obvious reference to a car for thebenefit of the Indian reader. Another article on the subject istitled “An exhibition of vehicles that run on their own withouthorses.” Besides six articles on the state of industry andagriculture in India, the issue contains an article on oil trade

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with Persia, and a government announcement regardingcompetitive examinations for the Indian Civil Service.

The July 1897 issue carries a news item on the discovery ofBuddha’s birth place in Nepal and includes a section on bookreviews. More than one third of the paper is reserved foradvertisements of various commodities, equipment, furniture,and medicine. For instance, Frazer’s sulfuric tablets, Burroughs,Wellcome & Co’s pure compressed tea, ENO’s fruit salt andvegetable moto are mentioned in the advertisement pages sideby side with L & L gas tubes, knitting machines by Harrison,and disintegrators by Carter. The pictorial catalogue of Indianstyle furniture by Fitter Bros. & Clarke could be had from theleading traders of London and Birmingham while Edward Pearce& Co’s cutlery catered fully to the needs of Indian homes,butchers and barbers as “the proprietor Edward Pearce Sahibhad acquired a first hand knowledge of Indian requirements bylong residence in that country.”

In Ainah-e-Angrezi Saudagri there is no discussion of the socialand political conditions of India. Also the paper does not giveany information about its editor. The January-April 1896 issue,however, informs the readers about the death of its editor,Frederic Pincott, Esq., M.R.A.S., which accounts for its belatedpublication. A short note says Mr Pincott who had acquiredmastery over Indian languages died at the age of 60, while on avisit to Lucknow in India. However, the paper remains silentabout the appointment of a new editor.

Unlike modern Urdu papers, Ainah-e-Angrezi Saudagri wasprinted in type. Each page was divided into two columns withthe headlines accompanied by their English equivalents. Fromthe catalogue maintained at India Office Library it appears

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15

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that the paper probably ceased publication after 1898.

Though concurrent Urdu publications of a similar nature, ifany, do not find mention in the records, the British Librarydoes have the English edition of Vol. II of a monthly, the Anglo-Oriental Trade Messenger, datelined January 1901. The journalwhich probably started publication in 1900, was envisaged as“a medium of communication between makers and sellers ofmachinery, hardware, agriculture implements, and generalindustrial products in the United Kingdom, and users and buyersof the same in the East.”

The magazine was published in English, Greek, and someOriental languages including Hindustani (another name forUrdu) and claimed to have circulation in the principal cities ofthe East, reaching a large number of institutes, chambers ofcommerce and industry, local government offices, and shippingcompanies operating in the Mediterranean, Black Sea, PersianGulf, and to and from India.

The magazine also claimed to include illustrated notices ofinventions in machinery, articles on industry and agriculture,and reports on trade in the East, besides information on currentprices and financial rates drawn from “official and otherauthentic sources.” Apparently the paper could not continuefor long. When precisely it stopped publication is, difficult toascertain.

The official Urdu press of World war I

The second generation of Urdu press rose when World War Ihad already entered its third year. From India to the British

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Isles the atmosphere was polluted with the smoke of gunpowder,the air echoed with painful human cries and the earth became ascene of unending human misery.

The Urdu press which appeared in the 1910s was brought outby the British Government as part of its war efforts. The firstpaper that appeared in this connection was Al-Haqiqah (TheTruth). It started its publication from London in March 1916 asa fortnightly pictorial newspaper . It consisted of eight pages ofpictures relating to the war with captions in Urdu, Persian, Arabicand Turkish. Some of the common themes of these pictureswere: war fronts, commanders inspecting troops, and defeatedenemies on their retreat.

The issue of 10 March 1916 carries on its title page the pictureof a British plane intercepting a German fighter, and the captionsays: “An English plane has downed a German plane.” On otherpages, there are pictures of the King inspecting troops, the Indiancavalry on the move, a British plane on a runway ready to takeoff and a camel regiment of the British army. Pictures of theordinary soldier and their senior commanders on the same pages,and their captions were apparently aimed at conveying theimpression of solidarity in the ranks of the armed forces and thenobility of the cause for which they were fighting. The papercontinued being published in this fashion till July 1917, but from8 August 1917, the Urdu captions suddenly disappeared withoutany prior notice.

This coincided with the launching of Jangi Akhbar (The WarJournal) on that date. This new journal was, in effect, the Urduand Hindi version of Al-Haqiqah. Apparently the Britishauthorities had thought it expedient to incorporate Hindi in thenew edition as a means of mobilizing a large number of the

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Hindu soldiers who, unlike the Muslims and Sikhs could notread Urdu.

Jangi Akhbar breathed its last probably in 1919—the war havingended, there was no need to continue the journal in that format.It gave way to another propaganda paper Taswiri Akhbar (ThePictorial News), which was not different from its predecessorin style, approach or format except that it was published ontabloid size unlike Al-Haqiqah and Jangi Akhbar which werebroadsheet journals. Taswiri Akhbar consisted of 16 pages andoccasionally carried pictures not related to war. “A beautifulscene of Scotland”, and “an airship flying over Westminster”,or “scenes of British factories busy in production”, now startedfinding space in this government publication, which like JangiAkhbar was published fortnightly. Taswiri Akhbar printedcaptions in Urdu, Hindi, Tamil, and English and occasionallycarried some advertisements.

Whether Al-Haqiqah, Jangi Akhbar, and Taswiri Akhbar wereavailable for sale to the general public, or their circulation wasrestricted to the troops alone, is not known. The papers alsodo not provide any information as to their editors. We onlyknow that they were government publications and were printedat a printing house at Milford Lane, London.

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References

1 Roger Ballard and Catherine Ballard, The Sikhs: TheDevelopment of South Asian Settlements in Britain,quoted in Between Two Cultures, edited by James L.Watson, Oxford, 1978, P.23.

2 Joseph Salter, The Asiatic in London, London, 1873,P.221.

3 Ballards, P.23.4 Salter, P.24

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CHAPTER TWO

EMERGENCE OF THE MODERN URDU PRESS

The long gap

There is little or no information available about Urdu publicationsin the period between the 1920s and 1960s. Apparently therewere some publications which because of their occasional naturefailed to reach the libraries.

During the period between the two world wars, the independencemovement gained strength in India. It is generally believed thatsome Indians who were mostly students produced someclandestine issues of certain papers that supported the Indian

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independence struggle, but these are no longer traceable.

Sultan Mahmood, in his book, Urdu Journalism in Britain, refersto the publication of one such periodical, Hind (India), in 1920.Reportedly it continued its tottering survival journey till 1930.it was published in English and occasionally had some pages inUrdu.1 However, the sources of this information are obscure.

The new wave of immigrants

The emergence of the modern Urdu press in Britain followedthe influx of immigrants from India and Pakistan during the post-independence period. Compared with the earlier press, themodern Urdu papers were characterized by a different approachand different pattern of ownership and coverage. And tounderstand the emergence of this press, it is essential to have alook at the patterns of immigration into Britain from South Asiaduring the 1950s.

The arrival of the earlier Indian seamen in Britain was followedby a number of other people from the subcontinent mainly fromPunjab, Kashmir, and Gujerat. Most of these people came afterWorld War I and according to Ballards, “began to make a livingby hawking suitcases of clothing from door to door, mostly inrural areas.” Ballards add that word about the opportunitiesavailable in Britain began gradually to circulate in their homedistricts, so that many more adventurers set out for Britain. Bythe end of 1930s, small colonies of these pedlars could be foundin almost every British city.2

Ballards say that the secret of the new immigrants’ success

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seemed to have lain in their skilful manipulation of prices andcredit. They quote an ex-pedlar as saying: “We were alwaysready to knock a few pennies off the price, because we alwaysput it up beforehand. We always sold on credit too, ̀ a bob now,love, and the rest next month.’ That way we had chance tocome back and sell something else.”3

The migration in this way continued to grow in size. However,large-scale migration to the British city centres only becamepossible in the 1950s, the reason being the boom experiencedby the British economy after World War II and the almost totalexhaustion of its traditional sources of unskilled labour - thecountryside and Ireland. As a result, a large number of SouthAsian and West Indian workers were recruited.

Almost all the immigrants from South Asia belonged to therural families of medium wealth and status - the rich had noreason to move out and the poor did not have means to goabroad - and none of them regarded their stay in Britain aspermanent and final. They thought of their migration as atemporary phase and continued to regard themselves asmembers of their families [living back in Pakistan and India].Their chief objective was to earn money to improve their prestigeand status back home.4 “They sought high wages and wereprepared to do tedious jobs for very long hours - often 12 hourshifts, six days a week. They also sought to minimize their livingexpenses in order to maximize their savings, and this couldmost easily be achieved by communal residence in all-malehouseholds. Life during this period was tough: all the nicetiesof normal social life were abandoned and all gratificationdeferred in the expectation of a rapid return home. Themigrants regarded their villages of origin as the onlymeaningful arena of social interaction and tended to view

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Britain as a social vacum, a cultural no-man’s land.”5

The means of communication were bad in those days, the visitorsfrom home were few and the British media had little space tocover news about their homelands. These people alwaysremained worried about the welfare of their families, especiallyin the event of a natural disaster or political upheaval. Theirsituation was not very different from that of the immigrants inthe United States in the early 19th century, as described byRobert Park in his book on the immigrant press in that country.He states: “National consciousness is inevitably accentuated byimmigration. Loneliness and unfamiliar environment turn thewanderer’s thoughts and affections back upon his native land.The strangeness of the new surroundings emphasizes his kinshipwith those he has left.”6

The birth of the immigrant Urdu press

Newspapers from Pakistan were the main source of informationfor the immigrants from Pakistan and Azad Kashmir aboutdevelopments back home. A paper brought by a visitor was themost precious gift. As Sultan Mahmood puts it: “When I alightedfrom the plane in London, instead of the usual greetings, I wasasked if I had brought any newspapers with me. My affirmationwas the greatest jubilation for my friend. He went through thenewspapers line by line during the next week before passingthem on to another friend as a cherished gift. In this way thenewspapers brought by me circulated through many Pakistanihomes and their reading continued until someone else broughta gift of fresh newspapers from Pakistan.”7

Of course, the immigrants wanted to know what was happening

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in Pakistan, as Ina’am Aziz, a veteran Urdu journalist of Britainputs it. Their families and children being back home, they wereaffected more by economic changes in Pakistan and AzadKashmir than by the similar changes in Britain.

