Posts Tagged ‘American visas’

What’s the right number of visas?

Friday, February 10th, 2012

Passport visa

Over 50,000 Americans were granted visas to Pakistan since the past four years, media reported this week. When you hear that bit of news, what does it tell you? Does it tell you that Pakistan has become a top tourist destination? Or does it tell you that every province and village is overrun with Blackwater agents and Raymond Davises? What should this media headline tell you?

Express Tribune reported that over 50,000 Americans were issued visas to visit Pakistan between 2008 and 2011. The information was provided by the Foreign Ministry in response to a question by PML-Q Senator SM Zafar. According to the Express Tribune report, 13,115 were categorised as those for diplomats and other senior officials, and over 2,200 were given after approval from the defence ministry. That means that around 38,979 visas were given for American citizens who were not diplomats or senior US officials over a four year period – or about 9,745 each year.

What the report doesn’t tell us is who those 9,745 people are.

According to 2010 US Census data, at least 409,163 Americans have Pakistani ancestry. What percentage of those 9,745 who travel to Pakistan each year are visiting family or perhaps visiting their ancestral country for the first time?

What about Americans who do business in Pakistan? American Business Council of Pakistan has 67 members – most of whom are Fortune 500 companies – that operate in all sectors of Pakistan’s economy. They include business giants like AT&T, Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, Cisco Systems, Microsoft and IBM just to name a few.

What about American journalists in Pakistan? Or aid workers? What about the American friends of Pakistanis who come for weddings? What about tourists who come to witness our incredible cultural heritage?

Total US population is over 307 million. That means that each year, less than .00003 per cent of Americans are coming to Pakistan, and there are over 18,471 Pakistanis for every American with a visa. More proof that Americans are not invading after all.

It should also be noted that the comparable numbers are not provided for visas issued to citizens of other countries. A horse is large compared to a dog, but not compared to an elephant. Is 50,000 visas a lot? Compared to what? Even the number in the headline – 50,000 – is the total over four years, not the number of Americans who had visas at the same time. How many Americans are here at any given time? How many Chinese are here? How many Afghans? And how many foreigners who are not Americans come without going through the proper visa process int the first place?

Unfortunately, the Express Tribune reporter doesn’t answer any of these questions. We are left to decide for ourselves who these Americans are. And when we are constantly fed conspiracy theories and doom-and-gloom scenarios, how should we be expected to interpret a headline like, ‘Over 50,000 Americans issued Pakistani visa from 2008 to 2011′?

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Posted in Express Tribune | 1 Comment »

The Raoof Hasan Fiasco

Saturday, February 12th, 2011

Pakistan TodayWhen I posted about the death of the Visa Conspiracy I wondered who would be the first person to dig the grave and drag the rotting corpse back out for one final blow. I must admit I was surprised, though, to see it not from one of the usual suspects but from CM Shahbaz Sharif’s media consultant Raoof Hasan. And yet, there it is in black and white for all the world to see, a political operative on the pages of Pakistan Today blatantly trading on the name of the Chief Minister Punjab and hacking away at the smelling corpse of a conspiracy theory only long since dead and buried.

After announcing that Raymond Davis “is not a diplomat and does not enjoy immunity” (who knew that Raoof Hasan is not only media consultant to CM Punjab but also serves as the new Foreign Minister?), Raoof proceeds directly to energetically flogging the conspiracy theory.

There are scores of other Raymonds roaming the roads of Pakistan. Most of them have entered the country on the basis of special visas granted by the president’s man in Washington – one Mr. Hussain Haqqani. The choice diplomat has been taking pains to explain that all visas to the Americans were issued with due authorisation. That does not exonerate Mr. Haqqani from culpability. It only proves that there were others involved in the scam also!

As a reminder, here is the press conference of Ambassador Husain Haqqani that Mr Raoof Hasan is referring to:

Yes, the Ambassador did “explain that all visas to the Americans were issued with due authorisation”, and he did so by opening the books and providing the facts and data to journalists. One might request that if Raoof Hasan is going to contradict the Ambassador’s evidence he would please provide his own evidence of these “scores of Raymonds roaming the roads of Pakistan”. If he could provide some actual IDs, then surely we can have them declared ‘persona non grata’ and removed before they do any harm. If he cannot provide any IDs then could it be that he is simply making it up?

