Archive for May, 2010

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The Nation Exploits Lahore Massacre

Monday, May 31st, 2010

The Nation exploits the Lahore massacre today by using the dreadful event as an opportunity to perpetuate a political agenda that has nothing to do with the actual facts of the case. Its editorial, “Bloodbath at Lahore,” suggests that the root causes of this massacre lie not within our own society, but outside. Of course, the usual culprits are responsible for everything.

There is certainly a time and a place for criticism of the US and its foreign policy. Whatever one’s particular opinion of American policy towards Pakistan, certainly intelligent people can disagree and have an honest debate about particular facts of that issue. But the murder of over 90 innocent people whose only crime was praying in a way the Taliban did not approve of has nothing to with the Americans, RAW, or economics. It has to do with our own problems that we must face and overcome. To try to make it appear otherwise only distracts from the real issues that created such a monster in our society.

And this is exactly what The Nation does – try to distract from the real issues by blaming someone else.

The incident should rouse the nation to seriously reflect upon the causes of such unfortunate events that keep recurring with frightening frequency. The massive inroads of intelligence agencies of enemy powers out to destabilise the country; the worsening economic conditions that make it possible for them to lure away the poor, hopeless youth to work for them and even resort to suicide for meeting the needs of survival of the remaining family members; the high rate of illiteracy that proves a fertile ground for breeding a mindset of militant fanaticism and readily accepts the logic of throwing away the gift of life; and, above all, a weak, inefficient and corrupt government that lets the above ugly scenario build up as a result of its policies, which promote foreign powers’ agendas to the detriment of national interests – these are some of the glaring factors that lie at the root of such bloody happenings.

I do not doubt the sincerity of the The Nation’s disgust at this murderous event, but like their employee Shireen Mazari, they simply cannot be bothered to face the facts. Are we honestly to believe that severing ties with the Americans would make the TTP less murderous? That it would solve the problem of anti-minority prejudice?  That the terrorists would stop recruiting, stop killing, stop their war on Pakistan? That all of the religious extremists would suddenly throw down their weapons and become democrats?

The Nation obviously blames RAW, USA, Zardari – everyone but the actual extremists. This was no drone attack; it was no conspiracy of the fabled Indian-Isreali nexus. It was the result of violent extremist teachings that are widely available across the country, and the brainwashing of our youth. Why does The Nation not speak out about this? Why does The Nation not condemn the people here in Pakistan who mislead our youth by infecting their minds with a virus of hate and violence?

Newspapers play a vital role in our country. They present information to people who are not present at the scene of a major event so that all citizens can better understand what happens in their country and make informed judgments about how to proceed. By exploiting the Lahore massacre to promote their specific political ideology at the expense of actually informing the citizens of the facts, The Nation has failed in its job.

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Posted in The Nation | 1 Comment »

How Sad for Shireen Mazari

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

How sad for Shireen Mazari that her sickness – her overwhelming paranoid-obsession with the Americans – so clouds her mind. As we grieve for our brothers who were murdered in cold blood by TTP jihadis, she almost gets it right. Shireen Mazari was so close to writing an excellent column. At the last minute, though, she could not help herself. She was overcome with her Anti-American Tourette Syndrome.

Her column, “Our collective shame and some troubling questions,” actually begins quite well. She sees the slaughter of innocent Ahmadis in the middle of prayer as a wicked act that speaks to the degredation of our society acted out by religious imposters.

Islam which teaches brotherhood and tolerance has all but disappeared in spirit and essence from within us and, instead, we are filled with hatred, intolerance and a desire to simply kill all those who may differ from us. As for the Pakistani nation, how far we have sunk from the ideal of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah should be shamefully visible to every sane Pakistani.

In fact, Shireen Mazari goes on to call on us to stop looking to blame others for our own problems, and to take responsibility for the extremist ideologies that have infected our society.

 There can be no shying away from this horrendous act in Lahore and it is time that the Pakistani nation took stock of itself and its leadership and made a determined effort to restore the spirit of tolerance and accommodation that is the essence of Islam and that must be the essence of our nationhood since Pakistan comprises a rich diversity of people – all of whom are equally dedicated and loyal to this land.

