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IQBAL ATHAS – Standing tall through it all
View(s):As the Sunday Times bids goodbye to our stalwart Consultant Editor/Defence Correspondent/Political Editor, we look back on an exceptional career of investigative reporting, war reporting, astute political commentary and mentoring a generation of journalists.
With the welknown Vietnam and Gulf war correspondent and Pulitzer Prize winner Peter Arnett (left) and Committee to Protect Journalists representative Lin Nenmann at Iqbal's residence.
Iqbal Athas, who dominated these Op-Ed pages for 30 years, first as a Defence Correspondent and later as Political Editor of the Sunday Times, is no more. He passed away in the early hours of Tuesday (January 13th) after falling ill sometime last year. He was 81.
Simply “Iqbal”, as he was best known to his many colleagues, friends and wide range of contacts, he started out as a provincial correspondent in what was to develop into an exceptional career in journalism. He rose to be one of the most outstanding and better-known newsmen of his time in Sri Lanka, a mentor to a generation of journalists, and a prominent, much sought-after foreign correspondent for some of the leading international newspapers, television networks and journals.
Born in Gintota, his early years were spent at Dharga Town. After his secondary schooling, young Iqbal went for shorthand and typing classes before sending an application to the News Editor of the then rising Sunnewspaper published by Independent Newspapers Ltd (INP), at Hulftsdorp. He was called for an interview and given his first job, not least because he was trilingual but also due to his vocational skills, a valuable asset for any scribe, back in 1966.
With the renowned CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour as part of the tsunami coverage team
The early years at work were not easy. Provincial correspondents and freelance journalists were paid by the published line. Iqbal would recall his pay ‘packet’ in the first few months barely covered his season ticket fare by train from Aluthgama to Colombo and back. He would regale young reporters with his travels and travails, taking the last train home after the newspaper’s city edition had been put to bed. On one occasion, while he was walking late at night along a dark, unlit road, he bumped into a black cow resting on the asphalt. The incident startled both man and beast; the beast getting up and the man going down.
By the 1970s, Iqbal had become, very quickly, what was called a ‘star reporter’, bringing in scoop after scoop, his byline adorning the front pages, often the main lead story of the day, on a regular basis. He had acquired contacts, one might say, ‘at the highest levels’ of the Sirima Bandaranaike government. From the 1971 insurrection to the demonetisation of the rupee to even the impending closure of the entire group of newspapers under Emergency Regulations, Iqbal was first with the news.
1973 to 1977 were lean years, but some of the journalists who were flung jobless to the road, including Iqbal, put out a tabloid called Honey. It was all fluff, nothing serious, but it helped keep their typing fingers oiled.
Thus, when the newspaper house, better known as the Davasa, reopened in 1977 with the Emergency being lifted to hold Parliamentary elections in July that year, Iqbal was the automatic choice to be appointed News Editor for both the Sun and WEEKEND newspapers under the editorship of the charismatic Rex de Silva. A year later, Iqbal was made Deputy Editor of the daily Sun.
Iqbal was to become the mentor to an entire new crop of young reporters who joined the English-language newspapers of the INP Group during this period. Many came after their Advanced Levels for a stint in the exciting world of journalism, starry-eyed at the prospect of working in a newspaper that had made its own news by being banned by a government. Some of them were put under Iqbal’s care and thrown into the deep end straightaway. One of them, now not so young, recalled how he was part of the INSIGHT team—an investigations desk set up by Iqbal in line with the famous INSIGHT exposes in the UK Sunday Times. The then cub reporter—as young men would do behind the back of their teachers—said they enjoyed imitating Iqbal’s stern voice at the team meetings. “There seems to be an element of complacency,” Iqbal would tell the raw recruits, egging them on to strive harder, to get interviews, research documents, and double-check the facts.
At the White House: Iqbal shaking hands with US President Ronald Reagan. Alongside Iqbal are two US-based Sri Lankan journalists, Aziz Haniffa and Thalif Deen.
Years on, these cub reporters would acknowledge gratefully how much they owed their boss for the hard yards they were pushed to endure and the grilling they received under his tutelage. “And it was fun too,” they all say in messages that poured in with the news of Iqbal’s passing. Several went on to hold their own in responsible posts both at home and abroad, some as editors and deputies of national and foreign newspapers.
