Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari

Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari, commonly known by his initials Z. A. Bukhari (Urdu: ذوالفقار علی بخاری, romanized: Zulfiqāra alī bukhārī) (6 July 1904 – 12 July 1975), was a broadcaster of British India and later of Pakistan. He was the first director-general of Radio Pakistan.

He was born into a family of peers (Sufi mystics) on 6 July 1904 in Peshawar, British India. His family was of mixed Kashmiri and Hindkowan ethnicity. Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari, or Z. A. Bukhari as he was popularly known, came to Lahore after passing his matriculation exam. His elder brother Patras Bokhari, one of Urdu's finest humorists, lived there. At Lahore, the younger Bukhari enrolled in Oriental College and completed his Munshi Fazil, the highest degree at that time in the oriental branch of knowledge.

In his autobiography, Sarguzasht, Z. A. Bukhari writes: "As I came out of a tea house in Peshawar, I ran into my friend Qazi. Reading a clipping from Lahore's newspaper Tribune again and again, he was just smiling to himself. On being asked, he told me that an advertiser had invited applications, care of a post box, for someone who knew English, Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Pushto and Punjabi. The mere thought how anybody could know that many languages was making him smile. And I thought "well, I at least know a little of all of them". I stormed into a typist's shop, typed an application and mailed it, mentioning the names of Mirza Mohammad Saeed Dehlvi and Dr Mohammad Iqbal as references."

The advertisement was from Shimla's Board of Examiners (an institution established in British India to teach vernaculars to the British officers) and Bukhari was selected for the post. It was back in 1925 and he was 21. He became a Munshi or (a teacher) and was ultimately promoted as the head of the bureau of translation. Besides his profession, Z. A. Bukhari also took part in theatrical activities.

One of Bukhari's British students at Shimla was later posted as Assistant District Commissioner to the then governor of Punjab. And when the government decided to run the radio service in a professional manner and from London sent Lionel Fieldon – a maverick war veteran – to set up a full-fledged broadcasting station in 1935 in Delhi, that student of Bukhari's recommended and introduced Bukhari to Fieldon. Z. A. Bukhari's talents blossomed when the British decided to run the radio in a professional manner and launched a broadcasting station in Delhi. Sir Malcolm Darling recruited Bukhari on the recommendation of the controller of broadcasting for All India Radio, Lionel Fielden, to set up the Indian section of the Eastern Service. Initially Bukhari and his team only contributed a weekly news report and an occasional cultural programme. Bukhari was trained by Fielden in the art of broadcasting. Bukhari was then appointed at the newly established AIR (Akashvani (radio broadcaster)) Delhi station as programme director.

In 1939, Bukhari, as a Station Director of AIR (Akashvani (radio broadcaster)) Delhi station, got transferred to Bombay (now Mumbai) station of AIR.

Z. A. Bukhari helped the Bombay radio station make a lot of improvements. There were many people at Bombay radio station he helped like the film playback singers, G. M. Durrani, Suraiya. Durrani called Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari his 'Ustad' (teacher) to show him respect.

After the Partition of India and creation of Pakistan, he was made the first director-general of Radio Pakistan (Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation) (then known as Pakistan Broadcasting Service on 14 August 1947, when Pakistan emerged on the world map as a new country). The most important thing is that the independence of Pakistan was announced through Radio Pakistan on 13 August 1947 at 11:59 pm. Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari retired from the radio in 1959.