ISLAMABAD: In the early hours of Aug. 14, 1947, hundreds gathered on the lawn of the Shakargarh tehsil headquarters, waiting for history to be made.
As a German-made Grundig radio crackled to life with the announcement of Pakistan’s independence, headmasters, scholars, businesspeople and children erupted in joy. Among them was seven-year-old Muhammad Arshad.
Now 85, Arshad has spent more than five decades in journalism, witnessing both Pakistan’s turbulent history and the transformation of its news media.
An undated file photo of veteran Pakistani journalist, Muhammad Arshad on his graduationJournalism from Punjab University in 1961. (Photo courtesy: Muhammad Arshad)
The British partition of the subcontinent created two states on the basis of religion, with Muslim-majority areas allocated to Pakistan and Hindu-majority to India. The process triggered the largest mass migration in human history, with an estimated one million people killed in communal violence.
