Dawn circulation disruption: Jinnah's paper refuses to be cowed down

At a time when Pakistani newspaper Dawn is facing disruptions in its circulation in targeted cities and towns ahead of the general election scheduled next month, the news paper on Sunday responded by publishing a strong message on the first page.

The newspaper has been facing disruption in circulations from past one month. The newspaper has also alleged that its vans and hawkers have been denied entry to cantonment areas and that the government officials in parts of Sindh, Punjab, and Balochistan are stopping them from delivering copies to regular subscribers.

Reminiscing, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, the management of country's oldest newspaper in a full page advertisement sent out a message that it will fight all odds and keep on serving its nation.

"As hawkers and sales agents are forced to stop distributing Dawn in various towns and cities in the country, the newspaper's management responds by placing this ad in today's paper: https://epaper.dawn.com/Advt.php?StoryImage=24_06_2018_003_007 ." he tweeted.

In its advertisement the news paper management published a photo of Jinnah reading The Dawn with a message that said, "it is the right of every person to buy and read a newspaper of his or her choice, and any attempt to forcibly deny citizens access to Dawn or any other newspaper, is a categorical violation of Article 19 of the Constitution."

Article 19(A) says, it is the right of every citizen to have access to information in all matters of public interest.

Further in the detailed advertisement, the daily requested its readers to be patient, while adding that it had faced such wrath before as well.

During the 1945-46 elections, the Unionist government in Lahore, which was led by Malik Khizr Hayat Khan Tiwan decided to block the distribution of the Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah's own paper from Delhi in Punjab.

The Quaid then dispatched his students to distribute Dawn throughout the province. Jinnah's message was heard and the All-India Muslim League won 75% of Muslim vote in 1946, making Pakistan a reality, the advertisement read.

The ad further underscored that it shouldn't be a cause for concern for its readers, if suddenly the copies of their newspaper stopped arriving at their doorsteps.

Dawn further added that it has been upholding the idea of Pakistan for 71 years and will continue to do so.

Dawn's management had earlier urged the caretaker Prime Minister retired Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, the Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Bajwa and the Chief Justice of Pakistan Honourable Mian Saqib Nisar to take strong notice of the situation and help remove all impediments to the smooth distribution of Dawn and other newspapers.