Ina’am Aziz says that a paper in their own language was also acultural need: “However one talks of integration, practically itdoes not have any significance. The English remained in ourcountry for centuries, but they were always separate. They nevertried to learn Urdu; always read their own papers, looked towardstheir own culture and shaped their lives according to their ownrequirements.” The same was true about the migrants fromPakistan. They only came here temporarily to earn some money.Whosoever collected enough money went back. Even those whowere staying wanted to go back some day and hence desired toremain in touch with their culture. Another reason why migrantswanted their own press was that the existing British press seldomlooked beyond its frontiers, though the British journalists knewfully well that hundreds of thousands of migrants neededinformation about their homelands.8

It was against this background that a number of individuals andgroups of Pakistani and Azad Kashmiri immigrants set out towork in their own peculiar ways to find means to fill the gap.

The first effort in this direction was made by the Pakistaninewspaper Nawa-e-Waqt (The Voice of the Time). Itsmanagement started sending a weekly overseas edition of thepaper to Britain. It only partially satisfied the immigrants’ needs.The failure was partly due to non - availability of a properdistribution net work and partly due to non - availability

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of a proper distribution network and partly because the papercould not fully cater to the specific requirements of the migrants.As a result the overseas edition of Nawa-e-Waqt eventuallycollapsed, leaving the field open for newcomers.9

The immigrants wanted to know what was happening inPakistan, but they had certain specific requirements as well.They also wanted to know what was happening to their fellowcountrymen living in Britain; where were they concentrated,what were they doing to earn their living and how they werecoping with the problem of living in that society. Only a paperpublished in that country could fulfil all these requirements.

The first modern Urdu paper

Mahmood Hashmi, a Pakistani studying for his Master’s inEducation at the Birmingham University at that time, gaveserious thought to this issue and decided to bring out an Urdupaper from Britain. Meanwhile a delegation of Pakistanijournalists came to London on a visit. It was led by InayatUllah, the editor of a Pakistani Urdu daily paper Kohistan (TheMountain), who was an old friend of Mahmood Hashmi. Aftera thorough discussion the two came out with the plan to launchan Urdu paper from London to be called Mashriq (The East).10

The financing of the venture was achieved in a novel way. Inthe 1960s the immigrants from Pakistan and Azad Kashmir weremostly illiterate and knew little about the modern bankingsystem. An immigrant would usually deposit his savings with areliable fellow immigrant, who would act as a private bankerfor him. The money thus deposited could either be withdrawn

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by the depositor in Britain or received by his nominee, usuallysomeone in his family back home, from the private banker’sagent on receipt of the agent’s instructions. Khan Wali was onesuch private banker at that time residing with Hashmi. Heoverheard the conversation between Inayat Ullah and MahmoodHashmi. He liked the idea and went to Hashmi with a sum of500 pounds, the amount needed for bringing out the paper.11

Some other Kashmiri migrants followed suit and went to Hashmiwith their contributions, with the result that soon he had doublethe amount required for the publication of the paper. On 8February 1961, a publishing company, Loxton PublishersLimited, was created which produced the first issue of the weeklyMashriq on 1 April 1961.12

The Mashriq was an instant success. Almost all the Urduspeaking people welcomed it. It quickly won popularity andreadership and retained this position for a long time. SultanMahmood says it was regarded as a novel experiment for thefollowing reasons:13

It was the first positive source of contact amongPakistanis living in Britain. They not only became awareof the various common problems facing the community,but also started thinking about those problems as onecommunity. The result was that in every British city witha sizeable Pakistani population, Pakistani religious,social, intellectual, and literary associations sprang up.

Being not very well-versed in English, most of thePakistani and Azad Kashmiri immigrants did not knowanything about British law and its social welfare, health

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and other systems. Mashriq printed columns on suchmatters to make its readers aware of their rights andresponsibilities.

It heralded a new era of the development of Urdulanguage in Europe. Encouraged by it, the reader’sinterest in reading and writing in Urdu increased.

The Asian traders also benefited from the publicationof an Urdu magazine. The printing of theiradvertisements made their shops and products knownthroughout the Urdu-speaking community of Europe.Cinemas showing Urdu films also got a new andeffective method of publicity, while Pakistani banks wereintroduced to the migrant workers for the first time.

Mashriq also produced a new breed of Urdu journalistsin Britain, who later played an important part in thedevelopment of Urdu journalism.

It also played a key role in bringing immigrants fromPakistan and Azad Kashmir closer to their homelands.

Asif Jilani, a senior Urdu journalist, now working for the BBCExternal Services, acknowledges the contribution of Mashriq,but does not accept the view that its success was due toprofessional excellence. “Its editor Mahmood Hashmi belongedto Azad Kashmir and in those days most of South Asian settlerswere from that area. They invested money in the paper, gave itadvertisements and constituted the major part of itsreadership. Because of this, Mashriq’s approach was rather

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narrow. It was full of stories from Azad Kashmir and thePothohar region. The only columns offering some variety werea review of British papers and a column on international politics.There was no other coverage, neither of British news nor of theactivities of Pakistanis in that country.14

The present managing editor of Mashriq, A. R. Bungish, says:“We were the first and for a long time the only link between theimmigrants from Pakistan and Azad Kashmir and the localgovernment institutions of Britain. It was through Mashriq thatthese institutions conveyed local government rules andregulations and other information to the immigrant community.”He also claims that the paper helped mobilize the Asianimmigrants to extend help to the charitable institutions ofBritain.15

Mashriq continued to play a dominant role in the Urdujournalism of Britain till the establishment of the daily press inthe early 1970s. That is when its decline started, and with it aprotracted battle for its existence.

On a less busy corner of Caledonian Road near Kings Cross inLondon, Mashriq’s office in 1986 gave a deserted look. Therusted sign-board on a worn-out building told a casual visitorthat it housed “Mashriq, the Urdu news weekly.” Inside theoffice the tube lights which lit up one of the ground floor roomsfor about three to five hours in the afternoon were perhaps theonly sign that the office was open.

On ringing the bell, A. R. Bungish welcomed you with a bigsmile and showed you in where one or two of his friends werealways present. Occupying one of three tables in a medium-

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sized office room, Bungish told me that the paper had beenappearing regularly, though he clearly sidetracked the questionof showing me a complete set of the issues of any one month inthe current year, as I had failed to find the paper with any of thenews agents I had contacted.

A sign saying “on sale” had then recently appeared on its officebuilding and it would be no surprise to hear that Mashriq (TheEast) of the West had finally passed away. But it could alsohave happened that it may have reappeared with new vigourfrom some huge building somewhere outside London. If thathappened, it would be only due to the extraordinary hardworkand optimism of a person from Azad Kashmir, A. R. Bungish.

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References

1 Sultan Mehmood, Urdu Journalism in Britain,Lahore, 1978, P.23.

2 Ballards, P.28-293 Ballards, P.28.4 Ballards, P.25-275 Ballards, P.306 Robert E Park, The Immigrant Press and Its Control,

Connecticut, 1970, P.49.7 Mahmood, P.25.8 Ina’am Aziz, An interview with the author, London,

19 July 1986.9 Mahmood, P.25-2710 Mahmood, P.27-3211 Mahmood, P.3212 Mahmood, P.3413 Mahmood, P.36-4414 Asif Jilani, An interview with the author, London, 7

April 1986.15 A R Bungish, An interview with the author, London,

17 March 1986.

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CHAPTER THREE

THE CONTEMPORARY URDU PRESS

Growth of the weekly press

Asia weekly was the second Urdu paper to appear from Britain.Its inception was due mainly to the efforts of a Pakistanijournalist Habib-ur-Rehman, also from Azad Kashmir, who cameto Britain in 1963. The first issue of the paper appeared fromBirmingham on the first of May the same year.1

Habib-ur-Rehman chose Birmingham for the new weekly in viewof the number of Pakistanis in that city. Instead of entering

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into competition with the Mashriq from the very start, it wasdecided to let the paper take a solid footing first in Birmingham.

Unlike Mashriq, Asia’s title page was printed in four colourswhich attracted the attention of the readers. But the maincontribution of the paper was that it ended the monopoly ofthe Mashriq. To remain in the market the two papers werealways in search of the latest news and the best writers.

