"Journalists, it has been said, write history in haste..... But does their work form part of history writing? The answer to this question would be positively yes, if we also keep in view another observation that a newspaper report is the first draft of history.
It can be said, some journalistic writings do have historical context." So wrote the veteran journalist S.G.M Budruddin in the preface of his book "History Written in Haste." He breathed his last on 23rd November 2006.
In his 59 years long journalistic career he wrote with a sense of responsibility that today's writing would be reference material for the historians in future. And when you believe in responsible journalism, the first principle you need to adhere to is to remain objective. In my 34 years association with journalism in one way or another, I would say, Mr. Budruddin was one of the two most objective journalists I was fortunate to know, the other being Ali Ahmed Khan whose last job was with the BBC Urdu Service.
Objectivity is a quality that is hard to find in most human beings. It's quite often sacrificed on the altar of self-interest. Generally it is difficult to ask people to rise above their own interest and have an objective perspective. But to become a journalist, or should I qualify and say "a good journalist," objectivity is a pre-condition.
Mr. Budruddin's objectivity impressed me, when I discovered that, though he lost his life time's assets when Bangladesh was established, he appreciated the fact that exploitation and suppression of Bengalis had led to the liberation movement.
His family had moved to Karachi when trouble started in Bangladesh but he stayed back. As the editor of the government-owned Morning News in Dacca, he had a tough job finding a fine balance in running the paper in an atmosphere where public opinion was overwhelmingly against the government. But he managed it so well that even Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman asked him to stay back after the liberation.
In mid-eighties when MQM was involved in violent fights with the members of other ethnic groups, again I found that Mr. Budruddin's views were objective. At that point he was my editor at the Economic & Business Review at Dawn. This was the time when many enlightened people had taken sides, because they could not curb their ethnic biases while analysing the whole conflict.
He was a committed democrat and secularist. Mr. Budruddin always supported the view that there has to be a democratic relationship between the federating units of Pakistan. It was because of this belief that he always encouraged me to write on issues like devolution of fiscal powers, provincial control over natural resources and distribution of water among the provinces.
In spite of the fact that his experience in journalism was more than my age, I always found Mr. Budruddin very open-minded. He was willing to change his opinion if a junior person had a sound argument.
This is a hard quality to find among many of my journalist colleagues, who think they are Mr. Know-it-All and have pulled down the shutters of their minds, not letting in any fresh ideas or air. This attitude leads to cynicism, a trait setting in many people who are honest but too afraid to change their pre-conceived views. They unfortunately believe that the journalist has to take pro or anti government side instead of judging the issues objectively. They try to flag their virginity like an old spinster, fearing that accepting reality would tarnish their credibility.
Though he liked a low profile and had an unassuming personality, Mr. Budruddin was a brave man. When he was arrested by Zia's military dictatorship, he refused to succumb to the pressure. He was editor of PPP's official newspaper Masawat at the time of Zia's coup. He declined to take the job on another newspaper at that time because he felt that he should not ditch Masawat in bad times. "It would have demoralised my colleagues," he told me many years after this incident.
When People's Party came into power in 1988, Mr. Budruddin was invited by Begum Nusrat Bhutto and offered to either take over Masawat once again or as the chairman of Pakistan Press Trust. Many would have jumped for the plush Trust job, but he politely declined saying that he was comfortable working with Mediators.
And the only favour he asked for was that two senior Masawat colleagues, who had suffered a lot during Zia's regime, should be rehabilitated. At another occasion he was offered a plot for building a house, again he declined although he was living in a rented house with his sons at that time. When I asked why he declined the offer, the Sufi in Mr. Budruddin spoke: "Babar, I have lost my home twice, first when I migrated from Patna and then the home I made with all my savings in Dacca.
I now believe in the futility of wordily assets, my children are well settled, they will fend for themselves." This shows the integrity of the man - another important quality a journalist should have.
I am fortunate to have had a close association with him for the last 26 years of his life. He was kind to accept my offer to be the Chairman of Mediators, when he retired from Dawn. In this period another quality of Mr. Budruddin I noticed was his positive outlook about life. He never complained even when his health failed him in the last three years. All he would say "Babar, its all old age." He aged with grace and died at the age of 88 without giving the least trouble to anybody. But he left us in grief and a vacuum. I wish his epitaph could read: "Here lies one of the most objective journalists of Pakistan."
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