Raoof Hasan

Raoof Hasan

According to Raoof Hasan, the streets are crawling with Raymond Davis’s and the halls of power are packed with conspirators. Raoof Hasan knows this, but he cannot provide any data, any facts, or any actual names of the invaders or the conspirators either. But no matter, he has learned well the lesson of the master media manipulator: “All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and for exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.”

Raoof’s response to Ambassador Haqqani’s opening the books and providing evidence that buries the dead horse once and for all is actually rather pathetic as well. According to Raoof, if the Ambassador has proof that all visas were issued with due authorisation then it only means that more people must be involved in the conspiracy! No amount of facts will matter because Raoof Hasan has made up his mind. Please. This is not serious analysis, it is political hackery only.

What is most curious about this bit of paranoid propaganda, however, is that it is attributed to Raoof Hasan not as ‘political analyst’ which is his usual by line for articles in The News but as ‘media consultant to the Chief Minister, Punjab’. It must be asked then if Shahbaz Sharif is aware that Raoof Hasan is trading on his name and this the official position of Shahbaz Sharif and the Punjab government also?

Whatever the answer, one question remains. After the evidence is provided, why did the editors at Pakistan Today agree to run such a piece that clearly ignores facts and data only to promote a discredited conspiracy theory invented to cause fear in the public? When Arif Nizami decided to launch his newspaper, there was some question as to whether he would provide a fact-based alternative to the paranoid Nazariya-e-Pakistan content of uncle Majeed’s newspaper. That is something certainly needed. What is not needed is another media group promoting paranoid conspiracy theories.

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Posted in Conspiracy Theories, Pakistan Today | 7 Comments »

Americans Not Invading After All

Saturday, February 12th, 2011

Grave of the Visa ConspiracyIt was said by Hermann Goering during the Nuremberg Trials,

“The people don’t want war, but” they “can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and for exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.”

The Germans told that Jews were invading, the American right-wing tells the story about Muslims, and the British even used to tell their children that Napoleon Bonaparte was stalking the streets. Here, certain elements here have been telling the story that the Embassy in Washington has been granting countless visas to Americans with no security checks. It’s all part of the same strategy to create fear and suspicion in the minds of the masses which makes them easier to control. The actual evidence, however, tells a different story. It turns out that the Americans are not invading after all. As for the rotting corpse of the Visa Conspiracy, let us finally bury it once and for all.

The Visa Conspiracy states that the Embassy in Washington has been giving out visas like sweetmeats to every American Rambo who comes calling. Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani who has been at the center of these conspiracies held a press conference providing Embassy data on issuance of visas to journalists so that they will be armed with the facts and not the talking points of political operatives.

An APP report in Daily Times on Friday quoted the Ambassador as directly challenging claims in the media that the Embassy in Washington had issued visas without following proper authorisation.

“The embassy has not issued any visa without proper authorisation,” he stated, rebutting media accounts. The critics, he added, have not been able to bring to light even a single instance in which a visa was issued without following authorisation.

But the Ambassador did not stop with simply making denials which of course the conspiracy wallahs would simply ignore. Rather he opened the books and provided the data which proves beyond any doubt that the scare tactics being used are simply ghost stories and nothing more.

The following charts have been made available which show the data of visa issuance since 2007.

Comparative analysis of visas issued to US nationals between 2007-2010 (diplomatic, army and allied agencies)Month-by-month comparative analysis of visas issued to US nationalsAnnual comparative analysis of visas issued to US nationals since 2007-2010If this is an invasion, it’s going to take a thousand years. Actually according to the US Embassy in Islamabad, there are 700,000 Pakistanis in the US. And let’s not forget the terror that was struck into the hearts of our media when it was threatened to take away their own visas to the US!

This data finally puts to rest the Conspiracy Theory that has been beaten to death by Abdul Zahoor Khan Marwat, Shireen Mazari, Ansar Abbasi, and Ahmed Quaishi. These so-called journalists should be quite relieved as they can finally rest their arms which must be exhausted from beating this dead horse for so long. Obviously they never had any actual data to back up their claims, but simply relied on ‘reports’ from unnamed sources, if these sources even actually exist. Real reporting is not inventing stories to scare people, it’s doing careful research to identify facts and then presenting those facts to the reader so that he can understand the world around him. Now that we have buried this conspiracy, let’s have more real reporting, please.