This is all quite good! I must admit, when I read it my heart began to lighten. Shireen Mazari is an excellent writer, though her hatred of America has blinded her too often to the realities under her own roof. It has led her to concoct the most ridiculous conspiriacy theories, so poorly constructed a school child could disprove them quite easily. She has aligned herself with the Ahmed Quraishi and Zaid Hamid school that teaches that facts and reason are to be avoided, leaving her isolated from former colleagues who lament her fall into paranoia. So for Shireen Mazari to finally write a column like this was a breakthrough to be applauded.

Or so I thought.

It wasn’t until I reached the end of the column that that familiar voice began to seep through the page. There had to be some mention of the Americans. There had to be some conspiracy. Nothing could simply be a horrible, wicked act perpetrated by sick minds under the influence of religious imposters. And there it was.

There are also some troubling questions about the Lahore targeting of the two Ahmadi places of worship:

First: The timing comes at the peak of US pressure for the Pakistan Army to begin its operations in North Waziristan Agency. Mere coincidence or not, every time the US has wanted the Pakistan military to commence an operation in FATA, there have been such acts of terror prior to the commencement.

Second: The incidents happened when Pakistanis were celebrating Youm-i-Takbeer, the anniversary of our going overtly nuclear – something that still is not acceptable to the West and Israel.

Third: What is equally relevant is that our Government and our national security managers need to seriously look into how friendly spy agencies from West Asia and the US-UK were allowed to establish direct links to Kashmiri freedom groups based in Pakistan, especially central and south Punjab, during the Bosnia war.

It’s sad, really, to so clearly see the sickness that is a paranoid obsession. Shireen Mazari is not a stupid person, by any means. She knows that the Americans had nothing to do with this. She knows that these murders had nothing to do with nuclear assets. Sometimes an apple is only an apple. But her mind is like a warped glass that reflects a distorted view of the world. It is as if she cannot help herself, no matter how hard she tries.

Shireen Mazari begins with a noble call to shed the hatred and intolerance that can cause some terrible event like we suffered this week. But then she ends overcome by her own hatred and intolerance. Someday, perhaps she will be cured of this sickness and finally know some peace.

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Posted in The Nation | 3 Comments »

Conspiracy Media Harming Pakistan's Image In The World

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

ReputationThe conspiracy culture in our media is a growing story in the international press, and it is harming Pakistan’s image in the world. This is something that needs to be addressed because it is more than simply a minor annoyance, it threatens to have far-reaching consequences for our nation. A nation’s media is often considered a reflection of that nation. If our media is dominated by fools, it does not reflect well on us as a nation.

The New York Times yesterday published a blistering profile of Pakistan’s media reaction to the Faisal Shahzad case. The Times reporter simply asks people for statements and allows their responses to speak for themselves. The result, when read outside the echo chamber of Pakistani TV shows and newspapers, is embarrassing.

Americans may think that the failed Times Square bomb was planted by a man named Faisal Shahzad. But the view in the Supreme Court Bar Association here in Pakistan’s capital is that the culprit was an American “think tank.”

No one seems to know its name, but everyone has an opinion about it. It is powerful and shadowy, and seems to control just about everything in the American government, including President Obama.

“They have planted this character Faisal Shahzad to implement their script,” said Hashmat Ali Habib, a lawyer and a member of the bar association.

Who are they?

“You must know, you are from America,” he said smiling. “My advice for the American nation is, get free of these think tanks.”

It’s funny, Hasmat Ali Habib’s reference to a ‘script.’ This is something that none of the conspiracy theorists can produce (the actual script), but every single one of them refers to in their statements. It’s almost as if…they are reading from a script.

Of course, what’s happening is that people like Zaid Hamid and Ahmed Quraishi come up with these wild conspiracies, and then people just repeat them without thinking. Actually, that is rather like a script, isn’t it?

Consider this video produced by The New York Times:

Notice all the different people repeating the same story, and yet none of them have any actual evidence for the claims that they are making. Actually, if you ask for their evidence – how did they come to this conclusion – they will point you to each other. “You must read so-and-so.” “You must watch the interview with so-and-so on Merey Mutabiq.” There is no evidence, there is only an echo chamber. People repeating each other’s words with no critical analysis, no research, no thinking at all.

