Light Within

Pakistan Armed Forces Monthly Hilal is a very popular magazine read by every one from Jawan to Gernail. My association with this esteemed publication started in 1977 when I was commissioned as a second lieutenant and posted to an artillery regiment (Sheerni) in Lahore. Our commanding office Lt Col Ghafoor was to open our tree plantation drive by planting a sapling in the unit ground. He desired the event to be covered for Hilal. I was the ‘baby of the unit’ so I was asked to do what was needed. That is when I asked about Hilal. Our unit head clerk gave me a complete file of previous issues of Hilal to read and familiarize myself with the then-weekly magazine.

It is in Hilal where my first article sajar kari (tree plantation) appeared. Mr. Iqbal (then editor Hilal) asked me to write more and I became a regular contributor. I kept writing in Urdu during my service in the artillery regiment and later during my six years deputation in Inter Services Public Relations till I switched to writing in English and lost track (of Hilal). Recently one of my friends Hussan Qazi told me that Hilal has come a long way since the time I used to write there. Hilal now is an A-class bilingual publication; content, paper, quality of printing and good media practices align with this information age and it covers a lot from civil-military relations to tips (and announcements) about how to join armed forces and a whole lot in between. I always keep thinking to go back and once again start writing in Hila.  Read some of my Hilal stories here.