Reporter for The Nation responsible for Hype about Blackwater, US Diplomats

The Peshawar Urdu daily Mashriq has run a notice by the father of the Peshawar/Islamabad based reporter, Syed Fawad Ali Shah, who has recently become prominent as a reporter for The Nation and is also known for  writing blogs about journalists and NWFP government officials and their alleged relations with Blackwater.

The notice by the father describes the reporter son as “a blackmailer”, making one wonder why editor Ms Shireen Mazari allows him to use the columns of her newspaper to pretend to be a reporter.  Shah’s attitude is no different from that of Ahmed Quraishi who has a long history of trying to similarly target and blackmail foreign diplomats in Pakistan.

Following is the translation of the notice appearing in The Mashriq:

“My son Syed Fawad Ali Shah S/O Syed Jamat Ali Shah who lists himself as the Bureau Chief of Daily The Nation, is basically not a journalist. Rather he is a blackmailer.  He has published self-created news stories, based on allegations and unauthentic information against civil, government and the officials of other organizations in different newspapers to mentally torture them and blackmail them for his own interests.  This has now become his occupation.  In addition to this, few years back, he obtained a fake degree of Higher Secondary School and managed to get enrolled in the NWFP Police Department as a constable.  Later, based on charges of stealing official files, harassment of lady police workers, blackmailing officers and on a fake degree, a case was lodged against him in the court.  Consequently, he was sacked and was sent behind bars.  Not only he has stolen important files from the NWFP police department but has also been involved in the misuse of files of other departments in NWFP.  I therefore, announce, while addressing the entire journalist fraternity, owners of newspapers, government and semi-government officials, including police department, FATA Secretariat and other government departments with whom my son Fawad Ali Shah is in contact, that my son is a blackmailer, who is using media as a blackmailing tool and those who are in contact with him or are involved in any kind of dealings with him will be responsible for their own losses.  I also announce that I disown my son and expel him from the ownership all of my transferable and non-transferable property.  I also disown and disinherit my other son Syed Abid Ali Shah for collaborating with Fawad Ali Shah in blackmailing people.  Moreover, they won’t be entitled to own my property even after my death.”

This is not the first time Mr. Syed Fawad Ali Shah has been accused of such deeds, though it is by far the most damning coming from his own father. Last fall, Musarrat Ullah Jan, a journalist for Dunya News TV wrote that Syed Fawad Ali Shah had threatened him for comments he had made in a journalist forum.  Mr. Musarrat Ullah Jan gave application against Syed Fawad Ali Shah to Peshawar Police, Khyber Union of Journalist, and Peshawar Press Club. It is further alleged that Mr. Syed Fawad Ali Shah was expelled from Peshawar police for making the same sorts of attempts at blackmail.

The question for The Nation is why, with all of this evidence against Mr. Ali Shah, they chose to publish his claims of being threatened by Blackwater and American diplomats including the US Ambassador to Pakistan – claims that were presented with no evidence other than his word, and which are immediately suspect given allegation by other journalists and even his own father of his manufacturing stories for attention and personal gain.