A renowned journalist of Muzaffargarh, Ijaz Rasul Bhutta laid to rest on Wednesday night (July,5,2017) in a graveyard of Ghaus Pak,Muzaffargarh amid sobs and tears by his friends, comrades,elite of the city including Nawabzada Iftikhar Ahmed Khan,Jamshed Dasti MNA,Muhammad Ayyub Qureshi, Hammad Nawaz Tipu MPA,Zahoor Samad Bhatti,Many journalists from Multan,Muzaffargarh and other areas.Ijaz Rasul Bhutta started his life as a stationer/book seller in Chowk Tabakhian in 1968, He had joined PPP when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto came to Muzaffargarh in 1968. He was a progressive mind worker who had devoted his life to the welfare of down trodden people.He had joined Sang-i-Meel as Muzaffargarh based correspondent to raise voice for te have-nots.Later he became a correspondent of Daily "Jang" Karachi. Inspite of being a hand to mouth journalist,he never begged before the "haves"to fill his belly.He preferred to stay hungry but never complained.During the Martial law of General Zia-ul-Haq he suffered a lot but did not bow down and continued his mission to raise voice for suppressed people. He played a key role in breaking the monopoly of some stalwarts in journalism.He never bargained on principles.Being a progressive mind, I ever supported him
He was a member of a group of friends comprising Syed Jalil Haider Shah Bukhari, Niaz Ahmed Sheikh, Abid Habib Qureshi, Muhammad Saleh Sabir, Dr.Shakil Ahmed Khan,Dr.Maqsood Ahmed Zahid, Amir Nawaz Comrade, Khawaja Niaz Ahmed, Zakir Usmani,Sheikh Sultan Salahuddin,Sheikh Muhammad ilyas alias Lasso,Mian Altaf Hussain,Ch.Bundoo Khan, Allah Bakhsh Mujahid, Khurshid Patwari,Qazi Akbar Ali,Sheikh Zaheer and others.The friends planned for his marriage.His cousin searched a "rishta" in Multan but financial constraints were main hurdle in this way. Then Saleh Sabir came forward conditionally that he would bear all expenses and he would receive the gifts and cash from the participants. It was a very interesting wedding party which comprised on 90 percent friends.and everyone enjoyed this event.After marriage,Ijaz Rasul Bhutta could not forgive his routine life.but his wife supported him at all crucial juncture.With the blessings of Almighty,he managed to produce educated and well mannered children. He also constructed his own home which was his dream which came true some time before his death. It was a shocking news for me that my friend passed away.
Legendary journalist Ijaz Rasul Bhutta who was an investigative reporter stood for nearly 40 years with the town Voice. He was 72.Bhutta had been battling many diseases like Asthma, Sugar ,respirational and heart. Once he was a chain smoker of cheaper cigarettes but he forgave smoking just sometime before his death. He started political diary of Muzaffargarh district in Weekly Akhbar-e-Jehan and Ijaz Bhutta became an important voice in this area— and a thorn in the side of many of the people who rule the city.A fearless truth-seeker, Bhutta never became a cynic. He had covered the detention of Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan in Khangarh during Zia-ul-Haq rule. “For four decades Ijaz Bhutt was flat out the best reporter in the City,” It is my observation.He had criticized the “cowardly silence” of the press on the role of race in the election campaign.“All of my life, I have believed and said, we’re in the truth-telling business. Our job is to tell truth,” he told me. “I can’t say that anymore about Channel journalism which is running after breaking news instead of true news" “Bhutta devoted his life to truth-telling for the public good,” said a friend Niaz Ahmed Sheikh. Pirzada Abdul Ali Zakir Usmani said Bhutta “did his job without malice and with an absolute dedication to the facts.” “His death is a major loss for Muzaffargarh journalism, but students of our city’s history will be reading his work for decades to come,” Khalid Wakeel said.Bhutta is survived by his wife ,two sons Adnan Mujtaba and Noman Mustafa and daughters. What a pity that Jang group of newspapers neither sent a condolence message nor its management highlighted his death. Everyone condemned the act of Jang group. No one came to his home to condole his death.Local journalists expressed their concern on the mysterious silence of management of "Jang" group on the death of a colleague who served for four decades. Resident Editor of Daily" Jang" Multan Zafar Aheer who is most junior in Journalism did not make a phone call to condole on his death. Mir Shakil-ur-rehman, Mir Javed-ur-rehman, Mir Ibrahim Shakil neither sent a condolence message nor highlight the news of his death