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Posted in Conspiracy Theories | 9 Comments »

Flogging the dead horse of visa conspiracies

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011

Flogging the dead horse of visa conspiracy

The conspiracy theory about ‘suspicious foreigners’ being issued visas by the Embassy in Washington is a horse long dead. Nevertheless, journalists continue to drag it into the street for a public flogging whenever possible. With the arrest of the American Raymond Davis for shooting two men in Lahore in what he claims was self defense, this conspiracy theory was dusted off and dragged back into the streets for one more beating.

We noted yesterday that Raymond Davis’s visa was not issued by the Washington Embassy after Shireen Mazari dragged this old conspiracy theory out on Kamran Khan’s show of Monday night. As a reminder, this what Dawn reported on the issue:

Diplomatic sources in Islamabad said that Raymond Davis had first received a three-month diplomatic visa on a diplomatic passport on request of the US State Department in September 2009. That is the only visa issued to him by the Pakistan embassy in Washington.

On that occasion, the State Department had said Davis would be visiting Pakistan for a short term as a technical adviser. Subsequently, Davis received extensions to his visa in Islamabad or elsewhere.

His presence in Pakistan after the expiry of his first visa in December 2009 was neither known to nor authorised by the Pakistan embassy in Washington or the Foreign Office.

Obviously, it did not make any sense for Shireen Mazari to keep flogging the horse long after it is declared dead, and it makes even less for Ansar Abbasi to take the stick from Shireen’s hand to continue the flogging. In fact, this horse has been dead for quite some time. But since when have Shireen Mazari or Ansar Abbasi let the facts get in the way of a good conspiracy?

Ansar Abbasi blatantly ignores all the facts in his latest column for The News, replacing facts instead with innuendo. He begins by suggesting that the fault of the shooting is partially with President Zardari for expanding visa requests by Americans and in the Washington Embassy issuing Raymond Davis’s visa.

This situation has built up in the backdrop of last year’s extraordinary laxity allowed in the visa policy for American officials following President Asif Ali Zardari’s personal intervention without the approval of the federal cabinet.

The policy, which has already started pinching many in the Foreign Office and security agencies, has resulted in visas issued by the Pakistani Embassy in Washington without any security clearance.

However, as we have already shown the Washington Embassy was not the issuing office. Abbasi even noticed another hole in his conspiracy and tries to patch it up without anyone noticing.

Details show that Davis, who is suspected to be either a CIA agent or member of a private agency like Blackwater, had been issued visa before the introduction of the new but extremely vulnerable system under which Pakistan’s Embassy in Washington is free to issue visa to anyone without any security clearance from Pakistani security agencies.

Did you catch what Ansar Abbasi just admitted? Raymond Davis’s visa was issued BEFORE President Zardari could have requested any changes to visa policy. So Raymond Davis’s visa was not issued by the Washington Embassy and was not issued after Zardari requested any changes to visa policy. If this is the case, it must be asked why does Ansar Abbasi try to make these connections in the minds of his readers? It is reasonable to conclude that part of the reason must be a political agenda. But there is possibly something more going on.

The answer comes as the reader continues. Ansar Abbasi claims that “from January 1, 2010 to 14 July 2010, a total of 1,895 officials and diplomats were issued visas by the Pakistan Embassy in Washington”. Whether or not these figures are accurate is unknown. What is known is that Raymond Davis was not one of those people. Again the question must be asked why Ansar Abbasi continues to point out irrelevant and unrelated facts.

What Ansar Abbasi is doing is making all Americans in Pakistan ‘guilty by association’. His argument is that Raymond Davis is an American with a visa and he shot someone, so maybe every other American with a visa will also shoot someone. This is the same argument that American right-wing zealots make about Muslims. They say that Faisal Shazad tried to kill Americans, and Faisal Shahzad is Muslim, therefore Americans should fear all Muslims. Ansar Abbasi’s anti-American rhetoric is cut from the same cloth as his Islamophobic counterparts on the American right-wing.