Adnan Rehmat may have a good point that this problem is exacerbated by the Americans not doing a good enough job communicating with our news agencies, but that does not explain why someone like Hamid Gul would be interviewed about Faisal Shahzad, or for Zaid Hamid to appear as a guest on Dunya News.

The fact that a newspaper could run a front page story with a fake image and a false story about a New York Subway poster is humiliating. How hard would it be to verify this story? All the newspaper had to do was pick up a telephone and make one phone call. Apparently, that was too much work.

This is not the first time that the international community has noticed the growing problem with conspiracy theory culture in Pakistan. Remember the profile of Pakistan’s media in last December’s The Washington Times? Or the Reuters blog post about our conspiracy theory problem? Do you remember this video from last November that embarrassed many of our popular musicians?

The conspiracy theorists like Zaid Hamid and others are more than just fools to be ignored – their words and their messages, repeated and reprinted in mass media, contribute to the way the rest of the world sees us.

When people think of Pakistan, do we want them to think of our beautiful land, our rich and vibrant culture, our proud history? Or do we want them to think of people who can’t be bothered to make one phone call to check their facts; who are so naive that they will believe anything, no matter how unlikely and far-fetched; who are so stuck in a state of denial that their news sounds like it is read from rejected Bollywood scripts?

This lack of professionalism reflects badly not only on people like Zaid Hamid and the producers who put them on the air, it reflects badly on all of us. Mr. Thomas Friedman has written a famous book titled, “The World Is Flat.” In his book, he describes how technology has made the world a smaller place, where improved transportation, satellites, and the Internet have made us all more interconnected than ever before. People in the rest of the world now see our news websites, they see our TV shows on YouTube, they hear what our news anchors are saying, and they read the editorials written in our daily newspapers. If all they see is foolishness, how do we expect them to take us seriously?

This is our problem. We must take it seriously, or else the rest of the world will not grant us the same honour.

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Posted in Conspiracy Theories | 13 Comments »

Hamid Mir Writes to Washington Times

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
Geo TV's Hamid Mir Accused of Conspiracy

Geo TV's Hamid Mir Accused of Conspiracy

In a serial drama that promises a new twist every day, Hamid Mir has written a letter to The Washington Times newspaper responding to an article in that same newspaper on Monday that details the contents of the tapes and the storyline of the controversy. In his email, Hamid Mir makes clear that he no longer believes the government is behind any conspiracy but that it is elements within the intelligence community who were involved with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

Hamid Mir’s email, published in full by The Washington Times contradicts recent claims by some of his colleagues that the government was behind the conspiracy:

Initially a government senator was also attacking me on different TV channels but Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira clearly said on May 25 that Hamid Mir is a target of a conspiracy and government have nothing against him. President Zardari has also cleared it to me personally that nobody from [the Pakistan People's Party] is involved in this conspiracy.

Hamid Mir goes on to identify those he now suspects as being members of intelligence who are retaliating for an article he wrote critical of a General.

I am forced to believe that some elements in the intelligence used my media colleagues against me because I was not in control of any intelligence outfit. One of my crimes was that I wrote an article against a serving general of the Pakistan Army.

But this is not just any General that Hamid Mir refers to, and this is what makes his claim really quite explosive, I think:

I am still not sure that who is my actual enemy because nobody have come out openly against me yet. There is no FIR (police complaint), no official inquiry and nobody contacted me for any investigation. According to my information, this whole drama was organized after one of my articles against a serving Army General, Nadeem Ejaz, was published in The News on April 26.This General was involved in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

Hamid Mir still considers The Daily Times deeply implicated in the plot, though he does admit, “I am still not sure that who is my actual enemy…”

The new story does open some strange new twists, though. Hamid Mir claims that his voice is real, but that the militant is fake.

I think this militant is fake and somebody recorded his voice and fitted in a so-called conversation with me.

At the end of the same paragraph, though, he says that his voice also is doctored.

Here I am sure that they used my doctored voice but incorrect information about me never helped them.

At the end of Hamid Mir’s long and detailed email, I’m afraid we don’t really know more than we did before. The allegation of retaliation by pro-Nadeem Ejaz elements in the  intelligence may be more plausible than a conspiracy to silence all government criticism, but still Hamid Mir does not tell anything new or provide any evidence. There is only more speculation.

