Holiday, The

Holiday, The Dhaka-based English weekly newspaper founded by Enayetullah Khan on 1 August 1965. The paper professed at the outset that it would initial an 'uninhibited way of looking at and presenting news and views'; after a few issues, it started printing hard-hitting political writings. It was one of the influential newspapers in the late 1960's and the early 1970's, a period that witnessed the climax of leftist politics in this part of the sub-continent, because of its anti-establishment writings and portrayal of socio-economic matters of political dissent through issue-based essays. In the pre-independence period, the newspaper captured the nationalist sentiments and portrayed issues like the disparity that existed between the two wings of Pakistan and the dominance of East Pakistan by West Pakistan, among others. After independence, the newspaper continued to criticise the government and articulate leftist causes and populist politics. From the beginning of the 1980's, the paper's political stance was modified, becoming more liberal. During the 1970's the newspaper had a very high circulation, but declined considerably. In 2001, in order to increase readership and appeal to a younger audience, Holiday started to accommodate various issues on culture, the internet, heritage etc.

The first issue of Holiday came out in eight pages; in 2001 the number of pages doubled to accommodate the expanded issues. From time to time, the newspaper has brought out a number of regular supplements. It currently publishes two such monthly supplements: Aviatour, an extra tabloid-sized section on aviation and tourism which has been in print for quite some time, and the very recent Slate, a colour magazine with materials for light reading.

Holiday was banned through 1971 and reappeared in January 1972. Its publication was again suspended for two months in 1973 under the Press and Publication Act. It was proscribed on 13 May 1975 and its editor jailed under the Special Powers Act. The ban was lifted on 25 August and the paper started coming out from 2 November. Although Enayetullah Khan has virtually always been the editor, except for periods when he was away from 1975-77, 1977-78 and 1985-89, Masuda Enayetullah was named as its editor in the pre-independence issues.

The office of the paper was first housed at a building on Green Road, moved to Naya Paltan in 1966 and continued there before finally moving to its own building in Tejgaon Industrial Area in 1989. [Abu Jar M Akkas]