LAHORE – Nawa-e-Waqt founder and Pakistan Movement worker Hameed Nizami always struggled for democracy and was a symbol of hard work and honesty, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Sunday.
He was addressing a seminar held in Hameed Nizami’s memory at the Alhamra Arts Council. Former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed, former Sindh chief minister Ghous Ali Shah, Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Rana Mashood, MPA Rana Arshad and journalists including Ataul Haq Qasmi, Abdul Qadir Hassan, Khushnood Ali Khan and Mujibur Rehman Shami were present on the occasion.
Chief Minister Shahbaz praised Hameed Nizami’s journalistic skills and said that he became a journalist on the directions of Quaid-e-Azam. Hameed Nizami was a self-made journalist and never compromised on principles, he said. Shahbaz said that Hameed Nizami never bowed down in front of dictator Ayub Khan and died while struggling for democracy.
Shahbaz said that if “we want to stand on our feet, we would have to reject foreign aid and only trust our true friends such as Saudi Arabia, China and Turkey.” He said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) never implemented the Charter of Democracy (CoD) and was teaching “us the lesson of CoD.” Shahbaz said that by not implementing the 10-point agenda, the PPP had actually hit the last nail in the coffin of the CoD.
The CM said that load shedding was being deliberately carried out in Punjab to defame the provincial government. Talking on the Raymond Davis issue, he said that the Punjab government had filed a first information report (FIR) against the US national under the Section 302, before any protests were held. He assured that the case would be dealt according to law and constitution and said that “we have been facing conditions for the last 63 years and the time has come to reject conditions in the name of aid.”
Ghous Ali Shah said that it is not possible to discuss Hameed Nizami without mentioning Pakistan. He said that Hameed Nizami was not only a good journalist but also a good human being. Rana Mashood praised Hameed Nizami’s contribution to journalism. Qazi Hussain Ahmad said that Hameed Nizami always represented Pakistan’s ideology and the time has come to follow Egypt where people united for a change.
An interesting situation happened during Mujibur Rehman Shami’s speech when a cat jumped onto the stage and the audience started hooting on which Shami had to stop his speech. Khushnood Ali Khan termed Hameed Nizami as a great journalist.