As this case continues to build international attention, it becomes all the more important that the facts come out. As we mentioned yesterday, it will be important that Jang and Geo conduct their own investigation and release the findings with the backing evidence. Only then will we able to close this case for good.

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Posted in Geo TV, Jang | 2 Comments »

Geo's "Shattered Glass" Moment?

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Janet Cooke is a name that is probably not as familiar among the general public as it is among professional journalists. Ms Cooke was an American reporter for The Washington Post newspaper who won a Pulitzer Prize for a story she wrote about a small child addicted to heroin. The article was obviously considered excellent to win such a prestigious award. It was also fiction.

Janet Cooke had conned one of the most prestigious newspapers in the world. The Washington Post‘s immediate reaction was to go on the defensive. How could it be that their star reporter was lying? Still, though, the newspaper investigated the claims and discovered that they were true. The newspaper publicly apologized and returned the award.

Geo is having a similar moment today. Perhaps their star reporter Hamid Mir is innocent, but there have been serious charges made and evidence is piling up. Like The Washington Post, Geo appears to be very defensive. At least outwardly, there is little sign that the news agency is investigating what are very serious charges. This is understandable, to a degree – Hamid Mir is not someone who just walked in off the street. He is a veteran reporter that has many accomplishments.

But Hamid Mir is also a person. And people make mistakes sometimes. Everyone does. In fact, it’s not unusual for respected news organizations to have these problems from time to time. Like Janet Cooke at The Washington Post, there was Jayson Blair at The New York Times also and there was Stephen Glass at The New Republic also. A movie was even made about the story of Stephen Glass:

All of these reporters were well liked. They were nice, intelligent people who got caught up in a web of mistakes that grew from out-of-control egos combined with the fact that they were working for some of the most respected news organizations in the world. They became Media Baboos in their own minds. They believed that whatever they said was true simply because they said it.

Jang and its various news agencies demand transparency and accountability from the government. This is a proper function of media in a democracy, and Jang has many excellent reporters who do their job very well. But in order to be a legitimate and respected check on government, a successful news organization must provide the same transparency and accountability itself. This is why it is so important for Jang’s news agencies to be seen as acting in pursuit of the truth, whatever that may be.

So far, Hamid Mir’s response to the allegations has been rather silly. First he told The Guardian that it was a conspiracy by a blog controlled by the Ambassador Husain Haqqani. Perhaps he later found out that the blog in question – Let Us Build Pakistan – has posted materials critical of Haqqani, as well as many other PPP officials, from time to time. He has not mentioned this claim since.

Actually, this is not the first time that Hamid Mir has attacked the blog as being part of some big conspiracy. As we have defended them in the past, Hamid Mir did not provide any facts or evidence at that time either. It seems that these bloggers are simply an easy target for Hamid Mir when he gets upset. I don’t know why he has such a vendatta against them.

This accusation against the blog highlights an important part of Hamid Mir’s problem. In order to find out that they had published some articles critical of Husain Haqqani, all I had to do was use Google. If bloggers can use Google to check and verify facts, surely someone like Hamid Mir should be able to do the same.

This is a deep problem that we have in the media – reporters who do not seem to feel that they are responsible for checking their facts. Many of our most famous journalists seem to believe that simply wishing for something to be true is enough. Jang is not the only organization with some journalists affected by this problem – far from it – but they have been under the microscope since the Hamid Mir case has come to light. This actually gives Jang a great opportunity to take a leadership role and speak out against the problem, setting an example for other news agencies.

The other major part of the response has been for some of Hamid Mir’s colleagues to cast some wide accusations about a conspiracy to silence Jang for criticizing the government. But many news organizations besides Jang are critical of the government. Journalists look at the government with a critical eye every day in Dawn, Daily Times, The Nation and on all the TV shows. This is part of their job. Some reporters do it very well, and are able to critically analyse any government without having a political agenda guide their work.

It is interesting to note that the reporters who are so loudly crying out about a conspiracy to silence them, are really only the very small number of reporters who seem to have such a hard time checking their facts and providing evidence for their claims. Everyone else – the reporters who do their work and write excellent articles for their agencies – seem to know that they have nothing to fear from an investigation into the Hamid Mir tapes.