The truth is that most Muslims in America (or anywhere on Earth) are not terrorist bombers. Also most Americans in Pakistan (or anywhere on Earth) are not shooting people in the streets. Claims to the contrary are fictions invented as a strategy of ‘fear-based politics’.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the Senate today that Raymond Davis was carrying a diplomatic passport and a valid visa that was issued after a security clearance. He also noted that Raymond Davis’s name has been placed on the Exit Control List. Earlier this week, President Zardari told a delegation of US Congressmen that Raymond Davis’s case is before the courts and the legal course must be allowed to complete.

Ansar Abbasi does not bother to dispute the facts. What he does is try to put fear in the minds of the people based on innuendo and ‘guilt by association’. Raymond Davis is being held by the police and the law is taking its course. As if they are disappointed that the government is not acting as a lap dog to the US, Shireen Mazari and Ansar Abbasi create scandal where there is none. There has already been one tragedy suffered. Let’s stop trying to make it worse, please.

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Posted in Geo TV, Jang, The News | 2 Comments »

First US Controls the Weather, Now Time Travel Also

Monday, January 24th, 2011
Time Machine

Time machine used by US Congressman in conspriracy against Jang Group?

An article by Azim Mian published in both Jang and The News claims that President Zardari has engaged in a conspiracy against the media by convincing members of the US Congress to write a letter to Hillary Clinton requesting that visas not be granted to “media men not condemning the killing of Salman Taseer”. Judging by the evidence, though, the conspiracy appears once again to be Azim Mian’s and not Asif Zardari’s.

You will recall that this reporter Azim Mian has a chequered history of ridiculous smears leveled against the president including an article of June 2010 that tried to claim a ‘well-known’ website listed Asif Zardari as a US Citizen. The website turned out to be neither well known nor authoritative, and even so by the time Azim’s article was published it did not list Asif Zardari as US citizen.

Azim Mian also reported in June that Hussain Haroon would resign his post as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations before August 2010 due to “palace intrigues and impediments in his work”. It is now over seven months since the article and five months since Azim’s prediction has proven false despite the claims of his ‘sources’. These are only two examples of the reporter’s ridiculous claims and failed predictions.

So Azim Mian has a history of making ridiculous anti-Zardari claims in apparent attempts to embarrass the government without having good facts to back up his claims. But this latest conspiracy theory is even more foolish than his past articles.

According to Dawn, the letter sent to Hillary Clinton actually requests the State Department to  “identify those Pakistani citizens that have shown demonstrable support of the assassination of Governor Taseer”.

“Some of the most prominent clerics, journalists and lawyers who have praised Mr Taseer`s death and have demonstrated support of his murderer, are people who frequently travel to the US and hold American visas.”

Obviously, this request is not aimed at “media men not condemning the killing of Salman Taseer” as Azim Mian incorrectly states. This is his first error, and probably the smallest one though it is important to note as Azim’s article could lead readers to incorrectly believe that the US is pressurizing journalists to make a statement against the murder of Salmaan Taseer which is not stated by the letter.

Azim Mian then goes on to claim that “…indications are there that the US State Department had prepared a list of journalists and others on whom entry in the US may be denied by cancelling or denying visas”. The only “list” that has been published according to our research was a group of names published by Daily Times on 20 January. But this list is unsourced except to anonymous “sources in Washington” and carries a dateline of Lahore, as Azim Mian admits in his report. Furthermore, Azim claims to have spoken with a source at the US State Department who indicated that no list of Pakistani journalists had been prepared.

If Azim Mian was simply questioning the validity of the list published by Daily Times, he might have a point – it seems suspicious. But Azim did not stop there. Instead, he added to his growing portfolio of baseless speculation and misinformation.

According to Azim, the letter to Hillary Clinton is part of a conspiracy by the president against media freedoms. Azim claims that when Zardari went to Washington to attend the funeral of Richard Holbrooke and met with US officials, he spent his time referring negatively about Pakistan’s media and specifically Jang Group. Azim claims that:

It was in this scenario that the aides of the Zardari-Gilani government taking notice of the sentiments, perceptions and also complaints of their boss lobbied with the anti-Pakistan congressmen and made them to write a letter to Secretary Clinton.