However, Asia could not create a market for itself. Its shortspan of life was turbulent; finally it was taken over by Mashriqin 1969. Its offices were moved to London in late 1970 and itbecame a daily paper in June 1971. This change, too, provedto be very short-lived; the paper became a weekly again in 1972,after changing its ownership once more, but very soon itdisappeared for good.2

Since the 1960s a number of Urdu weeklies, monthlies, andfortnightlies have appeared and disappeared with equal ease.The similarity between the immigrant press of the United States,as described by Robert Park, and the Urdu press in the UnitedKingdom is indeed striking. He says: “A great many foreignlanguage papers have been started, but a great many have died.It is easier to start a foreign-language than an English paper.Competition is not so keen and not so much capital is required.They die because they are not well conceived and not wellconducted. The birth and death statistics of immigrantnewspapers are a more or less accurate measure of theimmaturity and instability of this press as a whole.”3 Howaccurate and prophetic his pronouncement or observation iscan be judged from the description of the Urdu press in thefollowing pages.

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The process of birth and death in the Urdu press continueseven today. There are only very few papers that promise toachieve a certain level of stability.

As stated earlier, all the Urdu papers that appeared from Britaintill 1965 were set up by the immigrants from Pakistan and AzadKashmir. These papers naturally gave priority to news andviews from and about Pakistan.

It was against this background that Ramesh Soni, a young manfrom Indian Punjab, launched his plan to bring out a paper inUrdu which would not only cover the news from an Indianperspective but also extend detailed coverage to Indian Punjabwhich, according to Soni, was being neglected by thecontemporary Urdu press. His efforts resulted in the publicationof the weekly Milap (Reunion) on 15 August 1965.4

Though the paper, its office, and its editor lack the lustre oftheir Pakistani counterparts, it has managed to survive in itshumble way. The paper’s office is located in the backyard of abuilding at North End Road in London. Ramesh Soni says thesole purpose of bringing out the paper is to keep the Indiancommunity informed about happenings in India. “I felt the needto bring out this paper because the current Urdu papers didnot cover even 1 per cent news of India. Now only I publishstories that are of some concern to my community”. He isconvinced that the paper is not a business venture for him, “itis community service that I am doing.” 5

Akhbar-e-Watan (News from Home), launched in the late 1960shas proved to be the most stable of all the Urdu weekly papersof Britain. Like Mashriq it was also brought out with the

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the collaboration and professional support of the veteranPakistani journalist Inayat Ullah. The first issue of Akhbar-e-Watan appeared from Gray’s Inn Road, London on 14 July1969, and by 1972 it had become one of the established weekliesof London.6 It enjoys this status even today. In October 1975,the paper was moved to its present premises in Walthamstow, apart of London with the second largest concentration ofPakistani settlers after Bradford.

“Scissors editing” or the daily Urdu press

The weekly Urdu press that developed during the 1960s, wasquite efficient, but it could not satisfy the needs of the Pakistanicommunity; it rather whetted their appetite for news about homeand about their fellow immigrants living in Britain. And by theend of the first decade of Urdu journalism in the United Kingdomeverybody connected with it in any way was talking about thefeasibility of bringing out an Urdu daily paper from London.

The efforts to launch a daily newspaper in Urdu in Britain dateback to 1963, when a Pakistani immigrant Salim Farook starteda paper, the daily Urdu Times in Glasgow. But the paper vanishedbefore the Urdu reading public even became acquainted withits name. Urdu Times survived only for about a month andirregularly at that. Non-availability of experienced staff,inadequate flow of stories from Pakistan, and poor printingquality are stated to be the main reasons of the closure of thepaper.7 Salim Farook is said to have been so much disappointedfrom his short-lived courtship with journalism that he decidednot to enter its territory for a second time.

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Jang (The War) is the first regular Urdu daily paper to startpublication in Britain. Founded in the 1970s, it is owned by thelargest group of Urdu newspapers in Pakistan. The group’s mainnewspaper in Pakistan which has the same name -Jang- ispublished simultaneously from the four main cities of Pakistan;Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Quetta, and has a total dailycirculation of about 500,000 which is 200,000 more than itsclosest rival Nawa-e-Waqt’s. The group’s net profit in 1984was close to US $2.5 million, while the paper’s assets wereestimated at over US $6.2 million.8

To introduce the paper to British Urdu speaking immigrantsand to create a market there, the publishers of the paper startedsending an international edition of Jang Karachi on a daily basisin early 1970. It was the run-up period to a general electionwhich was being held in Pakistan after 12 years of military rule.The immigrants were very anxious to be fully aware of thepolitical developments. They were irritated when they had towait for a week to get a copy of a weekly paper. Hence Jangwas warmly welcomed and within days its circulation reachedthousands.9

The first London issue of the daily Jang was published in March1971, from 52 Hoxton Square in north London under theeditorship of Ina’am Aziz. The staff included Asif Jilani as thenews editor, Habib-ur-Rehman, responsible for advertisements,administration and public relations, and Mir Naser Mehmoodin charge of printing and purchases. Two Katibs were alsoincluded in the team.10

Recounting the experiences of those days, Ina’am Aziz says:“There was no telex, and there were not many people towrite stories. Mir Khalil - ur - Rehman*• was worried about...................................................................*Chief Editor of the Jang group of papers.

39

how things would work out. I asked him to depute someone inKarachi to ring us up every day and tell us about the importantPakistani stories of the day, and make arrangements to dailysend us two copies of every Urdu newspaper of Pakistan.”

“And then I started this novel experiment that I prefer to call`scissors editing’. I got the most important international newsfrom the Reuters teleprinter that we had installed, the latestPakistani stories from the Karachi office over telephone andfor the rest of the stories I took a pair of scissors and the copiesof the Pakistani Urdu papers of the previous day. With thescissors I literally cut the stories from those papers that suitedmy purpose and pasted them on my copies. That is how I broughtout the paper. Most of the stories in the 12-page tabloid-sizepaper were the product of `scissors editing’. I had no controlover these news stories, their content, their language, theirheadlines; I had no control over editorial and its topics etc.That is how I started it, and that is how the Urdu papers inBritain are being run even today.”11

In this way Jang was able to provide the immigrants with notonly the important international and Pakistani news, but also alarge number of stories from different regions of Pakistan fromwhich most of the immigrants hailed. But the main reason forits establishment as a very successful paper was something else.As Ina’am Aziz relates: “When Jang was launched, Pakistanwas passing through the most critical political and constitutionalcrisis of its history. On 23 March 1971, the day we launchedour paper, the Bangladesh war began. People were worriedabout their homes, families, their country, and we were the onlysource of news. The Bangladesh war soon developed into afull scale war between India and Pakistan. The dependence ofthe people on Jang further increased with the deepening of thecrisis. So when the war ended, Jang had become a well-

40

established paper - the crisis established the paper. In fact everypaper needs a crisis to get itself established. This is the story ofnewspapers everywhere in the world.”12

Asif Jilani (the first news editor of Jang who later became itseditor in 1973) adds, the paper had some other advantages overits competitors - those who were in the field and those who laterentered the field. It had an established name with which most ofthe Pakistani immigrants were already acquainted; because ofits link with a big newspaper group in Pakistan, a continuousflow of news was ensured from there; and then it had at itsdisposal a team of trained professionals; in the event of needLondon office had only to ring up Karachi and the written materialor personnel could be despatched the next day.13

In 1973, Jang had taken firm root in the Pakistani community ofBritain. At that time the federal minister Mr Abdul Hafiz Pirzadainformed the country’s President Mr Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto that“Jang International seems to have monopolized the field. Vastmajority of our community in England subscribe to this paper.”14

Jang is the only Urdu daily that has been published regularlysince its inception, with only one interruption in 1976 becauseof a worker’s strike on a pay dispute which was resolved afterintervention by SOGAT**. All the other Urdu dailies that appearedbefore or after Jang have by now wound up business.

Before the appearance of Jang, the most well establishedperiodical in the market was the weekly Mashriq. So thepublishers of Mashriq decided to challenge Jang. They hadgreater experience in the field ; they knew the problems..............................................................................................................................* Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (A very powerful trade union ofBritish press workers).

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facing the Urdu press and were well aware of markettrends. Confident of their success they launched Asia, whichthey had bought earlier, as a daily paper on 6 June 1971. Asiastarted under the auspices of Shahkar Publications Limited andAli Kiani was appointed editor. Asia survived for almost a year;it was closed down on 12 March 1972 as a daily paper after ithad run into considerable financial difficulties.15

The next challenge to Jang was posed by the daily Millat(Nation). It was brought about by Ina’am Aziz, who resignedfrom the editorship of Jang in August 1973. Millat started itspublication from 333 Goswell Road, London on 27 September1974.16

As Ina’am Aziz puts it: “The Urdu papers of Britain have beenestablished by some individuals to earn money to fulfil their lustfor personal publicity. They are used to advance petty personalgains. Their policy is what the government of Pakistan says orwants from them and their main concern is how muchadvertisement they can get and how.”