Jang Group is in an unfortunate situation, and I feel quite a bit of sympathy for all of their publishers, editors, and reporters who do good, honest work. Accusations against a member of their staff hurt. But we do not have Media Baboos in this country. Jang Group is bigger than Hamid Mir. If he did nothing wrong, it will come out and everyone will move on. On the other hand, if it turns out that Hamid Mir made some mistakes – if he was caught up in a moment and got carried away – Jang will be doing the best for itself and the media industry as a whole if it shows that it did a full and complete investigation.

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Posted in Geo TV, Jang | 11 Comments »

Paranoia Growing at Jang Group

Monday, May 24th, 2010

Reading The News today, one would be forgiven for thinking that Jang was an oppressed minority rather than the wealthy corporation that it is. What is, perhaps, more interesting, however, is that the news organization has begun to write paranoid stories about super secret conspiracies against some of its employees. As usual, though, Jang knows just who the conspirators are.

To be sure, this blog does not condone any violence or destruction of property at demonstrations against Jang and Geo offices in Karachi. If the people have a problem with Jang, they certainly have the right to air their greivances – but this should be done only in a peaceful and constructive manner.

That said, Jang’s reaction in an editorial in today’s The News is a bit over-the-top. The hyperventilating writers call the protests “the face of facism,” not realizing that a protest by the people against a large corporation that engages in political propaganda is the opposite of facism. Then, Jang goes on to blame the present government for the protests, despite not providing one bit of evidence for such a claim.

 Its vandalism, its violence on those guarding our offices and the harassment of our workers, all are the latest feathers in the crown of the present ‘democratic’ government which has made no bones about its intention to target this group, and through it the whole of free and independent media. 

Jang, of course, sees itself as the ‘freedom fighter’ who is ‘speaking truth to power’ (this despite the fact that top Jang journalists such as Ansar Abbasi, Shaheen Sehbai, and Hamid Mir have consistently had a distinct problem with ‘truth’) and the present government as the face of all that is evil.

We are aware of the price of truth spoken in the face of power, particularly when power is reeking of corruption, incompetence and illegitimacy from top to toe.

Just yesterday, Ansar Abbasi wrote an article that made some claims about decisions made at a secret meeting at the Presidency (how would Ansar Abbasi of all people know anything that was discussed at Presidency?), and then made his own pronouncement that the government is in contempt of court!

This is not “speaking truth to power,” as Jang might want to believe, but simply making up storied and issuing pretend court decisions. It’s just silly.

But the paranoia does not stop there. Today’s The News features an unattributed article that claims that government is preparing fake tapes of Jang reporters. The article does not provide any sources, only saying that “highly reliable sources” have told him that

Surprisingly, however, in a departure from the past practice the smear campaign shall not be carried out by the Interior Ministry, but actually is being overseen by a group of intelligence functionaries considered very close to the bosses of the Law Ministry.

In order to believe this, you have to believe that the government is carrying out a super-top-secret plan to create fake tapes, and that they are telling the people who are targeted. It simply makes no sense.

Reading the list of supposed targets, though, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

The hit list comprises (so far): Hamid Mir (Host, Capital Talk), Shaheen Sehbai (Group Editor, The News), Ansar Abbassi (Editor Investigations, The News) Mohammad Malick (Resident Editor, The News Islamabad-Rawalpindi), Kamran Khan (Host, Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Saath) and Dr Shahid Masood (Host, Meray Mutabiq).

Ah, yes. Six of the most inflated egos in journalism today. Also six of the people who are, quite frankly, some of the worst journalists around. Certainly each of these would love to believe that the entire government was focused on him. While they are preening their pretty haircuts, they fantasize about being the heroes of the modern world fighting against the ‘fascists’ that were elected by the people.

If we could run power plants on the egos of some of our journalists, we would not have any energy crisis for centuries. Sadly, one of the many side-effects of an inflated ego is a growing sense of paranoia. The egoist believes that everyone is out to get him, even though the truth is most people don’t even care about him. There seems to be a growing sense of paranoia within Jang. Let’s hope they are able to find a little bit of humilty before their paranoia consumes them completely.