Please recall that this is the same visit termed ‘mysterious’ by Jang Group because the president did not take a large government contingency along with him. If this trip was so mysterious, one might ask, how does Azim Mian know what Zardari said in these private meetings? What is the evidence to support this conspiracy theory? Actually, there is none.

In fact the only basis for Azim Mian’s conspiracy is his claim that “informed circles are of the opinion…” This is not fact by his own admission, but merely the opinion of some people who do not even want their names associated with it. It seems Azim Mian’s anonymous sources are as trustworthy as his colleague Ansar Abbasi‘s.

This brings us to the final point, the one that does away with this foolishness for good. It turns out the error of Azim Mian is quite obvious and an easy one to prove. In fact it is telling that the reporter and his editor gave so little thought to this story that they could not realize it before they published it in two newspapers. You see, President Zardari met with US officials on 14 January during which time they discussed pressing issues, according to reports from both The White House and Ambassador Husain Haqqani who was present for the meetings.

How do we know these meetings didn’t include discussions of Jang Group followed by lobbying US Congressmen for a letter to be sent to Hillary Clinton? The letter to Hillary Clinton was written on 13 January 2011 – the day BEFORE the meetings.

letter to hillary clinton

First page of the letter to Hillary Clinton dated 13 January 2011

second page of letter to hillary clinton

According to The News Zardari was driving from New York to Washington during this time because he is afraid of heights – a ridiculous assertion, but one that shows just how desperate some people are to smear Zardari at any cost. Actually it was reported by APP that Zardari did not arrive in Washington until Thursday evening. Furthermore, if the letter is dated 13 January, it means that the Congressmen would have had to begun coordinating even before that date. Not only was Zardari not in Washington before the 13th, he was not even in the US.

If Azim Mian’s conspiracy theory could be true it would require that Asif Zardari complained about the media in his meetings with US officials on 14 January, and then some unnamed “aides of the Zardari-Gilani government” lobbied these four US Congressmen and convinced them to travel back in time to write a letter to Hillary Clinton. It simply defies all reason.

Tension between the media and the government has been present since day one. Jang Group in particular has been a loud voice accusing the government and President Zardari specifically of wanting to curb media freedoms, but certainly not the only one. And yet it is now three years into the government’s term and still these voices continue to make such accusations freely. If President Zardari intends to curb media freedom, he is doing quite a poor job of it. And I understand that some of our esteemed colleagues in the media believe that the US has a machine that controls the world’s weather, but now we are asked believe that they can travel through time also?

The government has a responsibility to be honest and forthcoming with the people and not to attempt to curb the media’s ability to inform the people. But the media has a responsibility to be honest and forthcoming with the people and not spread baseless accusations and ridiculous conspiracy theories also. Three years into the government’s term and the media is still free – how long until the media will accept their own responsibilities and stop wasting everyone’s time with such nonsense?

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Posted in Jang, The News | 3 Comments »

Ridding Ourselves Of Shireen Mazari's Mistakes

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

The Nation (logo)In an opinion column published in today’s The Nation, “Ridding ourselves of the US“, Shireen Mazari makes several incorrect claims about incidents and statistics in the war against militants. While Shireen Mazari is certainly entitled to her own opinion about the war, she is not entitled to her own facts.

Shireen Mazari claims that drone attacks have killed more civilians than militants. According to Shireen Mazari’s column,

…we are unable to deal with our terrorism threat internally because we are following US diktat and using a military-centric policy which is simply creating more space for militants within the country. The drone attacks, killing more civilians than militants, are one glaring case in point.

Mazari provides no research to back up her claim, so it is not known why she says this. But Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann’s drones database at the New America Foundation (NAF) shows that more militants have been killed by drone attacks than civilians. Furthermore, the NAF research is transparent as to its sources and analysis:

The research on these pages, which we have created in a good faith effort to be as transparent as possible with our sources and analysis and will be updated regularly, draws only on accounts from reliable media organizations with deep reporting capabilities in Pakistan, including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal, accounts by major news services and networks—the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, CNN, and the BBC—and reports in the leading English-language newspapers in Pakistan—the Daily Times, Dawn, and the News—as well as those from Geo TV, the largest independent Pakistani television network.

