Zulfiqar Ali Bokhari : A Man for All Seasons
By Dr Asif Javed
Williamsport, PA
The other day, after finishing his autobiography, this writer made a list of those whom ZAB had befriended: Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Abul Kalam Azad, Nazar-ul-Islam, Charag Hasan Hasrat, Josh Malihabadi, John Gielgud, Prithwi Raj Kapoor, Balraj Sahni, Satya Jit Ray, George Orwell, EM Forster, TS Elliott, Lord Wellington, Majaz, Rafiq Ghaznawi, Diwan Singh Maftoon and Khawaja Hasan Nizami. This reads like a who’s who of Indian sub-continent and Britain.
ZAB was multi-talented: a respectable musician, a good actor, an excellent director, and a superb administrator. He was a good poet too. Faiz is on record that when he would come up with a new verse, there were only six people that he would recite it to get their approval: ZAB is on that list. But one thing that remains ZAB’s legacy, is Radio Pakistan. It is no exaggeration to say that ZAB was to Radio Pakistan what Shah Jahan was to Taj Mahal or Leonardo De Vinchi to Mona Lisa. He had been associated with radio before partition, along with his illustrious brother, PitrasBokhari. The association of the two Bokhari brothers with radio had allowed someone to quip that BBC in India had become Bokhari Brothers Corporation. While Pitras returned to Govt College Lahore as Principal after partition, and then left for UN as Pakistan’s permanent representative, ZAB was made director General of Pak Broadcasting Corp that he renamed Radio Pakistan.
Pakistan had only three radio stations in 1947: Lahore, Peshawar and Dacca. ZAB went to extraordinary lengths to develop Radio Pakistan. The Second World War had just ended; he sent his engineers and technicians abroad and procured the necessary radio equipment at throw away prices, from the junkyards. He would personally interview the staff to be hired. There are many stories of his forays, into the less desirable areas, to find the artists for radio. By the early 60’s, Radio Pakistan was in excellent shape and compared favorably with the best in the world. As our generation was growing up, radio was the king. ZAB had retired by then, but his beloved Radio Pakistan was being run by those whom he had recruited and trained.
ZAB had a busy and eventful public life. Naturally, there were controversies, professional jealousies. There were arrogant politicians and bureaucrats to deal with. But through it all, he kept on going with his single-minded devotion to Radio Pakistan.
Bare Ghulam Ali khan had left Pakistan back in the 50’s. There have been all kinds of stories about his move to India. ZAB has for once put the record straight: arguably the greatest classical singer of his generation, Khan Sahib was not so great when it came to monetary issues. For his radio program, he demanded Rs 3,000, an astronomical amount back then. ZAB tried to reason with him. But Khan Sahib had convinced himself of the greener pastures across the eastern border. What transpired for him later in India is another story.
Agha Nasir was hired by ZAB for radio but later moved over to PTV and eventually became its MD. Agha Nasir notes that ZAB had an impressive and dominating personality: tall, of fair color, elegant, always well dressed, and eloquent to a fault. With a commanding voice and faultless pronunciation, he would spell-bind his audience. Late actor Mohammad Ali was once asked from where he had learnt his impressive dialogue delivery. “ZAB”, was his answer. Punctual to a fault, and a hard task master, ZAB led by example. His subordinates had to be on their toes for he expected nothing less than perfection. He could be harsh at times, and while always appreciated their hard work, allowed only a few in his inner circle. He was a workaholic, ate and slept very little and lived life with a remarkable discipline. He entertained his friends late into the night at his house. These were mostly literary gatherings where poetry, music, literature, and sometimes current affairs, were discussed. At the end, ZAB would drop everyone at their residence, in his own car. Since he was an early riser too, it left little time for sleep. Despite that, he would turn up for work, the following morning, on time, looking fresh.
Ustad Bundo Khan, one of the finest violinists of his generation, used to work at Karachi Radio. There is an interesting story about him. The radio van used to pick him up from home. Along the way, it also picked up a Maulana, who used to recite Qur’an to begin the morning radio transmission. Maulana was not happy to be in the company of a violinist and lodged a complaint with the Sec Information who spoke to ZAB. ZAB promised to look into the matter but did nothing. Sometime later, the Sec asked if the issue had been addressed. “Yes, I have tendered an apology,” he said. “But, Maulana is still travelling with Bundo Khan,” said the surprised bureaucrat. “Bundo Khan is the one who deserved, and got the apology,” explained ZAB, “Bundo Khan is the only one of his kind and indispensable to radio while Maulana can be easily replaced.” While this episode shows the arrogance of our religious elite, it also illustrates the extent to which ZAB respected the staff at Radio Pakistan.