“In this atmosphere,” he continues, “Millat was a unique paperof its kind. It faced every government of Pakistan. As a resultMillat was the only paper which did not get any advertisementfrom the Pakistan government.”17

With approach of 1980 it went into a serious financial crisismainly due to libel suits, one of which finally forced themanagement to close down the paper . Referring to its demise , Shakti of May 1982 wrote : “The daily Millat hasceased its publication , leaving a void in readership. It usedto be an ardent Bhutto supporter . Before ceasingpublication it paid a hefty sum to daily Jang in settlement of

42

a libel case, switched its allegiance to General Zia, changed itseditors more than it changed its political loyalties - and thenquietly passed out without a swan song.”18

Watan (The Homeland) was the latest edition to the club of Urdudaily papers of Britain. The plans to bring out the paper firstcame to light in 1973 when the management of Akhbar-e-Watanannounced that the paper would become a daily from Octoberthat year with a new name Watan, but the project was shelvedbecause of a difference of opinion within the board of directorsof Watan Publications Ltd, the company that owns it.19

The plan was, however, revived after the closure of the dailyMillat, and the first issue of the paper came to the market on 16January 1984 under the editorship of Ali Kiani.

It was a 6-page broad-sheet paper with almost the same patternof coverage as that of Jang. The paper did not prove to be afinancially viable proposition. A small advertisement appearingin Watan of 31 March 1986 on the lower half of the front pagesaid:

“The publication of the daily Watan is being temporarilysuspended with effect from 1 April 1986. However, thepublication of the weekly Akhbar-e-Watan will continueas usual, and it will continue to be published regularlyevery week...”

The barely two and a quarter year infant had died.

The fringe press

Besides newspapers and weekly news magazines there are

43

a number of periodical publications in Urdu whose number hasrecently increased. They may broadly be divided into threecategories: political papers, religious papers, and literary papers.

The political papers can best be described as occasional papersbecause they only appear when the political climate is turbulentin Pakistan and disappear with the restoration of normalcy. Asstated earlier, traces of the first political paper are said to havebeen found as early as 1920, when some Indian students inLondon started a small paper Hind to support the Indianindependence movement.

The modern political press, however, came into being in theearly 1970s after the arrival in Britain of some exiled politicalworkers in the wake of the military action by the Pakistangovernment in Baluchistan and banning of the National AwamiParty. The Pakistan foreign secretary Agha Shahi in May 1975referred to the publication of a paper People’s Front broughtout in Britain by “Baluchistan Overseas Delegation.”20

However, the first half of the 1980s saw a mushroom growth ofthe Urdu political papers in Britain due to the presence of anumber of political exiles who went there following theimposition of Martial Law in the country in July 1977. Amal(Action), Azad Baluchistan (The Independent Baluchistan),Front, and Jad-o-Jihad (Struggle) are some of the main politicalpapers.*

Talking about the contemporary political press, AminMoghul, a Pakistani journalist and intellectual, currentlyresiding in Britain says: “There may be some dissidentpapers such as Jad-o-Jihad which reach the working classsegment of the Pakistani settlers, but on the whole, the............................................................................* Please see appendix I for a list of papers being published in 1986.

44

circulation of the political press is limited, mainly confined tothe exiled political workers in Britain and Europe.... The qualityof these journals is poor. Much of the content is lifted fromPakistani publications and is usually much too outdated; whilelittle interpretative material is given.”21

Religious papers constitute another genre of journalism whichhas flourished greatly during the last decade. Some of the religiouspapers even claim that they are the most widely-read Urdu papers.By 1986 about half a dozen religious papers were being publishedin Britain,** but it is interesting to note that almost all of themwere being printed outside London. Most of the immigrants livingin British cities other than London are workers who are not welleducated and these papers mostly aim at them.

Talking of religious papers, Shams Uddin, a Pakistani researchscholar, says: “Most of the immigrants from Pakistan are fromvillages and they are barely literate. Their knowledge of religionis based upon hearsay and superstition. The publishers of religiouspapers are aware of this fact and are using it for exploiting thesepeople. Most of the religious papers being printed in Britain arefull of dogmatic ideas about religion, superstition and sectarianpropaganda.”22

There are also a number of literary papers in Urdu being publishedin Britain. These papers are produced by persons who themselvesare interested in creative writing. The papers mostly carry worksof Urdu writers residing in Britain. However, so far no literarypaper has been able to make its mark and the known Urdu writersof Britain even today prefer to get space in the established literaryjournals of Pakistan and India. The literary papers include UrduAdab (Urdu Literature), Ma’ani (The Meanings), and Shafaq(Horizon).*

* Please see appendix I.

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There are some other papers which do not fall strictly intoany of these categories. They are a mixture of two or moreof the genres mentioned above. They are not very manyand there names and the material they publish are indicated in appendix 1.

46

References

1 Mahmood, P.45-49.2 Mahmood, P.50-62.3 Park, P.309.4 Mahmood, P.121-22.5 Ramesh Soni, An interview with the author, London,

16 July 1986.6 Mahmood, P.69-80.7 Mahmood, P.82.8 The Far Eastern Economic Review, Hongkong, 19

September 1985, P.28-31.9 Jilani, interview.10 Mahmood, P.87.11 Aziz, interview.12 Aziz, interview.13 Jilani, interview.14 The Government of Pakistan, White Paper on the

Misuse of Media, Islamabad, August 1978, P.40.15 Mahmood, P.57-62.16 Mahmood, P.103.17 Aziz, interview.18 Shakti, London, May 1982, P.29-30.19 Mahmood, P.79-80.20 The Government of Pakistan, P.55.21 Amin Moghal, An interview with the author, London,

20 August 1986.22 Shams Uddin, An interview with the author, London,

20 August 1986.

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONTENTS

From immigrants to settlers

As stated earlier, the contemporary Urdu press in Britainwas set up by Muslim immigrants from Pakistan and AzadKashmir, primarily to keep their fellow migrants informedabout developments in their homelands. This remains thebasic function of the Urdu papers even today. In the meanwhile permanent settlement in Britain of a greatmajority of immigrants has led to a qualitative change intheir status and consequently in their outlook on life.Ballards say: “Although migrants had started with the

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assumption that the village of origin was the only social arenawhich really counted, they began to find that they were becominginvolved in social obligations in Britain which they were boundto fulfil if they were not to lose face in the eyes of their fellows.To the South Asian villager, the maintenance and enhancementof his family honour, izzat, is perhaps the most important of allgoals and it is the quest for greater izzat that often lies at theroot of the decision to migrate. The most significanttransformation in overseas settlements came about when these,too, became arenas within which izzat could be gained or lost.Once this occurred, all migrants had to compete or else loseface....”1

In this way their social relationships in Britain intensified. As aresult viable ethnic colonies emerged and it became increasinglyattractive for immigrant men to consider bringing over theirfamilies. As Ballards explain: “With their families reunited, guestscould at last be entertained in proper style, for women wereavailable to prepare the food. The presence of a wife and childrenmeant that living expenses became higher and as time passedpatterns of expenditure rapidly changed. In particular thecompetition for status and prestige with other settlers began inearnest and instead of virtually camping out, migrants began tospend more on furnishing and equipping their houses. Perhapsmost important of all was the fact that it became possible tocelebrate life-cycle rituals in Britain. Whole families and majorparts of their kin networks had been reconstituted and all thetraditional expectations and obligations could now be fulfilled.The prestige of each family ultimately depends upon theelaborateness of gift exchanges with affines and the arrival ofwomen made the appropriate conspicuous consumption possiblein Britain. This was a complete reversal of the situation prior to1960: in the days of the all-male household, elaborate spending

50

in search for prestige had been restricted to the village andhad been matched by conspicuous non-consumption inBritain.”2

A Pakistani novelist settled in Britain has presented thispicture in these words: “Now-a-days things are completelydifferent. Now we have settled in this country. We have ourwork, our families are with us, and we have a social life ofour own. Temples and mosques have been established;committees of every conceivable type have been formed; inpockets we carry money and in hands keys of cars; televisionsets have been installed in our houses and we celebrate thebirthdays of our children... time is passing very well.”3

The Asian migrant had now become the Asian settler. Hispriorities had changed accordingly. His focus of attentionhad moved from his ancestral village to the new locality hehad chosen to live in. Notwithstanding the direction of thischange, the Urdu papers, somehow, failed to change theircharacter in terms of concept and style.

Attempts were made by some publishers and editors to givea British look to their papers by allocating more space to theactivities and problems of the Asian settlers and to presentthe news from the angle of the British Urdu-speakingcommunity.

Distribution of pages

Asif Jilani says that he agreed to take over as editor of Jangin 1973 only after the management’s assurance that itwould be developed as a community paper. “I was awarethat the settlers’ knowledge of the English language wasdeficient as was their knowledge about the traditions and

51

customs of this country and its political institutions. I wasconvinced that the paper should educate the Pakistanis in allthese things.”

