By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net
Very quietly, with their January 2010 issue the Milli Gazette has completed its ten years of publication. The Milli Gazette is a fortnightly publication published from Delhi under the editorship of Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan. It is surprising that a community that complains about media bias has not celebrated this important occasion of their own media. Publishing a community magazine for ten years and that too without much community support and advertising is no mean achievement.
Milli Gazette is published in tabloid format every fortnight. Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan want to make it a weekly but unable to do so due to limited resources. Recently it returned to publishing few pages in colour which is a step forward. Few years earlier they also changed their front page format and experimented with fonts. It is a nicely organized newspaper with a number of regular features. Though it has increased to 32 pages in each issue but even then the price has stayed the same at Rs. 10 for the last ten years.
Many pages of the newspapers are devoted to news of national importance concerning Muslims. In every issue, there are dedicated pages with news from three states- Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat, and Kerala. Four pages are for “Community News” that though heavily North-Indian in origin have news that one will have difficult time finding in a regular newspaper. “Speaking Out” a permanent column by Nilofar Suhrawardy and cartoons by Yusuf (who is also TwoCircles.net cartoonist) are regular features and makes each issue worth waiting for. “Newsmakers” section is another useful page for anyone interested in Indian Muslim community.
First issue of the MG
One thing I don’t like about Milli Gazette is its “International” section which is nothing but mostly a collection of articles that have been published before elsewhere. The worse part of this section is that almost all articles are anti-Israel and anti-US in nature making one wonder if this is the only focus of the “Millat” or whether Muslims exist elsewhere other than Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan or they may have some other issues as well.
Even with its drawbacks and weaknesses, Milli Gazette has made a name for itself. It is probably the most referenced Indian Muslim publication. It is a must read for any one interested in Indian Muslim affairs.
Link:
http://www.milligazette.com/