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Posted in Jang | 18 Comments »

Why Internet Censorship Should Worry Media

Friday, May 21st, 2010

CensorshipThe judiciary’s move to unilaterally block access to certain websites is a concern for Pakistan’s freedom of the press. While I do not condone blasphemy or intentionally provocative messages, the ability of a court to issue a blanket order of censorship to an entire media outlet is cause for worry.

This blog has been from its start dedicated to correcting misinformation in the media. Some of this misinformation is the result of laziness on the part of journalists who are too comfortable in their own lives to do the hard work of research that goes into proper reporting. Other misinformation appears to be more likely the work of political operatives who are trying to use the media for their own ends.

I and my fellow bloggers on Pakistan Media Watch will continue to write posts that point out the mistakes of journalists and news organizations because we believe in the old saying that “the best antidote is sunshine.” Information and education are the building blocks of a free democracy. Exposing misinformation and political propaganda is the best way to counter its effectiveness.

While we are regular critics of journalists like Shireen Mazari, Ansar Abbasi, Shaheen Sehbai, etc. etc. we do not call for them to be censored. Actually, we believe that poor reporting only serves to undermine those responsible when it is corrected publicly. Of course, they are free to say what they want, even if it is nonsense.

The ongoing Internet censorship by the courts is worrisome because it is a good example of a ‘slippery slope’ of censorship. First, the court ordered that Facebook be blocked until the end of the month because of a stupid page on the website. Then, YouTube was blocked for having offensive content. Next, Wikipedia was blocked for the same reason. Today, Dawn reports that access to these websites may not be temporary after all.

Pakistan acknowledged the ”suffering” caused by its bans on Facebook and YouTube, but said it would only consider restoring the websites if they take down pages considered offensive to Islam, the information technology ministry said Friday.

So, who will be next? And who will be the judge of what is ‘offensive to Islam’?

From the moment that it is decided to be okay to block access to one website for being offensive, where do you draw the line? Certainly there are some Jamaatis who will say that Nadeem Paracha is offensive to them. There are plenty of liberals who find Ahmed Quraishi quite offensive as well.

The truth is, such an unchecked power of censorship is too easily open to abuse. Today we may be blocking access to some cartoons under the justification of anti-blasphemy laws. But tomorrow it might be a newspaper or TV station that is banned for the same justification.

Freedom of the media is a vital part of our democracy. That means even allowing the media the freedom to be wrong. The alternative may sound good at first, but it always ends up the same – and that is no freedom at all.

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Posted in Censorship | 2 Comments »

Hamid Mir Saga Continues

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

The Hamid Mir conspiracy saga continues with more news organizations speaking up about the charges.

Today, Dawn adds their voice to the debate in the following editorial:

Geo TV's Hamid Mir Accused of Conspiracy

If the person on the line is indeed Mr Mir, an explanation is in order about his possible ties with militant organisations. He must also answer allegations that the information he ostensibly provided may have contributed to the killing of Khalid Khawaja, a former ISI official belonging to the air force who had been abducted by the Taliban. Mr Khawaja, believed by many to be a Taliban sympathiser, is repeatedly described as a CIA agent by the man who sounds uncannily like Hamid Mir.

Mr Khawaja and his wife are also held responsible in part for the bloodbath at Islamabad’s Lal Masjid. The person on the phone also spews venom of the vilest kind on the Ahmadi community. Slain Taliban leaders are referred to as martyrs.

Mr Mir denies most of the conversation and has served legal notice on the paper that broke the story. He claims that he and the organisation that employs him are being victimised for their consistent criticism of the PPP government and President Zardari in particular. Hamid Mir, who is not short of detractors even within the media, also maintains that the audio ‘recording’ is the work of the Intelligence Bureau which took a voice sample and then produced an entire conversation with the help of a “special gadget.”

Mr Mir has every right to proclaim his innocence but that alone will not suffice. In this digital age it is child’s play for independent experts to confirm whether or not the voice on the tape is Mr Mir’s. It is just as simple to distinguish a doctored recording from an unedited conversation. The credibility of the media is at stake here. What is needed is an investigation that is carried out with an open mind and whose outcome is accepted and acted upon by all parties. This is imperative if allegations of unethical conduct by the media and charges of dirty tricks by the government are to be laid to rest.

Hamid Mir has responded to the original story by sending legal notices claiming defamation and demanding a written apology and Rs 250 Million.