Prof Mirza Saeed was a highly respected scholar. He used to deliver lectures at AIR, Delhi before 1947. He had moved to Karachi after partition. ZAB had great regard for him and used to visit him. On one of his visits, ZAB brought along Fieldon, the former DG of AIR. Fieldon was an admirer of Prof. Saeed too. Back in the 50’s, fear of communism was widespread. Fieldon asked whether Pakistan was at risk of becoming a communist state. “No, but it is at risk of becoming a theocracy,” said Prof. Saeed.
After retirement from radio, ZAB continued to live in Karachi. Pitras, his older brother had died years earlier. The two were very close and Pitras’s death was hard on him. Still in good health, he tried to work in PTV but times had changed, and being essentially a man of radio, he soon gave up. Late into his life, he remained in demand for marsiya reading, for which he had no peer. ZAB died quietly in Karachi in 1975. It is not clear what he thought of the changing world of broadcasting where radio had essentially been pushed into a distant second place behind the TV juggernaut.
During his lifetime, PTV had recorded a detailed interview of ZAB, to be shown after his death. The day arrived in 1975. Many in PTV, including Agha Nasir, were admirers of ZAB. A memorable, and well deserved, tribute was paid to the father of Radio Pakistan. Those who watched it realized that day the enormous contributions made by the late broadcaster. The following day, however, Agha Nasir received a strange phone call. It had come from the PM’s office. It conveyed the PM’s displeasure at the program that “made it look like as if a head of state had died.” Apparently, the inflated ego of the Oxford and Berkley educated PM had been wounded. Aghast, Agha Nasir, a PTV employee, apologized to the PM. “How could I tell them that ZAB was indeed the king of broadcasting?” he writes with sadness.
ZAB was multilingual: he was fluent in Pushto, Hindko (born in Peshawar), Punjabi, Bengali, English and Urdu. While Persian is not listed as one of the languages that he spoke, his autobiography has numerous references to poetry of Hafiz and Sadi. Clearly, he had a good understanding of Persian too.
ZAB was not afraid to standup to higher ups. Pir Ali Mohammad Rashdi, arrogant to the core, was the minister of information. In a meeting with ZAB, he began to criticize Radio Pakistan: nothing is right; programs are of poor quality … “May I have a pen and paper,” demanded ZAB. “What for,” asked an irritated minister. “So that I may be able to jot down your brilliant ideas about how to immediately improve our very mediocre programs,” said ZAB. Rashdi, a snob, may have realized then that in ZAB, he had met more than his match.
At the height of the Second World War, ZAB and Lesley Howard (Vivien Leigh’s love interest in Gone with the Wind) were sent to Portugal. ZAB was then working for BBC while Howard was there to entertain the British troops. Their return military plane had only one available seat, reserved for ZAB. Howard had an urgent shooting schedule in London, and ZAB allowed Howard to take that seat. The plane was shot down by Germans. ZAB survived to mourn the loss of a dear friend.
On Sep 11, 1948, Quaid-i-Azam died. Radio Pakistan made arrangements to do the live broadcast of the funeral procession. Among the three spots chosen, the first was given to Agha Ashraf and the second to Sadiq Ahmad --both were renowned broadcasters; the last one, right at the burial ground, was taken by ZAB himself. The young nation was overwhelmed with grief. ZAB was aware of the enormous responsibility, and expectations. He called upon decades of experience gained by working with Agha Hasher, and with giants of BBC like Fieldon and John Gielgud, and rose to the challenge. His command of Urdu and mastery of the verse were at full display. Those who heard that broadcast, were unanimous that ZAB had exceeded all expectations. There was hardly anyone who did not breakdown. “That may have been the finest day of his professional life,” writes Hamid Nasim, a colleague at Radio Pakistan. “On that day, ZAB was seen as a giant, un-matched, unique, one of a kind broadcaster … I would have been honored to kiss his feet that day.”
Back in 1520, Robert Whittington had called Sir Thomas More, a man for all seasons. There has been hardly anyone in Pakistan, who excelled in so many disciplines and deserves this title -- except ZAB. One would have expected that a genius like him would be well remembered by the current generation. It is sad that he is not. Such are the times that we live in. Baqirahenaam Allah ka.
(The writer is a physician in Williamsport, PA and may be reached at asifjaved@comcast.net)
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