The INP group folded again in 1990, refusing for a second time to yield to government pressures—as it did in 1973 when the proprietor Sepala Gunasena was presented with the Lord Astor Award by the Commonwealth Press Union for defending press freedom in the Commonwealth.
Iqbal was welcomed to the Sunday Times as a Consultant Editor straightaway and held sway as the Defence Correspondent during the ‘war years’, except for a brief stint at the Sunday Leader, where too he penned a defence column before returning to the Sunday Times. His career rise corresponded with those of his early contacts. For instance, an Inspector of Police whom he had befriended as a young reporter had become a DIG; the young lieutenant, now a Major General.
Reports from the battlefront with cameramen Berty Mendis and Alfred Silva under the heading SITUATION REPORT were thus coming from solid sources and were much looked forward to, not only by the English-language-reading public but also translated and published by the Lankadeepa, resulting in an extensive, substantive countrywide readership. It was the era before social media and instant news flashes when the print media was valued for its in-depth content, including analysis in disseminating the news to the country.
The weekly column, however, not only attracted readers and earned their respect, but it also drew the wrath of those who were profiting from the war.
With US Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson who came to Sri Lanka as special envoy of President Bill Clinton to meet President Chandrika Kumaratunga and raised the ordeal Iqbal had to face over the airmen raiding his house and threatening him.
This resulted in a raid on Iqbal’s residence one night by rogue elements in the Air Force acting on the illegal orders of their superiors. With a Browning automatic pistol held to Iqbal’s head, he was warned not to write any more about tenders. The men involved were identified, and the case went to court, where they were convicted and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment by Judge Sarath Ambepitiya, who himself was murdered later by a drug cartel. These incidents were symptomatic of the widespread criminal impunity in Sri Lanka at the time. The airmen later got off on appeal on a technicality.
Iqbal broke the news of the Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) upholding the ceasefire between the LTTE and government forces wanting the Sri Lanka Navy to recognise the LTTE Sea Tigers; he interviewed Captain Ajith Boyagoda and six soldiers held in LTTE captivity, which later led to their release; he reported on how wounded soldiers were being loaded onto tractors, which led to ambulances being sent to war zones; he reported on the MiG aircraft tender and followed it up by going to the CID with the details. Despite years of talk about the deal, nothing has come out of it.
He wrote about the low-quality bulletproof vests purchased for soldiers going to war—resulting in them being withdrawn—and the LTTE military build-up around Trincomalee harbour encircling the Navy during the ceasefire that led to the government opening its eyes to the devious machinations of the terrorist group.
There were many, many, more such ‘exclusives’.
Often tensions rose to peak levels as a direct result of what was in his weekly column, the SITUATION REPORT. The government had to intervene due to pressure from international media groups—and foreign governments—expressing alarm over the safety of Iqbal and other journalists caught in the crossfire of the conflict. Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar arranged for the army’s elite commando regiment to provide for Iqbal’s personal safety and security. Ironically, the same commandos were unable to safeguard Minister Kadirgamar’s own life from a terrorist sniper’s bullet.
In the north with Sri Lankan forces
Dangers to Iqbal loomed from all quarters: irate military top brass, insecure politicians who could not distinguish friend from foe, mercenary freelancing trigger-happy paramilitary units roaming about, and fascist terrorists. Such was the pressure-cooker atmosphere at times, with armed groups hunting for him, and not knowing which one would strike, the company had to ensure Iqbal left the country on two occasions for a ‘cooling off’ period until it was felt it was safe for him to return.
Iqbal’s credentials abroad were impeccable. He was the Colombo correspondent for the American Worldwide Television News (WTN) and the news agency UPI (United Press International), the US television news network CNN, the Sunday Times of the UK and Jane’s Defence Weekly—some of the world’s most renowned names in the news business.
With LTTE spokesman Anton Balasingham and one-time LTTE deputy leader Mahattaya
Additionally, he was a member of the New York-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a global network of almost 300 reputed journalists worldwide who collaborate on investigative stories.
