By Umer Nangiana

The moment I stepped into the Community Hall of Pak Shamaa School, I found myself in a familiar setting. Men and women seated before two vacant sofas on the stage and the host peeking at his watch from behind the podium. The wait was on.
But unlike many such desi gatherings back home, the audience here was happily waiting lest they would lose the opportunity of a lifetime to meet an interesting guest face-to-face.
Finally, Sohail Warraich — the man they have all been watching on TV screens for years in the popular TV show Aik Din Geo Kay Saath (One Day With Geo) — Geo is Pakistan’s premier TV channel — arrived to a warm welcome.
Will he speak in his peculiar drawl? Will he throw his famous line — kya yeh khula tazad nahin (Isn’t that an open contradiction) — at someone?
He was a guest of the Pakistani community in Doha, following up on a special invitation of Pakistan Art Society (PAS) to deliver a lecture to the Pakistani community as part of a series of programmes to celebrate Pakistan Day.
Those waiting for him to speak in his familiar twang may have been slightly disappointed, but not entirely. Warraich however, did relate to the style he is best-known for.
“My style is my personal contribution to enhance the otherwise mundane interviewing techniques in the broadcast media,” Warraich explained.
When he first made a foray into the electronic media with Geo Network eight years ago and was asked to host a current affairs programme, Warraich said he knew nothing about the requirements and techniques of the media.
He adopted the style where he intentionally delays the delivery of his lines thus enabling him to ask the harshest of the questions politely.
More than the unique format of his show where he goes and spends an entire day with a celebrity, politician, sportsperson or anyone of prominence, Warraich is best-known for his signature drawl, the quality of his research and the ‘appetite for different types of food’.
“But I do not like interviewing film actresses,” the Aik Din Geo Kay Saath anchor said — to the surprise of many in the audience.
“Who would not cherish time spent with actresses? But I resisted when first asked to interview actresses. It would not go well with my genre of media which was political reporting,” Warraich explained about what prompted the thought.
“And they (actresses) would never get up before at least 3 in the afternoon so you have to wait the whole day before they switch on,” the anchor, who has interviewed almost every popular showbiz personality in Lollywood — as Pakistan’s filmdom is popularly referred to — besides stage performers, said to explain his unease.
Warraich has so far conducted interviews of more than 600 personalities of national and international fame for his TV show. From heads of state and prominent politicians to writers, singers, sportspersons, actors and philanthropists, Warraich’s distinguished list is a long one.
Some of the big names include Mother Teresa, Bollywood great Amir Khan, maverick former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain besides many others.
“Hamid Nasir Chatha (a veteran politician from Pakistan) was the first guest on my show I remember,” Warraich told the Doha audience.  
Before joining electronic media, he had interviewed more than 400 politicians and key personalities as well for Jang, a daily news publication of the Jang Group, Pakistan’s leading media house.
Warraich also provides critical political analyses on another Geo TV programme Meray Mutabiq (In My Reckoning). He is the author of four books and currently considered as one of the top journalists particularly known for their exhaustive interviewing abilities.
Talking of his life and times, when Warraich was asked if he had ever fallen in love, he replied with a mischievous smile: “If I get another life I will fall in love, for sure. In our part of the world, love has to happen after marriage.”
The audience rolled in laughter.
Warraich, who has also been teaching journalism and politics to university students for more than a decade, hailed the Pakistani media for the vanguard role it played in creating public awareness.
“Despite being often accused of sensationalism, Pakistan’s electronic media has done incredibly well. It has helped people mature in terms of informed opinion,” said the TV show host. When a young member of the audience burst out in anger, alleging the media had distorted Pakistan’s image abroad, Warraich responded with characteristic ease.
“This anger in you is evident in itself; it shows you want change and this transformation has taken place thanks to the independent media in Pakistan.”
“You play your part and be sure that I am playing my part to better things,” he told the youngster.
It was Warraich’s first ever visit to Doha and he was impressed by the pace of development in this Gulf country.
“I didn’t have the time to go sightseeing but I met people, mostly Pakistanis, and I have found them full of hope and optimism,” he told Community in a brief post event chat.
“I found Qatar to be a progressive country and it appears that within years it would be one of the highest developed countries anywhere,” he added.
Asked to deliver a lecture on “I Am Optimistic About Pakistan”, he told the men and women in the hall that two issues — terrorism and economic slowdown — were stopping Pakistan from progressing like Qatar.
He however, was hopeful that Pakistani youth would, in time, help fix these problems.
“Generally, the people of the sub-continent are lacking in conflict resolution. Leaders like Jinnah, Iqbal, Gandhi and Nehru went to the West and learnt the art of conflict resolution before going on to resolve the problems of their respective nations back home,” he told the audience.  
“I think for the resolution of Pakistan’s current problems we need new Jinnahs and Iqbals and they are nowhere else but right here in Doha and other cities like London, Dubai and others,” enthused Warraich.
The youth are learning the ropes in multi-cultural societies and if they get opportunities to transform their experiences and implement in Pakistan, I am sure we would get rid of most of our problems, the veteran journalist said.
He said Pakistani expatriates who send something in the vicinity of US$12-13 billion every year back home were the backbone of the country’s economy.
“You have been saving us from a complete economic meltdown,” he said, looking in the direction of the audience, which responded with applause.
He asked the people to keep their hopes high. “Pakistan has huge potential and it would make a comeback soon. We are a people who were crushed by military coups four times in 50 years but always managed to get back to constitutional governments through peaceful transitions,” Warraich reminded them.
Predicting that the people would be able to reach a consensus on fighting terrorism sometime during the running year, the renowned anchor said whenever Pakistanis have achieved consensus on anything they have taken a great leap forward.
“But this does not mean that terrorism would end in a year. It would be a long haul but eventually, the war would be won. The people of Pakistan had decided to change things and change was inevitable,” he added.
“Pakistan is still lacking professionals and the ones being trained here in the Gulf besides Western countries could play a role,” the journalist told Community.
In conclusion, Warraich said he looked forward to returning to Doha whenever an opportunity presented itself.
‘I Am Optimistic About Pakistan’ featuring Sohail Warraich was convened by Adeel Akbar, General Secretary Pakistan Arts Society, Doha.