Tahir Mirza () (November 1936 – 29 May 2007) was a Pakistani

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and former editor of ''

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...

'',

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

's oldest and most widely circulated

English-language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

newspaper. He became resident editor of this newspaper in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

in 1994 and worked as a correspondent in

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

, before becoming editor of the newspaper in Karachi after the retirement of its noted editor Ahmed Ali Khan in 2003.Mild-mannered professional (Tahir Mirza)
Dawn, Published 31 May 2007, Retrieved 3 December 2022

Early life

Tahir Mirza was born in November 1936 in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

and graduated from the

University of Lucknow University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is one of the oldest public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. LU's main campus is located at Badshah Bagh, University Road area of the city with a second ...

, India.

Career

Tahir Mirza started his career as a reporter with an English-language newspaper in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

. He migrated to Lahore, Pakistan in the early 1960s and started working for the newspaper, Civil and Military Gazette there. He later went over to work for another newspaper of Lahore,

Pakistan Times ''The Pakistan Times'' (1947–1996) was a Pakistani newspaper, established by Mian Itikharuddin and Faiz Ahmed Faiz through the leftist Progressive Papers Limited. Its headquarters was in Lahore, Pakistan. Later, it started another edition fr ...

in 1963. Later in his long career, he also worked for

Khaleej Times ''Khaleej Times'' is a daily English language newspaper published in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Launched on 16 April 1978, ''Khaleej Times'' is the UAE's longest-running English daily newspaper. History and profile A partnership between the U ...

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

for some years. His career required that he travel to places like

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

to serve as a journalist. He was widely considered to be a mild-mannered but firm professional. During his service at the newspaper,

, Tahir Mirza participated in trade union activities. He was an active member of

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. Islamabad is the nat ...

(PFUJ) in Karachi during the period of

General Ayub Khan Mohammad Ayub Khan (14 May 1907 – 19 April 1974) was a Pakistani military dictator who served as the second president of Pakistan from 1958 until his resignation on 1969. He was the first native commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army, ser ...

's regime (1958 – 1966).Tahir Mirza passes away
Dawn, Published 30 May 2007, Retrieved 4 December 2022 In 1975, Tahir Mirza helped another veteran journalist Mazhar Ali Khan launch a weekly magazine Viewpoint that represented the leftists' views in Pakistan. He also worked for

in Dubai for some years.

Death and legacy

Tahir Mirza served as editor of Dawn newspaper from September 2003 to June 2006, when he resigned from this job due to failing health. He died on 29 May 2007 in Aga Khan Hospital,

, of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

. During his long career as a journalist, he showed no regrets as having chosen journalism as his career even though it was not among the best paying jobs in Pakistan. He once told his journalist colleagues, "Given a chance, I will repeat it all over again". Another famous quote by him is, "The only way to get respect is to show respect; and be always respected for your hard work. Once you do that there is no reason why anyone will not respect you".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirza, Tahir Pakistani male journalists Pakistani newspaper editors 1936 births 2007 deaths Deaths from lung cancer in Pakistan Dawn (newspaper) editors