Awards followed him, as was to be expected. In 1994, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) presented him with the International Press Freedom Award, just three years after the award was launched. The CNN team that covered the 2004 tsunami in South and Southeast Asia, of which Iqbal was a member, won the Alfred I. Dupont–Columbia University Award.
At home, he was the first recipient of the coveted Journalist of the Year Award presented by The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka. The award was handed to him by a doyen of journalism from an earlier generation, Mervyn de Silva, who was the founder president of The Guild and in whose name the award has been presented for the last 25 years. Iqbal and other defence correspondents who reported on the long-drawn northern separatist conflict were given the D.R. Wijewardene Award for Earning the Appreciation of Peers and Public by The Guild.
On a visit to the North with the Sunday Times team. Pic by Indika Handuwala
Writing a personal piece on the 25th anniversary of the Sunday Times headlined ‘Situation Report: Years of living dangerously’, Iqbal outlined a litany of incidents he had to brave as a journalist in those war years. He referred to the airmen who stormed his home in 1998; a Tamil speaking man coached to come on state television and discredit Iqbal by saying that he translated the Sunday Times Situation Report for the terrorist LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran so that the LTTE knew the government’s military strategy in advance; how he had to destroy documents in his possession for a book he had planned to write on the war as he was tipped off that a raid was to take place and find him in possession of military secrets; how a floral wreath was delivered to his house with the message that it was sent in advance; men on motorcycles following him and a President who unleashed the tax man on him, only to have him report; “Meka hingannek ney” (this fellow is a beggar).
The same article revealed the lighter side of Iqbal. How the CPJ had hired a tuxedo for 150 dollars for him to wear at their awards ceremony in New York, and returning to his hotel room, he had encountered three Americans, one of whom, in fine spirits, asked him, “You work in this hotel?” To which Iqbal tongue-in-cheek replied, “No, my Arab uncle is buying this hotel tomorrow.”
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A message of condolence from the CNN Team
Iqbal concluded his piece with these words: “If one is to ask me whether I’m happy with being a journalist, my answer is: ‘yes, of course.’ That is notwithstanding the threats and intimidation. Mind you, we are referring to a time when Sri Lanka was listed as one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. The threats will not go away. Someone, somewhere, will feel hurt all the time. The more powerful he or she is, the bigger the threat… Yet, for 47 long years, I have remained a journalist notwithstanding the praises, threats, abuse and name-calling.”
In his personal life, Iqbal was generous and full of bonhomie, always willing to share his insights and be of help. At home, he was a great entertainer, a natural raconteur once referred to by a close friend as ‘Aga Khan’ after those who held that title, and known for hosting elaborate parties. One of his favourite stories was how he pretended to be from room service at the Habana Libre (former Havana Hilton), taking an order for non-existent egg hoppers, chicken curry and seeni sambol for Foreign Minister A.C.S. Hameed’s breakfast as the minister was going through his speech to be delivered that morning at the Non-Aligned Movement’s ministerial meeting. Sri Lanka was handing over the Movement’s chair to Cuba. The joke misfired when the minister’s staff realised the telephone wires had got crossed. The furious Sri Lanka’s UN ambassador, B.J. Fernando, rushed to engage in damage control. A frantic call to room service this time to bring some sandwiches “immediately” ended in another fiasco as waiters rolled in a platter of ham sandwiches. So it was that Mr Hameed had to address over 100 foreign ministers from poor, developing, starving countries on an empty stomach.
Iqbal leaves behind his wife, Anoma, herself a journalist who steadfastly supported her husband in his work while living through all the stress at home during those ‘war years’, and daughter, Dr Jasmine, who as a seven-year-old screamed “my thaththi, my thaththi” for the entire neighbourhood to hear, thereby upsetting the plans of the intruding pistol-packing airmen that night. She currently lives in Germany with her husband, Bhuvan Shankar, and daughter, Ela Athas—Shankar working as Director, Global Technical Development at the multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnological company BioNTech SE, developing cancer immunotherapies and ensuring quality compliance and efficiency for vaccines.
Iqbal Athas will long be remembered for his unwavering courage and conviction under fire during a difficult period in the country not long ago, as a mentor, a thorough professional, and a good friend.
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