“As the editor I ensured”, says Asif Jilani, “that the localcoverage was increased and more space was given to theactivities of settlers and their problems. We made it a point toinform them about the politics and social system of this countryand about the role and importance of local councils in Britishsociety. That is how our people started taking interest in localpolitics. The new awareness of the community was reflectedin the 1974 general elections in which Asian people fullyparticipated.” Recalling that period Asif Jilani says: “In 1973-74, Jang looked like a London newspaper.”4

Amin Moghul, however, contends that: “The local Urdu press,though shrewdly, merely fulfilled a need which already existedamong Pakistani immigrants. Now that they had adoptedEngland as their land of domicile it was inevitable that theyshould be forced by circumstances to take interest in localpolitics. The decision by Jang to cover local politics relevantto the immigrants, however, deepened and enhanced theirunderstanding of it.”5

However, most of the editors of the Urdu papers, like Ali Kiani,take the view that “Pakistan politics is the basic considerationof the Urdu press, because most of its readers are Pakistanis”6

Shahid Nadeem, a former Pakistan Television producer whowas working for Amnesty International in London in themid- 1980s, agreed that dissemination of news aboutPakistan remains a major function of the Urdu press inBritain. He said: “It keeps the link with home alive by

52

providing information about the socio-economic and politicalsituation of Pakistan. Secondarily it acquaints the readers withthe latest scandals, the latest movies and the latest poetry. Onegets to know who is getting married and to whom, who haspassed away and which new book is on the market - all thiskeeps your cultural links intact.”7

Stories from and about Pakistan form the bulk of the coverageof the Urdu newspapers of Britain even today and they virtuallylook like an extension of the Pakistan press. The pro-Pakistanbias of the Urdu press is institutionalized to the extent that someof the editors even view themselves as unofficial ambassadorsof Pakistan in Britain. Ashraf Kazi, the managing editor of JangLondon, while talking about his paper said: “Our policy is thatwe should work in the interest of our country[Pakistan] inBritain.... We give as much projection to our country as we can,and try to help our community to the possible extent - this is ourrole in Britain, and in broad terms, this is our policy.”8

The content analysis of the Urdu papers bears evidence tothese trends. A study of the front page news of the sixissues of Jang - the first two issues each from the monthsMarch to May 1986 - revealed that 74 per cent of the newsitems were from Pakistan or about Pakistan. The same canbe said about the last page (page 8), more than half ofwhich usually carries the remaining portions of the frontpage stories. Pages 6 and 7 of the paper are devoted tolocal and regional stories from Pakistan, which sometimesspread over pages 5 and 2. Pages 4 and 5 normally carryfeatures on different social and political issues of Pakistan, articles on religious themes, and popular columns onhealth, psychology, and “true stories of women.” Page 3 isthe editorial page, and besides editorial notes it carries five tosix articles or columns mainly on political, social, or

53

economic problems of Pakistan. All the articles on pages 3, 4,and 5 are written by Pakistani journalists and writers in Pakistanfor a Pakistani reader. Jang London simply reproduces themafter lifting them from its Pakistani editions. In this way onlyone page, ie page 2, is left for stories about the local Asiancommunity and its problems.

Akhbar-e-Watan, the main Urdu weekly of Britain, claims toextend far more coverage to the Asian community than anyother single paper. “We started highlighting the problems facedby the community in the 1970s”, says Ali Kiani, and I do notaccept the suggestion that we lag behind in this matter. In facta number of books have been written on the Asian communitybased on our features.”9 However, the fact is that out of atotal of 36 pages of Akhbar-e-Watan only six carry news,pictures and features on or about the activities or problems ofthe Asian community, while ten or more pages are taken overby news and features from Pakistan every week. In this regardthe weekly Mashriq is no different.

One of the regular readers of the Urdu papers, Hamraz Ahsan,himself an experienced journalist from Pakistan, says that it isprecisely for the coverage of Pakistan that he reads the Urdupapers. “For international news I read Guardian. But to knowwhat is happening in Pakistan, I have to read Jang, I have noother choice.”10

Milap is the only Urdu newspaper owned by a journalist ofIndian origin. But it is also no different in its coverage oflocal affairs. It normally devotes three to four pages out of atotal of 16 for the local community and general news, whilenormally ten pages are reserved for news from or about theIndian state of Punjab. This pattern is more or less followedby other Urdu papers.

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55

Tackling the community’s problems:How serious is the Urdu press

Amarjit Chandan, the editor of Shakti London, says: “Urdupapers seldom make any efforts to cover stories about Asiansettlers; they have never carried any investigative stories aboutracial attacks, immigration, and unemployment among Asians.A few stories on such issues that appear are invariably liftedfrom the local/regional English papers, or are based upon pressreleases and information handouts.”11 Hamraz Ahsan supportsthis point of view and points out that “even the well-establishedpapers do not have permanent correspondents anywhere inBritain outside London. Asian community centres likeBirmingham and Bradford are covered by free-lancereporters.”12

What a typical local page of an Urdu paper carries can begathered from the random reading of one such page. The localpage of Jang of 1 March 1986 had the following local stories:

- Announcements regarding Asian radio and televisionprogrammes.

- Timetable for prayers and fasting.- A religious ceremony in Birmingham.- Reading of the Quran in Wolverhampton.- A religious leader protests over anti-Muslim riots

in India.- Poetry recital under the aegis of an Azad Kashmir

political party.- Two and a half kilo gold unearthed in London.- Professor Nelson visits the offices of the UK Islamic

Mission.- Demand to introduce reforms in the Commons.

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- Congratulations on the creation of a seat forOverseas Kashmiris in the Azad Kashmir assembly.

- Demand to include Gilgit and Baltistan in AzadKashmir.

- Fake doctor’s case transferred to Crown Court.- Shopkeeper fined for illegally slaughtering chickens.- Move to retain Sikander Hayat as the president of

an Azad Kashmir political party.- Appeal to observe the anniversary of the second

Caliph Hazrat Ummer.

Some people are not happy over the existing pattern of Urdupapers’ coverage. They think that most of the local coverage isa public relations exercise. But Mazhar Tirmizi, an Urdujournalist of London has a different story to tell. He says thatsuch stories are a means of ‘enhancing circulation’. “Politicaland religious conferences and meetings are prominently covered,because the editors enter into arrangements with the organizers,so that publication of stories in an issue ensures purchase of aspecific number of copies of that issue for distribution at themeeting/conference.”13

Anwar Khalid, a former television and radio producer andjournalist, says: “You will see a lot of coverage of the peoplewho can advertise; and because of this qualification theyare always in the Urdu papers whether they are newsworthy or not. On the other hand important events are not covered if editors do not see any financial benefit comingout of their coverage.” He recounted an incident in the early1980s when the editor of a daily paper onlyagreed to cover an important event in Glasgow after he hadreceived the assurance that his reporter and photographer

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would be given free return tickets and provided board andlodging in Glasgow.14

Quality of news

An analysis of the news and feature pages of the mainUrdu papers reveals that they adhere to the same newsvalues for which the Western commercial press hasbeen under attack from the Third World intellectualsand the minority rights groups in the West.

A random analysis of the front page news stories of the twoissues of Jang (March 1 and 3 of 1986) showed that more than60 per cent of the stories dealt with war, deaths, disasters andtensions. Some typical headlines of the 1 March 1986 issue are:

- India increases war spending by 11 per cent.- Pakistan and Indian armies facing each other in Azad

Kashmir.- Fingers of a thief cut in Iran.- If Benazir is arrested, no party worker will sit quiet....

says a Pakistan Peoples Party leader.- Hosni Mubarak replaces his interior minister after

rebellion by security forces.- A 16-year old student hanged in Dacca.- Reagan deputes security service guard to protect

Marcos.- In India a speeding train crushes 27 to death.

And the list goes on like this. In all, out of a total of 39 items onthe front page, 24 are of this nature. Similarly the front page of3 March 1986 issue opens with the lead story “The US hasdoubts regarding Pakistan’s atomic programme” and it isfollowed by such stories:

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- In Azad Kashmir 36 killed and 12 injured in ahorrible bus accident.

- Hindu temples attacked in Pakistan to protestagainst anti-Muslim riots in India.

- Israeli-appointed mayor of occupied Nablus shotdead.

- Swedish premier Olaf Palme murdered.

Nineteen stories on this page out of a total of 32 are badnews. And as can be seen, almost all these stories are from theThird World, mostly from South Asia. A random sampling ofthe front page coverage of the Akhbar-e-Watan showed itwas not much different either. The front page of its 11 June1986 issue carried five stories, four of which are headlined:

- Prime Minister Junejo listens to the danger bell.- Will Khalistan movement die after transfer of

Chandi Garh to Punjab?- Plot to blast a plane with a bomb.- Will Benazir be arrested after Eid?

Similarly three out of four stories on the front page of thepaper’s 16 July issue were of this nature. They were headlined:

- Russia and Libya providing heavy sums to thePeoples Party.... says President Zia.

- Mid-term elections cannot be held on the demandof a single party.

- The people will reject appeal to observe protestday.

Milap also covers the news in a similar fashion, as is

60

evident from the 15 June 1986 issue of the paper. It carriedfour stories on its title page, which read:

- Punjab and Haryana disagree on the exchange ofland.

- Pakistan installs missiles on Siachin glacier.- In India, 900,000 suffer from VDs.- Three extremists arrested in Amritsar.

Editorial policy

Commenting on the success of the Jang group of newspapersthe Far Eastern Economic Review said: “All Jang newspapersare commercial successes because they avoid taking positionson political and social issues and cater to a variety of tastes.`Our policy is not to have a policy’, said Mir Shakilur Rehman,Khalil’s* son and managing editor of Jang Lahore. ̀ We believein reporting on and reflecting all attitudes rather than sitting injudgement on them’, he said. The group has traditionally enjoyedgood relations with governments and also covers oppositionactivities without annoying those in power.”15

Shahid Nadeem, while discussing the Urdu press in Britain,expresses almost the similar views about it. He says: “The Urdupress in Britain has no political or social point of view. Theironly concern is that the reader’s sensibility should not bedisturbed too much, so they do not touch upon the areas ofpolitical, cultural, and religious morality of their readers - thesepapers have no character and they lack any identity.”16

But Amarjit Chandan views them differently. He thinks these papers have a class morality and definite stand on.......................................................................* Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman.

