Establishment of the National Press Trust

The National Press Trust was announced by the government on March 27, 1964. According to some senior journalists, NPT was the brainchild of Khwaja Shahabuddin and according to others, it was Altaf Gauhar’s idea. However, Qudrat Ullah Shahab clearly wrote in “Shahabnama” that the creator of this trust was the “super bureaucrat” Ghulam Farooq, who was appointed by Ayub Khan as his Special Assistant, and he was responsible for the establishment and framework of the trust. The resistance to the establishment of NPT initially came from the PFUJ, followed by opposition from newspaper publishers, editors nationwide, and (except for the Muslim League Convention) all political parties. However, the ruling elite acted on its plan.

Ghulam Farooq prepared a deception called “Makhire Hazrat” to provide capital for NPT and announced its establishment on March 27, 1964. The initial capital of the trust was fifty lakh rupees, but on the government’s recommendation, the National Bank of Pakistan also provided a loan of one crore rupees. Initially, the newspapers included in NPT were those that had been seized through Miyan Iftikharuddin’s Progressive Papers Limited, but later, Morning News, Mashriq, Din, Pakistan Times, Sports Times, and Anjam were also included in its ambit.

From the beginning, the newspapers of the trust began to play the role of government spokespersons and started following the government’s official position without any hesitation. Khushamad and chakri adopted the status of subservience and they, the newspapers that used to criticize the government harshly, became pliant to the administration. Interestingly, Pakistan Peoples Party, whose manifesto included breaking up NPT, became its biggest supporter in the national transformation. The logical result was that when in July 1977, a military coup was launched against the PPP, these newspapers turned against PPP with as much joy and convenience as they had supported it when it came to power.

The process of breaking up the National Press Trust in 1988 reached its completion due to the efforts of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, who was apparently considered the weakest Prime Minister of Pakistan, Muhammad Khan Junejo. To quote Mir Taqi Mir: The burden that everyone considered unbearable, he lifted it.