GEO News Islamabad Executive Editor Hamid Mir has sent legal notices to the publisher, editor and staff reporter of Daily Times, as well as the chief executive of TV channel Business Plus for publishing and telecasting “defamatory material against him”.

Mir claimed that the story carried and telecast by the newspaper and the channel, respectively, was “based on malafide intentions and had lowered him in the estimation of general public as the enemy of the state”.

Mir has demanded a written apology within 14 days and its publication in the newspaper and has asked the respondents to pay damages worth Rs 250 million in compensation, else legal action would be taken.

But Hamid Mir is not the only person sending legal notices, it seems. Reports today indicate that Khalid Khwaja’s son Osama Khalid has told reporters at Dawn that his family will be registering a case against Hamid Mir for being instrumental in his father’s murder.

On Wednesday, the family of Khalid Khwaja, the ISI official who was kidnapped by a militant group in the Tribal Areas in late March and subsequently killed, declared their intentions of getting a case registered against the television anchor, Hamid Mir.

“We will be first going to the police and also to the Supreme Court in a few days’ time to get a case registered against Mir for being instrumental in the murder of my father by Punjabi Taliban,” Osama Khalid, son of Khalid Khwaja, told Dawn by telephone on Wednesday.

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Posted in Geo TV, Jang | 9 Comments »

The Secret Lives of Pakistan's Journalists

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

The Hamid Mir conspiracy case has raised an important issue that deserves some real discussion. The issue is the secret associations that exist within the brotherhood of journalists in Pakistan.

Certainly all people have opinions about important issues, and journalists – by the nature of their work – talk to people involved in all sorts of political activity both good and bad. But Pakistan has a set of groups within the journalist community that have either intentionally or unwittingly been part of political activity.

Ayesha Siddiqa made this point a few days ago, and today Nadeem Paracha continues the examination of the problem on Dawn Blog in a must-read post:

(more…)

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Posted in Dawn | 4 Comments »

Geo's Hamid Mir: Conspiracy Theorist Charged with Conspiracy

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
Geo TV's Hamid Mir Accused of Conspiracy

Geo TV's Hamid Mir Accused of Conspiracy

I have been holding off on this story for a while just because I wanted to see if it actually developed into anything. Sometimes these things pop up, but then quickly disappear if there’s nothing to them. Actually, I will not take any opinion about the validity of the charges, but I think that since the issue involves a major media organization and the story has begun to be reported in the international press, it is worthwhile to examine the facts.

The story involves Hamid Mir who works for Geo TV. He is accused of instigating the murder of Khalid Khawaja, and ex-ISI official, by Taliban kidnappers.

What is the story?

In order to get beyond the suspicions and rumours that seem to be surrounding much of this story, let’s look at how this incident was reported by the UK newspaper Guardian. I have removed paragraphs about reactions to the incident to put together a basic storyline. We will look at Hamid Mir and other reactions to the story directly also.

The tape purports to be a recording of a phone conversation between the journalist, Hamid Mir, and a Taliban spokesman about the fate of Khalid Khawaja, a former intelligence agent being held by the Taliban.

In the tape Mir describes Khawaja as a CIA collaborator, questions his Islamic credentials, and accuses him of playing a treacherous role in the 2007 Red Mosque siege in which more than 100 people, including the chief cleric, were killed. When the abductor asks the journalist whether Khawaja should be released, he urges him to further interrogate him.

Last month Khawaja’s bullet-pocked body was found on a roadside in Waziristan with a warning note to other “American spies”.

…

The Taliban added to the controversy by issuing a statement that denied the tape was real but, confusingly, threatened the state telephone company for having taped the conversation.

…

On 24 April the Taliban issued a video showing a strained-looking Khawaja admitting to having worked for the CIA and betrayed the Red Mosque clerics.

A week later, after his execution, Mir wrote a detailed account of Khawaja’s life. He recycled the allegations against the former ISI agent, attributing them to militant sources.

Hamid Mir Responds

Hamid Mir publicly responded to the charges against him in a column for The News, the newspaper owned by Jang Group which also owns Geo TV on which his show appears. Calling the story a “grand plot against media.”

On his Facebook page, Hamid Mir threatened legal action against Daily Times and some blogs for publishing the story.