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issues. He says: “The Urdu press by and large supports thebourgeoisie. No paper supports the cause of the workers. It isironical that the Asians came to this country as workers, butthe Asian press basically remained against workers. Asianworkers waged a long struggle for their rights, and they suffereda a lot; but you will not find a single line in the press aboutthem, their struggle, and their achievements. Rag trade, forexample, is the business which is totally based on exploitationof Asian women. You will not find a single line on them in anyUrdu paper.”17

Women’s activities is an area that is almost totally neglected.As Arjum Wajid, a female journalist of Pakistani origin workingfor the Romford Observer, puts it: “Their attitude toward womenis very superficial and patronizing. They will never discusswomen’s problems seriously, nor even ever interview aprominent woman social worker; they just fill their women’spages with extracts from popular novels and stories based uponsuperstition.” But she gives them the benefit of the doubt, sayingthat they might be trying to cater to a number of tastes. “And ofcourse, they have to be somewhere between popular and seriouspapers to have something for every reader”.18

Its allegedly conservative outlook is one general criticism ofthe Urdu press. It is said that Urdu papers tend to reinforce theoutdated values adhered to by the old generation of settlersand it has nothing to offer to the new generation of Asians inBritain.

Hamraz Ahsan says that about 90 per cent of the readers of the Urdu papers are from Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, whohave now been living in this country for decades. The Urdupapers never tell them how to cope with the problems ofliving in Britain. Instead, they continue to teach feudal

62

ethics to these people living in the advanced capitalist system.The Urdu papers do not criticize their negative attitudes, ratherthey reinforce them. “They are, in fact, more conservative inoutlook than even the Urdu press of Pakistan.” The result isthat their readers are mentally and emotionally living in Pakistan.The readers columns of the Urdu papers are full of issues thatare of no concern to the citizens of Britain at all, such as whetherthieves’ hands should be cut and from where, and what is thesignificance of land reforms.19

Ali Kiani does not agree with the suggestion that the Urdupress is conservative. But he accepts the criticism that the newgeneration of Asian settlers do not read these papers partlybecause they do not carry anything that might interest them.20

Ashraf Kazi, though accepts that “may be, the issues facing theAsian community are not so much discussed in the columns ofJang as some other issues are” but he adds, “then the mainreason might be that these people who face the problems donot write to us.”21

Advertisements

Talking about advertisements appearing in the US immigrantpress, Robert Park observes: “In many cases the advertisementsreveal the organization of the immigrant community more fullythan does the rest of the paper.... The advertisements also revealto what extent an immigrant group has adapted itself toAmerican ways.”22

In the same way the advertisements carried by the Urdu pressgive an interesting insight into the life-style of the Asiancommunity settled in Britain.

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Matrimonial advertisements are found in almost every Urdupaper, showing the concern of the community on this issue.Almost all such advertisements signify that marriages in the Asiancommunity are still being arranged by parents/elders; andreligion, caste, and even areas of origin are the main priorities.British nationality is one of the main qualifications and invariablyfinds mention in the advertisements. Two typical matrimonialadvertisements appearing in Jang (9 August 1986) are:

“MatrimonialWe require matches for our son and daughter.Both are British nationals. The boy is the managerin a shoe company and is 28, while the girl is 23.For further details, please ring after 7.30 p.m.0223-211328.”“Millan Marriage BureauHigh quality life partner for the men and womenof every religion, country, caste, and age. Specialskill in Muslim marriages. Contact in Punjabi,Urdu, or English. Full confidentiality. Members ofthe bureau reside in more than 25 countries.110 Bostall LaneAbbey WoodLondon SE2 OQSTel: 01-310-8348"

There are also a number of advertisements appearing in thedaily press regarding the disposal of property. Jang’s 9 August1986 issue carries six advertisements regarding the sale of smallscale factories and restaurants. Some of the advertisements saythat the owner is leaving the country or emigrating to Pakistan.If it is not some sort of business trick, then it means that aninvisible process of remigration of the Asians has already begun.

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The advertisements of travel/cargo agencies constitute animportant part of the business of Urdu papers. Suchadvertisements take more than half of the advertisement spacein Akhbar-e-Watan. “Air tickets: cash and carry” seems to bethe most popular slogan among the advertisers, and the 16 July1986 issue of the paper carries three advertisements openingwith this phrase. All the advertisers also claim that they providethe cheapest return tickets and cargo services.

However, the most interesting advertisements are those ofhakims. Such advertisements appear almost in all the papersoccasionally. Their common feature is that they carry Indian orPakistani addresses of the hakims saying that the medicine canbe had by post; or if at all they carry a London address, it is ofsome company which usually trades in such medicine. If anadvertisement gives some clue about the availability of thehakim, it does not fail to mention that the hakim is on a privatevisit and will not do any business; but of course anyone couldsee him. The special feature of the advertisements is their claimthat the particular hakim has some special treatment forimpotency. But the Asian way of putting it is very discreet andthe advertisements will only say that the hakim is a specialist inproblems relating to the lack of power/energy, referring ofcourse to virility. One such advertisement that finds its place inalmost every issue of Akhbar-e-Watan is that of Hakim HariKishan Lal (see the issue of 6 July 1986, page 4).

There is a picture of the hakim on the top left hand cornerof the advertisement with the caption: “The emperor of themedicine for energy: Hakim Hari Kishan Lal (gold medalist)member of the government Tibbi Board, Delhi Estate. Andthe headlines on the right hand say: “Make your life

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pleasant; Before marriage and after marriage; Are you worried?”

The text of the advertisement says that if you have lost youryouth and power because of your childhood misdeeds, then toget rid of your worries you had better avail yourself of theinvaluable services of the internationally -known KhandaniShifakhana (registered) Delhi, and benefit from the compoundstested by four generations which brought so many honours andgold medals (to the hakim, of course). It goes on like this:“Ministers, judges, magistrates, nawabs, and MPs have alsoacknowledged the prowess of Khandani Shifakhana. Fulltreatment and correct advice, completely cured thousands ofthe people in the East and West who are now living verysuccessful lives.”

The advertisement lures you: “In old times only rajas, maharajas,nawabs, khans, and very rich people could use these expensivecures. Now-a-days you can also use these invaluable recipes torecover your health, power, and youth and completely enjoythe full happiness of a married life.” It never fails to add: “Allthe correspondence is kept confidential.” And of course youmay order the most valuable pictorial book “The message ofyouth” free of cost. At the end you have the price list for variouscures in US dollars:

“Nawabi royal special treatment 2100Nawabi royal treatment 1100Khandani royal special treatment 550khandani royal treatment 450London royal special treatment 350London special treatment 210Africa special treatment 110Note: Besides, nawabi royal super special treatmentis available on order.”

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Arjum Wajid strongly objects to the publication of suchadvertisements. She says they fully comment on the state ofaffairs of the Asian settlers and how the papers are serving them.“Instead of educating the people that these thugs are exploitingthem and telling them about the medical facilities provided bythe government, the papers are promoting these quacks for smallmonetary gains.”23

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References

1 Ballards, p.32-332 Ballards, p.35-363 Abdullah Hussain, The Return Journey, included in the

collection The Downs, Lahore, 1981, p.3194 Jilani, interview5 Moghal, interview6 Ali Kiani, An interview with the author, London, 22

July 1986.7 Shahid Mahmood Nadeem, An interview with the

author, London, 26 July 1986.8 Ashraf Kazi, An interview with the author, London, 21

July 1986.9 Kiani, interview10 Hamraz Ahsan, An interview with the author, London,

9 July 1986.11 Amarjit Chandan, An interview with the author, London,

3 September 1986.12 Ahsan, interview13 Mazhar Tirmizi, An interview with the author, London,

3 September 1986.14 Anwar Khalid, An interview with the author, London,

9 July 1986.15 The Far Eastern Economic Review, Hongkong, 19

September 1985, p.2916 Nadeem, interview17 Chandan, interview18 Arjum Wajid, An interview with the author, London,

30 August 1986.19 Ahsan, interview20 Kiani, interview21 Kazi, interview22 Park, p.113-1423 Wajid, interview

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CHAPTER FIVE

PRESSURES AND PROBLEMS

Advertisement revenue

“The Urdu press is not economically self-sufficient”, says NaqiAli, a senior journalist, “it does not get advertisements fromgovernment bodies, national industries or other big advertisers;nor does it have a sufficiently large readership to solve thepapers’ economic problems. It is their ties with Pakistaninewspapers and Pakistani politics which alone ensure theirsurvival. And their desire to improve their resources revealsitself in continual political bargaining.”1

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The modern newspaper industry depends primarily onadvertisements for its survival, and it is precisely one area inwhich the Urdu press is badly lagging behind. A survey of theUrdu papers showed that the maximum ratio of advertisementto the printed matter for the daily papers was less than 15 percent on weekends and for weekly papers it was less than 30percent on average.

The average space taken by advertisements in Jang onweekdays was only about 1.6 percent. On weekends thispercentage increased to 14.5. In the case of Akhbar-e-Watanthis average was 28.8 per cent, the highest among the Urdupapers; and in case of Milap it was 8.7 per cent, which alsoincluded full-page publicity advertisements of the weekly itselfon almost every alternate week.

