eminent journalists
 

Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman Editor-in-Chief and Chief Executive of the Jang Group has led the Group ever since the demise of the Group’s founder. Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman in January 1992. Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was born on January 08, 1957. He made his mark at a relatively young age by assuming major responsibilities including those of printing and editorial, later on followed by that of general management and operations in various publications of the group, he has an experience of more that 25 years, which are marked by major initiatives that have made a lasting impact on the history of Pakistani journalism and newspaper industry. He started his professional career with the group’s English Eveninger, the Daily News as its Managing Editor. His first major challenge was the launch of Mag, an English Weekly from Karachi in 1980.

After the successful launch of Mag, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was assigned the task of launching Jang’s Lahore edition. This was not only a major challenge, but an equally tremendous opportunity. Jang Lahore soon became a milestone in the history of Urdu journalism. Jang had been launched with state-of-the-art technology in pre-production and printing. It introduced computerized nastaliq photo typesetting. Confronted with formidable competition and a different kind of readership, Jang Lahore was an instant success. Urdu journalism in Lahore and else where has never been the same again. Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman also launched Jang Publishers, which has become one of the Country’s leading book publishing establishments.

An even more remarkable accomplishment of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was the launch of The News International, an English Daily, which started publishing simultaneously from Karachi, Lahore & Rawalpindi/Islamabad, in February 1991 and a subsequent edition was launched from London. Under the leadership and creative foresight of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, The News International, soon revolutionalised the newspaper industry with its state-of-the-art technology and its new editorial concepts. The face of English journalism has undergone a radical change since the launch of The News International. It not only became the first nationality distributed English newspaper but also served as a trendsetter for the industry as other newspapers soon followed the trends laid down by it, MSR has keenly followed trends in the international media and has strived to implement them in his group. He also made his mark in electronic media.

The internet editions of The News and Jang are also reflective of his interest in this regard. The Internet editions of the group are among some of the most popular online Newspaper sites on the World Wide Web. The popularity of The News Website is so wide that Queen Elizabeth of Britain mentioned it in her official address during her visit to Pakistan in October 1997. Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman’s another achievement was the launch of an Urdu eveninger from Karachi, Daily Awam in 1994 which is now the largest circulated eveninger in Pakistan.

Urdu newspaper Awaz was launched from Lahore in 1998. His latest initiative the launch of Urdu Daily Inqilab from Lahore on October 2002. As Editor-in-Chief, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman provides editorial leadership to Jang Karachi, Jang Lahore, Jang Rawalpindi, Jang Quetta, Jang Multan, The News Karachi, The News Lahore, The News Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Mag Weekly Karachi, Daily News Karachi, and Jang –The News London. He is Chief Executive of Independent Newspapers Corporation (Pvt.) Ltd. and News Publications (Pvt.) Ltd.

Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman served as President All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) in 1994-95 and in 1999-2001, and is former President of Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE), representative organizations of Publisher & Editors. He is a member of International Press Institute and also heads the Pakistan Chapter of the Commonwealth Press Union (CPU).

Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman has been a great supporter of independent media research. Under his guidance the Jang Group became the first media group in Pakistan to undertake comprehensive independent research on media habits through some leading research agencies like Aftab Associates and Gallup Pakistan. He believes in delivering the best value to advertiser for his ad Rupee. MSR has traveled widely and maintains a number of International contacts in media.

Mujib-ur-Rahman Shami The Editor-in-Chief Daily Pakistan. He is also Publisher of Weekly Zindagi and Monthly Qaumi Digest. He started his career with the daily “Hurriat” as a feature writer in 1966-67. He then joined Jang Group and remained on the editorial board of weekly “Akhbar Jehan” for about tow years. He assured the responsibility of Editor in-charge of weekly “Zindagi” at its inception in 1969. He was sentenced to one year rigorous imprisonment with a fine or Rs. 300,000/- under the Martial Law Regulations in 1972.

He established his own publishing organization in 1974 and henceforth published various Urdu weeklies. However he was not able to get his own declaration for a magazine during Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s regime. Besides on different occasions his periodicals had to undergo pecuniary punishments. He was again arrested in April 1977 on the absurd charge of stealing a wheel cap and a jack of an official vehicle. He started monthly Qaumi Digest in 1978. The Weekly “Zindagi” was re-launched in 1989 under his management.

He is now the Editor-in-Chief of Daily Pakistan and Chairman and the Chief Executive of the Zindagi Publications (Pvt.) Ltd. Mujib Shami has been an active member of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) and the Council Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE) and is being continuously elected as the member of their executive committee for the last several years. He has also served as the President of CPNE and remained the Secretary General of this organization for three years. he has also served as the Senior-Vice President of APNS.