Here are the estimated death counts:

Estimated Total Deaths from U.S. Drone Strikes in Pakistan, 2004 – 2010

Deaths (low) Deaths (high)
2010* 409 685
2009 413 709
2008 263 296
2004-2007 86 109
Total 1,171 1,799

*Through October 4, 2010

Estimated Militant Deaths from U.S. Drone Strikes in Pakistan 2004 – 2010

Deaths (low) Deaths (high)
2010* 383 625
2009 293 405
2008 106 134
2004-2007 78 100
Total 860 1,264

*Through October 4, 2010

Estimated Militant Leader Deaths from US Drone Strikes in Pakistan, 2004-2010

2010* 10
2009 10
2008 11
2004-2007 3
Total 32

*Through October 4, 2010. Included in estimated militants and estimated totals, above.

Later, in the same paragraph, Mazari claims that “there are the NATO incursions into our territory and targeting of even our military personnel”. While there was the well-reported NATO incursion into our territory, the claim of “targeting” is misleading.

An investigation of the incident has found that Pakistani soldiers fired warning shots at the helicopters, which returned fire. The US and NATO have apologized for the incident and pledged to work more closely with the Pakistani military and government to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

Shireen Mazari’s account could lead readers to believe that the US was intentionally and aggressively attacking Pakistani soldiers, which would be an act of war. This doesn’t make any sense. If the US military wanted to go to war with Pakistan, why would it provide so much support and supplies to the Pakistani military? And why would the US apologize and pledge to work more closely in coordination with the Pakistani military?

Mazari goes on to repeat the discredited conspiracy theory that the US is planning to steal our nuclear arsenal. Her evidence is a statement by an American conservative historian Arthur Herman. But Arthur Herman is not a member of the US government or military and would have no access to such sensitive information. He is simply describing a hypothetical ‘worst-case scenario’ based on no evidence.

Actually, the article that Mazari is referring to is an opinion column in an American newspaper New York Post which has been criticised by the Columbia Journalism Review who said, “The New York Post is no longer merely a journalistic problem. It is a social problem.” According to a survey conducted by Pace University in 2004, the New York Post was rated the least-credible news outlet in New York. The Wikipedia entry on New York Post includes a long list of controversies surrounding the newspaper.

Shireen Mazari then goes on to repeat another discredited conspiracy theory saying that Visas are being granted “with no proper scrutiny and with all normal procedures being abandoned”. Mazari provides no evidence for this claim, which would be a quite serious breach of protocol. Notably, Shireen Mazari does not accuse anyone by name of committing this act, possibly because she knows that it would be defamatory for her to do so. Instead, she merely states that it is being done which could possibly result in readers mistakenly believing that she has some evidence to back her claim.

Shireen Mazari has every right to believe that the US is the root of all of the country’s problems, but she must make this claim with facts and not inventions and conspiracy theories. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but facts are facts. Making statements to support a particular political agenda even when the facts are the opposite is not journalism, it is merely propaganda. Please, Shireen Mazari, stick to the facts.

Shireen Mazari Gets Failing Grade

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Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

The News Peddles Conspiracies, Political Attacks (Part I)

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

The News (Jang Group)The News today is peddling conspiracy theories and political attack in the place of actual news reporting. This has been an ongoing problem with Jang Group’s English newspaper, and the quality of reporting appears to be getting worse.

Today’s edition contains two columns that stand out as such poor quality that they do not even qualify as legitimate journalism.

The first story, “Visas for Americans”, claims there is some conspiracy behind visas granted by the Embassy in Washington, DC. In addition to providing no evidence for his claims, reporter Abdul Zahoor Khan Marwat combines this conspiracy theory with baseless political attacks on government officials.

Abdul’s report begins with unsubstantiated claims about the Ambassador to America issuing hundreds of visas “without scrutiny”.

Now Ambassador Hussain Haqqani has been authorised to issue visas to Americans, diplomats or whosoever comes in their guise, for one year without scrutiny. Earlier, Haqqani, who does not represent Pakistan’s Foreign Service, used to grant three-month visas in consultation with the Foreign Office.