The main reason generally given for the lack of advertisementis that the British advertisers do not patronize ethnic paperswhich have to look for advertising revenue almost exclusivelyfrom ethnic sources. Ashraf Kazi of Jang told The SundayTimes: “We are a national paper in Urdu but the advertisingagencies refuse to recognize our national status. It would seemthat our readers don’t buy toothpaste, soap, or detergents; thatthey do not use banks, building societies, the Post Office andBritish Rail. What does it take to open the agencies’ eyes?”2

Ashraf Kazi told me: “For the sake of advertisements we evengot our paper registered with the Audit Bureau of Circulation(ABC), but in spite of that we see that we do not get our rightfulshare of advertisements from the government and localgovernment institutions.” He added: “Britain is a multi-culturaland multi-ethnic society and they claim that they provide equalopportunities. They have established a whole organizationregarding race relations and they have a lot of legislation inthis regard. We play a significant role in such things; we

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inform them about their rules and regulations and we point outif there is any injustice. What we are doing is community service,but in spite of this the government and local governmentadvertisements that we get are very few.”3

Akhbar-e-Watan is getting the highest number of advertisementsamongst the Urdu papers. Its share is high but not satisfactory,and Ali Kiani complains that they are not getting enoughadvertisements from the government of Pakistan.4

In fact, because of the non-availability of a substantial numberof advertisements from British sources, Pakistan governmenthas come to be regarded as the main advertisement advancingagency. Ina’am Aziz points out: “The economic needs of theBritish Urdu papers are fulfilled by the Pakistan government inthe same way as those of the Pakistani papers. Theadvertisements of Pakistan International Airlines, PakistanShipping Corporation, insurance companies and banks are themain source of income for the Urdu press; and all theseadvertisements are controlled by the government of Pakistan.If these advertisements are withdrawn, the paper automaticallyceases publication.... In this way a paper’s existence is linkedwith the Pakistan government, and its policy depends on thewhims of that government. If there is a change in governmentin Pakistan, the Urdu papers of Britain change accordingly.”5

Distribution

Distribution of the Urdu papers posed a major probleminitially and remains one of the main obstacles even today.Referring to the launching of Mashriq London, Dilip Hiro

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writes that distribution of the paper proved to be the biggeststumbling block for its editor Mahmood Hashmi. “Britishnewsagents would not touch his weekly. So he and his friendsapproached Indo-Pakistani grocers to stock his journal as theystocked flour and bread. Most of them did. Hashmi alsoconcentrated on enrolling annual subscribers — a hard task toachieve for any nonexistent or fledgling weekly — and succeededthere too.”6 In this way a system was formulated. Most of theweeklies sent copies out to their agents in cities like London,Birmingham, Bradford and Glasgow in bulk. The agents in turndelivered them to Indo-Pakistani grocers’ and butchers’ shops,and to customers direct. Most of the Urdu papers are beingdistributed by this traditional network even today.

The battle continued for more than a decade before the Urdupapers could gain access to the newsagents’ shops. Ina’am Azizsays the newsagents initially refused to distribute Jang. It wasonly after considerable efforts that they agreed to accept thepaper.7

The distribution of the Urdu papers is not very satisfactory tothis day. The chain of well-established book-sellers andnewsagents who have the monopoly over sales of newspapersat railway stations, airports and other main public places as yetdo not sell any Urdu paper. Most of the other newsagents onlysupply Urdu newspapers on specific requests while some othersexpress inability to oblige at all. A journalist living in HighBarnet London says that he does not get a copy of his Urdupaper in the area while some Pakistani students residing inBrighton complained that they have failed to get an Urdu papereven after considerable efforts.

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Circulation

Urdu papers of London also cater for the demands of the Urdu-speaking people living in Europe, the United States, Canadaand some Middle Eastern countries. According to estimatesthere are about 300,000 Urdu-speaking people in Britain.8

Keeping in view this number, the circulation figures of themainstream Urdu papers are very low. The circulation figuresof some papers as supplied by their staff members are:

Jang 15,000Akhbar-e-Watan 12,000Milap 12,000Mashriq 6,000

However insignificant they might seem, these figures are alsocontested. Most of the Urdu journalists term these figures asvery optimistic.

Katibs

Availability of katibs (calligraphers) is stated to be anotherproblem facing the Urdu papers. Unlike any other paper inBritain, Urdu papers are hand-written by katibs before beingreproduced by ancient lithographic process or by photo-offsetprinting technique. It is a slow process and on an average akatib writes only two newspaper columns in an eight-hour workday.9

In early days there were very few katibs in Britain and theywere considered to be the most important workforce. Mostof the early papers got the bulk of their material

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calligraphed from Pakistan.10

The method, however, could not fulfil the demands of the Urdupress, which resorted to “scissors editing”, discussed earlier.The main Urdu papers are employing the method even today tofill in the bulk of their space. It is responsible to some extent forthe excess of news about Pakistan and the scarcity of the localnews in the Urdu papers.

Arjum Wajid says: “... a constant shortage of calligraphers isthe single biggest problem for the Urdu press. The editors areoften forced to shorten the story not for the lack of space butfor the lack of time needed to write it and for the shortage ofcalligraphers. The temptation of using cuttings from other papersis strong for smaller publications who cannot afford to pay to alarge staff.” She also points out that katibs constitute the largestportion of a paper’s staff.11

However, not all the journalists subscribe to this point of view.Some think that katibs do not get their due respect, status orsalary in a paper’s establishment. They are artists, but are treatedas menial workers. A lot of katibs are available in Pakistan butno paper wants to spend money on their import.

A good number of Pakistani newspapers have recently almostdone away with katibs. They are using computers to composethe Urdu script. Jang was the pioneer in the use of computer inPakistan, but the managing editor of Jang London says theequipment is still too costly to be set up in London for a smalloperation. “Our resources and our requirements at the presenttime do not permit us to install such a huge system here.”12

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References

1 Naqi Ali, Urdu Journalism in Britain, quoted in Urduin Britain, edited by Ralph Russell, London 1982,P.160

2 Quoted in The Sunday Times, London, 3 April 1983,P.7

3 Kazi, interview4 Kiani, interview5 Aziz, interview6 Quoted in New Society London, 22 June 1967, P.9287 Aziz, interview8 The Sunday Times, London 3 April 1983, P.79 The Far Eastern Economic Review, Hong Kong, 19

September 1985, P.2810 Ali, p.157-6611 Wajid, interview12 Kazi, interview

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CHAPTER SIX

PROSPECTS

Now

During the two and a half decades of its existence, thecontemporary Urdu press in Britain has not been able to acquirethe self-confidence necessary for it to have a sense of securityand purpose and a distinctive character.

The publishers and editors of the Urdu papers are as uncertainof the future today as they were twenty years ago. In 1967, anAsian journalist, while talking of Urdu and Punjabi papers ofBritain, told Dilip Hiro: “I guess we’ll fold

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up in about five, six years.”1 Most of the editors of the Urdupress would give the same reply even today. “Urdu journalism isnot as bad today as it will be ten years hence”, says Ali Kiani.2

There are a few more optimistic voices but their number is notvery significant.

The main fear stems from the prospects of a bleak future. Agreat majority of the new generation of Pakistani and Indiansettlers cannot read their own languages. And they are notinterested either to learn the languages or to read the press inthose languages. Ramesh Soni says his own children cannot readhis paper - Milap.3

Most of the readers of the Urdu press belong to the old generationof settlers whose number is dwindling because of several reasons.They read the Urdu papers not mainly as a source of information,but for nostalgic reasons: “Most of the Pakistani community livingin this country”, says Shahid Malik, a BBC External Servicesproducer, “read the Urdu papers more than anything else forsentimental reasons, to read the stories about home. Whateverthe quality, however subjective they may be, they have a feelingof being home...”4

There is a growing discontent even among the first generationregarding the existing Urdu press (see Chapter 3 on contents);and even to maintain its current readership, the Urdu press needsan overhauling.

It is true that Urdu papers do not get enoughadvertisements, which are essential for their survival; thereare problems with their distribution; katibs are notavailable; and there are pressures from different quarters.But there are many more and important factors responsiblefor the failure of the Urdu press to get a strong foothold in

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Britain. One basic fact is that the people responsible for therunning of the Urdu press have failed to grasp the dynamics ofthe Asian society in Britain, and as a result the press has becomestatic. As discussed earlier the status of the South Asians inthis country underwent a qualitative change when they optedto settle there, but Urdu press in its nature has remained animmigrant press throughout the twenty five years of its history.

The Urdu papers are full of lengthy and detailed news reportsabout various developments in Pakistan and India, and articlesand features about issues which do not have even a remoterelevance to the British society. The coverage of local problemsis inadequate. The Urdu press lacks the vital newsgatheringfacilities. As Hamraz Ahsan pointed out, no London basednewspaper had permanent correspondents outside London.5

The result is that most of the readers read even the stories ofutmost concern to the Asian community in the English pressmuch before they appear in the Urdu papers. In most casesthese stories in the Urdu press are lifted from the English papers.The much publicized case of Khurram Azad, the two year oldfoster child of a Bradford couple, is a good example. The storyabout his planned departure was carried by the British radioand television networks and all the leading English papersincluding Guardian, the Times and the Daily Telegraph on 8September 1986, but it was missing in Jang’s issue of that dayand Akhbar-e-Watan of that week. Jang only covered the storyon the following day and its coverage was less prominent andless detailed than that of, say Guardian.

