His death had a great personal significance for me. It brought to mind memories of the days gone by when, even while working in different capacities, we were threaded together like beads.
I last spoke with him on the phone recently after his biography Bhutto Khandan Meri Yaadon Mai, a compilation of his memories of Bhuttos by Rashid Jamal and Mujahid Barelvi was published but continued to exchange messages thereafter also. The last text message to enquire about his health landed on his mobile rather too late. He did not respond but his son Zulfiqar called to say that papa was terminally ill. Two days later Wajid was shifted to a hospice for passing the remaining few days of life in relative comfort.
When Wajid edited a newspaper in Karachi I was the managing editor of a Peshawar based English daily. Thus began the crossings of our paths. Later when I had left the Peshawar daily I also wrote for the newspaper that he has been editing.
We both also worked on the team of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto during her two terms in office. In her first term 1988-90 I was Speech Writer and Wajid Sahib had been appointed as Chairman National Press Trust (NPT). During her second term I was Press Spokesperson to Prime Minister and Wajid served as Pakistan’s high commissioner in London in mid nineties.
During Asif Ali Zardari’s Presidency, Wajid Sahib served again as High Commissioner in London from 2008 for when I served as Spokesperson to the President. Our functions and roles were different but similar backgrounds, common objectives and frequent and inevitable communications with one another had brought us very close.
On August 6, 1990 the day Benazir Bhuto’s first government was dismissed by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan he was sitting with me in my office which at that time was in the old State Bank building in Islamabad. Strong rumours were already doing rounds that the government was soon going to be dismissed.
Wajid Sahib was just not prepared to believe that the first elected government after a long period could be dismissed.
When I asked him as to what was the basis of his incorrigible optimism he said that he did not believe that President Ghulam Ishaq Khan will let his name be smeared in history. “Yaar Ishaq tau tumahare soobai ka hai, tum to jantay hogai, wo apna mun kion in ke kehnai per kala karaiga" (My friend, Ghulam Ishaq hails from your area and you should know better, why would he blacken his face by sacking the government at ‘their’ instance?). By ‘their’ he obviously meant the ambitious generals.
Wajid Sahib had been carried away by the reputation of Ghulam Ishaq Khan as a person of great integrity and had too much faith in it, it seems.
It was in his presence when Shireen Mazari (currently federal Minister) phoned and informed that the order of dismissal of government was being typed in the Presidency. How come you are still sitting in your office, she asked? She was then in the faculty of the Quaid e Azam University Islamabad.
“You too Brutus”, Wajid Sahib commented spontaneously when the telephonic conversation ended and he learnt what Shireen Mazari had said.
Along with a few other people in her close circle Wajid and myself were with her soon after the sacking. “Farhat, balaa ke khatoon hai” (Farhat, what an extraordinary woman!) he exclaimed after witnessing her composure, wit and humor even at that distressing and dark moment of her political career.
Soon after the sacking of the government the first official order issued was the sacking of Wajid Shamsul Hassan from the post of Chairman NPT.
After Fakhruddin G Ebrahim has resigned as Governor Sindh Benazir Bhutto proposed two names to President Ishaq for appointment as Governor. One was Wajid Shamsul Hassan and the other Payar Ali Allana. Wajid showed no keen interest in this appointment which was not materialised though.
He was a genuine Bhutto loyalist. When Benazir's second government was dismissed by President Farooq Leghari Wajid was in Islamabad. One of earliest acts after the sacking was to call Wajid to immediately leave Pakistan because “I know Farooq Lehagri, he will not spare you because you are close to me”.
Benazir Bhutto had tasked him to purchase a property for the High Commission, a task that had eluded successive high commissioners. Wajid Sahib accomplished it in a short time. Benazir Bhutto later mentioned it in a meeting with great satisfaction and appreciation for Wajid Shamsul Hassan.
Nobel Laureate professor Salam was sick in London and unable to speak properly. During her visit to London Benazir Bhutto asked Wajid Sahib to visit and present flower bouquet to the professor on her behalf. On return Wajid briefed her about the meeting and pleaded that much more needs to be done to honor and recognise Professor Salam.
He was a genuine Bhutto loyalist. When Benazir's second government was dismissed by President Farooq Leghari Wajid was in Islamabad. One of earliest acts after the sacking was to call Wajid to immediately leave Pakistan because “I know Farooq Lehagri, he will not spare you because you are close to me”.
I haven’t done anything wrong and I can’t leave you at this time, he said. Her worst fears came true when later false cases were instituted against Wajid Shamsul Hassan and he was chased, hounded and forced to live in exile. Till today no wrongdoing has been established against him in a court of law. But the smearing of his and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto’ names continued.
The life, death and burial of Wajid Shamsul Hasan in exile in London will always stand out as a testimony of the political witch hunt and re-engineering in the name of accountability that seemed to have reached near perfection under the present political dispensation and NAB leadership.
May his soul rest in eternal peace