RIYADH — Tarek Abdul Hameed Mishkhas, Editor-in-Chief of Urdu News and Malyalam News, was honored by Pakistani nationals in Riyadh at the weekend. Mishkhas was in the capital as chief guest at a reception hosted in his honor by Tariq Soomro, President of Pakistan Investors Forum. Soomro recalled that Tarek Mishkhas was a proud recipient of Sitara-e-Quaid-e-Azam in 2010. The award is one of the highest civilian awards in Pakistan. “Mishkhas is well known as an intellectual and a journalist-cum-writer of high standing in Saudi society. He is equally known and quite popular amongst the expatriate community, especially with the Pakistanis, for his services and contributions to Urdu News and Malyalam News,” Soomro said. Tarek Mishkhas has traveled widely throughout the length and breadth of Pakistan. “He is the one who actually encouraged and motivated the Saudi writer Yusf Safrallah – to write a book on Pakistan entitled, Pakistan: The Land of Seasons and Sceneries”, he added. Soomro also mentioned that Urdu News was, in fact, quite popular amongst the Pakistan community. “It is popular for the basic reason that it brings news from home and makes us feel at home,” Soomro remarked. Mishkhas said he was delighted to be amongst the Pakistani readers of Urdu News. “It is always good to be amongst the readers as it helps in getting feedback on the newspaper first hand.” He also promised to make frequent visits to Riyadh to have similar sessions with the Pakistani community in Riyadh. He informed that at Urdu News he has a dedicated team which is working hard to bring out a daily newspaper in Urdu. “These days it is hard to bring out dailies as most people tend to read news online. We have to incur losses and are struggling to cover the losses via advertisements. The revenue generated through circulation of newspapers is barely enough to meet the printing cost. And, advertisements are in fact the lifeline for any newspapers,” he said.