Shahid Nadeem believes that the Urdu papers areunderstaffed and whatever staff they have are overworked;on top of it the salaries are very meagre. The proprietor-editors of these papers have a negative attitude toward

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trade unions and except for one paper there is no trade union inany of the Urdu papers.6 Arjum Wajid says that most of thesepapers are being run like family-owned grocery shops.7

There is little effort on the part of the people at the helms ofaffairs in the Urdu press to rectify the situation. Khalid Hasanwrote in 1978: “There is not even an association of editors orpublishers of Urdu newspapers and periodicals. They appearto work more against one another than together.”8

Tomorrow

The future of the Urdu press in Britain mainly depends on theattitude and interest of the new generation of Pakistani settlers.Efforts are being made by the older generation to teach theirchildren Urdu and their culture. Teachers of Urdu and religiousinstruction are on the top of the lists of recent imports. Buthow far these efforts succeed will become clear by the middleor end of the next decade.

The Asian youth of Britain are beset with a host of problems oftheir own: there is growing unemployment; the racial problem;housing problem, etc. And learning Urdu helps them little insolving these problems, especially when everywhere they haveto compete with English-speaking people. Yet they are also insearch of their identity in the hostile world in which they areliving. They are searching for their ethnic as well as their religiousidentity and that is an encouraging sign for the Urdu press.

If at all the efforts to teach them Urdu succeed, will they besufficiently interested in reading Urdu papers? One is not

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certain. At any rate, the Urdu papers in their current shapestand no chance. They will have to change.

Here the question arises, will it be apt to replace the Urdu paperswith papers in English which would cater to the needs of thesettler community for coverage of their problems andaspirations? Efforts have already been made in this directionand some Urdu papers are also publishing a page or two inEnglish - Jang has one page daily. Are we going to have Jangin English?

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References

1 Dilip Hiro, The Asian Press in Britain, quoted in NewSociety, London, 22 June 1967, P.928

2 Kiani, interview3 Soni, interview4 Shahid Malik, An interview with the author, London,

12 July 1986.5 Ahsan, interview6 Nadeem, interview7 Wajid, interview8 Khalid Hasan, The Urdu Press, quoted in The Asian,

London, May 1978, P.10

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Appendix I

Current Urdu Papers

Akhbar-e-Watan, London, weeklyThe only Urdu weekly that is being published regularly. Itscontents include news features about developments in Pakistanand Azad Kashmir, news items on the activities of Pakistaniimmigrants and regular columns on sports, films and religioussubjects.

Amal, London, fortnightlyA mouthpiece of the Pakistan Peoples Party.

Awaz-e-Haq, London, fortnightlyRepresents the Imamia Mission London, a religious organizationbelonging to Shia sect.

Azad Balochistan, London, monthlyA political paper representing the views of Baluch nationalists.

Azan, Birmingham, monthlyA religious and political magazine.

Dawat-e-Haq, Huddersfield, monthlyA magazine devoted to the propagation of Islam.

Front, London, monthlyThe publication of Sind-Baloch-Pashtoon Front.

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Gharana, London, quarterlyThe journal of Pakistan Women’s Welfare Association; publishesarticles and educative material for women and children.

Hayat-e-Nau, London, two monthlyThe organ of Urdu Association of the United Kingdom; carriesa section for the Urdu-English reader.

Jad-o-Jihad, London, two monthlyThe title page of the magazine says it represents the socialistforces in Pakistan Peoples’ Party and the labour movement.

Jamhoor, Oxford, fortnightlyA political news magazine; mainly covers Pakistan, Bangladeshand India.

Jang, London, dailyThe only Urdu daily of Britain; covers extensively Pakistaniissues; also extends coverage to Asian settlers of Britain.

Khyber, Leeds, monthlyA cultural and news magazine.

Mashriq, London, weeklyThe pioneer of modern Urdu press in Britain; extends coverageto Pakistani issues and problems of Asian community.

Milap, London, weeklyThe only Urdu paper in Britain that covers stories from theIndian point of view.

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Nasim International, London, monthlyA religious magazine printed in Jhelum, Pakistan, anddistributed in Britain.

Paikaar, Birmingham, quarterlyJournal of the Pakistani Workers Association of Britain;publishes political news and literature.

Ravi, Bradford, weeklyA regional newspaper of Britain which has also a regular literarysection.

Roohani Digest, Salford, monthlyPublishes articles on religious subjects.

Sawaira, Birmingham, monthlyPublishes articles on religious themes, short stories and poems.

Shafaq, London, monthlyA well-produced Urdu magazine with a multi-coloured title;covers films, literature and sports.

Sirat-e-Mustaqeem, Birmingham, monthlyDiscusses various issues in the light of religious teachings.

Urdu Adab, Glasgow, quarterlyA literary magazine being published under the aegis of PakistanArt and Literary Circle, Glasgow.

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Appendix II

List of Interviewees

Ahsan, Hamraz:A journalist from Pakistan, currently doing research work forthe BBC television and Channel 4.

Aziz, Ina’am:The first editor of the daily Jang London; later edited the dailyMillat London; also worked for the BBC External Services.

Bungish, A R:The managing editor of the weekly Mashriq London.

Chandan, Amarjit:The editor of Shakti London; author of a book in Punjabi onthe Asian community press of London.

Jilani, Asif:A former editor of Jang London; currently working for the BBCExternal Services.

Kazi, Ashraf:The current managing editor of Jang London.

Khalid, Anwar:A director of the Pak-UK Cultural Foundation; a former PakistanTelevision and BBC External Services producer; also workedfor Jang London.

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Kiani, Ali:The editor of the weekly Akhbar-e-Watan London; the formereditor of the daily Watan London.

Malik, Shahid:A BBC External Services producer; formerly assistant professorof English, Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad, Pakistan.

Moghal, Amin:A seasoned journalist and intellectual from Pakistan residing inBritain; also taught English literature for more than a decade atvarious Pakistani educational institutions.

Nadeem, Shahid:A former Pakistan Television producer; currently working forAmnesty International.

Soni, Ramesh:The editor of the weekly Milap London.

Tirimzi, Mazhar:An Urdu journalist of London; also a Punjabi poet andintellectual.

Uddin, Shams:An assistant professor of Journalism at Karachi University;currently doing doctoral research at City University London.

Wajid, Arjum:A British journalist of Pakistani origin; currently she is workingfor a British paper Romford Observer.

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Appendix III

Bibliography

1 Anwar, Muhammad, Race and Politics: Ethnicminorities and British political system, London, 1986.

2 Anwer, Muhammad, The myth of return: Pakistanis inBritain, London, 1979.

3 Ballard, Catherine, Culture conflict and young Asiansin Britain, paper presented to the international congresson transcultural psychiatry, Bradford, Britain, 1976.

4 Ballard, Roger; and Ballard, Catherine, The Sikh: TheDevelopment of South Asian settlement in Britain,quoted in Between the Two Cultures, edited by JamesL Watson, Oxford, 1977.

5 Chandan, Amarjit, The Marginal Experience: TheAsians in Britain, Delhi, under print.

6 Desai, Rashmi, Indian Immigrants in Britain, London,1963.

7 Hartman, Paul; Husband, Charles; Clark Jean, Race asNews, Paris, 1974.

8 Hasan, Khalid, The Urdu Press, quoted in The Asian,London, May 1978, p.10

9 Hiro, Dilip, The Asian Press in Britain, quoted in New

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Society, 22 June 1967, p.926-28

10 Hussain, Abdullah, The Downs(in Urdu), Lahore, 1981.

11 Hussain, Agha Iftekhar, Urdu in Europe(in Urdu),Lahore.

12 Khan, Verity Saifullah, The Pakistanis: Mirpuri Villagersat home and in Bradford, quoted in Between the TwoCultures, edited by James L Watson, Oxford, 1977.

13 Lakhnavi, Sehba, Afkaar(in Urdu), a special issue onUrdu in Britain, Karachi, April 1981.

14 Mahmood, Sultan, Urdu Journalism in Britain(in Urdu),Lahore, 1978.

15 Pakistan, The Government of, Whitepaper on the misuseof media, Islamabad, 1978.

16 Park, Robert E, The Immigrant Press and Its Control,Connecticut, 1922.

17 Quraishi, Salim; Shaw, Graham Wilson, TheBibliography of South Asian Periodicals, Brighton,1982.

18 Russell, Ralph, Urdu in Britain, London, 1982.

19 Sharma, Ursula, Rampal and His Family, London, 1971.

20 Wilson, Amrit, Finding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain,London, 1978.

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Comprising of about two dozenDaily, weekly and monthlyPublications, the Urdu press ofThe UK has been largely ignoredIn media studies. Urdu PressIn Britain is an enquiry intothe subject assessing the contentand style of the Urdu press togetherwith the pressures and problemsfacing it today. While discussingvarious stages of the development ofUrdu press in Britain the bookalso traces the story of Indianimmigration into the UnitedKingdom …. And the style all alongis interesting, vivid and lively,making it one of the most readablebooks on media.

Sajid Mansoor Qaisrani is aJournalist by profession and iscurrently working as News Editorof Pakistan Television’s IslamabadCentre. Before joining the professionhe did his Masters in EnglishLiterature from Government CollegeLahore. His second Masters inInternational Journalism is fromGraduate Centre for Journalism,City University London.

ISBN 969 8094 00 8