‘We are taking legal action against Daily Times(owned by Salman Taseer) and some US based blogs supervised by Mr.Hussain Haqqani for hatching a conspiracy against Hamid Mir by using a fabricated tape.’

The blog Let Us Build Pakistan, an independent blog of PPP supporters, has been tracking the story closely, since May 14 when they published the recording of Hamid Mir.

Daily Times has also responded to the legal threats from Hamid Mir today in its editorial:

In DT’s editorial “Shocking revelations” (May 17, 2010), we argued: “There should be a thorough investigation into the matter by the security agencies. It should first be ascertained whether it was actually Hamid Mir or an impersonator on the audiotape.” We did not pass judgment on the genuineness or otherwise of the audiotape, but left room for the possibility that it was a forgery, as Mir has subsequently claimed amidst his loud protestations of innocence. In an inadvertent admission, however, he says the audiotape is an amalgam of bits and pieces of other conversations (innocent journalistic exchanges, according to him). Even if this is conceded, there is sufficient in the ‘bits and pieces’ to arouse alarm. Surely Mr Mir should welcome the opportunity to clear his name if the tape is indeed a forgery. On the other hand, if it turns out to be genuine, Mir has a lot to answer for and the law should take its course. The country is in the middle of a life-or-death struggle against the homegrown jihadis who have declared war on the state. Journalists, who are engaged in an increasingly precarious and dangerous profession in conflict areas, may be required for professional reasons to keep lines of communication open with the ‘enemy’. However, this does not give anyone, journalist or not, room to transcend the law of the land or the ethics of his profession. If the tape is genuine and Mir did say the things about Khalid Khwaja that are on the tape, a prima facie case is made out for his arraignment on charges that could include being an accessory before the fact to the murder that followed, as well as in possible violation of the Army Act (applicable to civilians in times of war). The statement released by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan denying the contents of the tape and trying to clear our intrepid anchor’s name has done more to muddy Hamid Mir’s case than anyone else could have.

Other Journalists Weigh In

Ayesha Sidiqqa is a regular contributor to Dawn, and has a Ph.D. in War Studies from King’s College, University of London. She has written two books on Pakistan’s military. On her blog, Dr. Sidiqqa writes,

Is the man conversing with, whats alleged as a member of the Punjabi Taliban, Hamid Mir? The simple answer is yes. The man in the tape is Hamid Mir beyond doubt. The voice and style of conversation is his. I have had conversations with him on several occasions and he breaks stories in this very style. The conversation should not surprise people as Hamid Mir has old links with the Islamiscts and the intelligence agencies. In the world of the armed forces information is difficult to access. Relatively better access to information comes at a price which Hamid Mir and many other journalists in the world, particularly Pakistan pay happily. There is not a single journalist, especially on the electronic media who comments on national security and is not fed by the military. I remember one very popular journalist who even writes for foreign press. He is considered an authority on military affairs. The poor chap cannot tell the front of a submarine from its back. Planting people in the media and intelligentsia is an old trick. The only matter of concern really is that how and why is the audio recording made available on the net? The real story is the disclosure rather than the conversation.

UPDATE: Journalist and former BBC correspondent Shahid Malik writes in an email today:

Award winning journalist and documentary maker Asad Qureshi life is under severe danger of being cut short by his captives in Waziristan. Hamid Mir claiming that the famous tape recording is fake and fabricated is naked lie, for no ones voice can be faked perfectly, as it is like your finger print and the voice on the tape certainly does belong to Hamid Mir. TTP member has supposedly come forward in support of him claiming it to be fake also.
As Hamid Mir is the only known clue to who have abducted Asad Qureshi as he is in touch with them, he should be questioned ASAP to recover Asad from his captors. The media trial and or taing sides can go on, but a stake is a innocent life and that also of the one of our best reporter/ director and documentary maker. Please to check the credentials of Asad Qureshi at www.imdb.com and also look at his award winning documentary on the 2005 earth quake and Wazirisan called ‘Wana Olives’ and many others.
UPDATE II: Shahid Malik email may be fake

From the comments:

An extract reportedly from an email has been attributed to journalist and former BBC correspondent, Shahid Malik. I write this to clarify that the credit for its authorship is not mine.

The paragraph in question caught my attention only today (November 10, 2010); hence a belated correction.

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