Reports say that Haqqani is now facilitating some 652 Americans to come to Pakistan. Most of them, one figure suggests around 400, could be US security personnel. On the other hand, it has been reported the US has granted only 35 visas to Pakistani diplomats.

But notice that this information is based on undocumented “reports”. Reports by who? This reporter then goes on to say that “one figure suggests” many of the visas are for security personnel. “One figure suggests” means that the reporter does not know. He neither provides the source of his figure for fact-checking, nor does he even consider it reliable enough to stand behind it.

But the column gets worse as it goes on. Rather than writing a factual report, Abdul simply makes some dire predictions based on no provided evidence.

The development has serious dimensions and could have grave consequences for Pakistan’s national security.First, the visas have been given on express authority of the president, while ignoring both the Foreign Office and relevant security apparatus. It is not known how many of the 652 Americans comprise CIA personnel, representatives of infamous XE or Blackwater, those covertly representing Mossad or other US agencies involved in espionage.

When Abdul writes that “it is not known how many of the 652 Americans comprise CIA personnel…” he is saying that he has no idea. Actually, the number could be zero. The reporter is attempting only to raise suspicion and ill feelings by making such a statement.

Second, the decision will create a gulf between the Foreign Office and the PPP-led government, which has been ignoring professional advice and implementing decisions that sometimes are not in the national interest. Third, the PPP government has totally ignored the fact that Pakistan does not need such a large number of American diplomats and other personnel.

Here, Abdul pretends that he has some knowledge of professional advice, the national interest, and what is the proper number of diplomats. One would think that given such expertise, he would find himself in government and writing sub-standard newspaper articles.

The reporter goes on to accuse Pakistan’s envoy in Washington of being “in such a hurry to gran visas to US nationals”, but he provides no evidence that this claim is even true. Does Abdul have some intimate acquaintance with the Ambassador to USA that would give him such knowledge? Or is he only making such an accusation with no basis in fact?

At the end of the column, the reporter even goes so far as to boldly state a recommended policy position:

“It is apparent that unilateral steps by the government to grant visas to American nationals or others should be stopped as it could have an impact on Pakistan’s national security.”

This is a blatant opinion and not a news report. That The News continues to publish such columns outside the proper opinion section demonstrates either a lack of attention to journalistic ethics, or a blatant disregard for professional standards.

to be continued…

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Posted in Jang, The News | 2 Comments »

FACT Check on Marvi Memon

Friday, December 18th, 2009

PML-Q leader Marvi Memon recently made a few strange comments to “The News.”

In comments to the paper, Ms. Memon demanded Parliament be provided with the list of 9,236 American visas granted by Ambassador Haqqani. She further requested the whereabouts of each and every American citizen in the country. She went on to say Pakistani forces have the right to stop any vehicle for checking. She further accused the Zardari administration of solidifying its power instead of standing up to the US on the issue of a car carrying an American citizen being pulled over for fake license plates.

There are a few things wrong with this train of thought.

  1. Firstly, many of the visas issued by the Embassy are issued to Pakistanis who are American citizens. They require visas in order to travel back and forth from their homeland. To imply all of these individuals are in some way a risk to national security is absurd.
  2. One cannot help but wonder why the exact whereabouts of every single American citizen is needed by Parliament, or what use Ms. Memon will get out of having this information. It is an Orwellian idea, frightening and full of paranoia.
  3. Pakistani police officers do an amazing job trying to keep us safe. They risk their lives every day, and absolutely no one should forget that. In any case a police officer suspects foul play, he should investigate the situation. That is not something up for discussion, by anyone in Pakistan or the US.
  4. It should also be noted that issuing visas is not something the Ambassador does. There is a section in the Washington, DC Embassy designated for all visa and consular issues, and it is that bureaucratic system that is at issue here.
  5. We in Pakistan have a tendency to personalize everything! It is our Achilles’ heel, and may even be our downfall unless we correct it. As aforesaid, the visas are issued by a completely separate entity – the Consulate – that serves independently of the Ambassador. It would do our people well to do research and at least get the facts straight before trying to score political points over non-issues.

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Posted in Conspiracy Theories, The News | 2 Comments »