Posts Tagged ‘Shaheen Sehbai’

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Why are opinion pieces ‘Top Stories’ in The News?

Saturday, July 24th, 2010

The News continues to mistake blatant opinion columns for actual news, and publishes them as top stories in the newspaper.

Today’s issue includes two stories about the second tenure as COAS granted to Gen. Ashraf Kayani by PM Gilani that offer no factual news reporting, but instead are opinion columns opposing Gen. Kayani’s continued service as head of the military.

The first column, by Ikram Sehgal, is not so much a news report at all, but an examination of Gen. Kayani’s new tenure viewed in the context of the author’s previous opinion columns.

In a dramatic late night announcement by the prime minister on July 22, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was given an extension as COAS for three years from the date his present term expires on November 29, 2010. By some coincidence in my article last Thursday, I had said: “A new COAS of the Pakistan Army must be promoted. It would be severely disappointing if Kayani accepted the offer of extension being dangled in front of him. He hasan image that would suffer for posterity. If he cannot be C-in-C, Kayani should refuse an extension in the Waheed Kakar tradition”.

In essence, Ikram Sehgal is even admitting that he is not a news reporter, but is actually a serial opinion columnist. This is fine, and he is certainly entitled to his opinions, but his columns should be moved to the Opinion page and not published as legitimate news stories.

The same problem is found with Ansar Abbasi. His column today is another opinion piece that opposes a new tenure for Gen. Kayani. In fact, Ansar Abbasi’s column does not even pretend to be a factual report, but includes his opinion in the very title of the column: “Was this extension really needed? Probably not.”

Ansar Abbasi goes on to repeat the same opinion voiced by Ikram Sehgal in his column – that Gen. Kayani should refuse to accept a new tenure and simply retire.

Kayani did perform extremely well as the Army chief, he remained apolitical, did not allow the military to intervene in politics, generally believed to have fought well against terrorism, ensured free and fair February 2008 elections and played his role quite sensibly during tense moments but still giving him an extension should have been avoided. It is yet to be seen if Kayani would accept the offer and continue till November 2013. It would, however, be good for the institution of Army if he does not.

This is, unfortunately, not a problem only in today’s issue. Just yesterday, The News Group Editor Shaheen Sehbai wrote an opinon column that was featured as a ‘top story’ and was nothing but an opinion piece with a little conspiracy thrown in for good measure.

The government must be feeling a sense of relief calculating that in the last two years General Kayani has kept the army away from politics, as much as he could, had not interfered even when there was a lot of noise against corruption, highhandedness and defiance to the superior judiciary and had ìtoleratedî the shortcomings or inadequacies of the elected government, deliberately looking away in the national interest.

Again, this is not news reporting but Shaheen Sehbai taking the opportunity to air his opinion against the elected government.

Shaheen Sehbai, Ikram Sehgal and Ansar Abbasi all wrote opinion columns opposing a new tenure as COAS for Gen. Kayani. They did not write news reports. These pieces do not belong as ‘top stories’ but would be appropriate on the opinion page. If The News is concerned that there are too many opinions to fit only the opinion page and thus they need to fill the rest of the newspaper with them, perhaps they need to change their name from The News to The Opinion.

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Ayaz Amir’s warning

Saturday, July 17th, 2010

It’s not unusual to find journalists defending the media. Often there are articles by journalists and TV anchors lamenting the sad state of our media circus, but still defending its right to continue without correction. And one certainly does not have to look very hard to find a politician willing to chastise the media, perhaps even secretly wishing he was the ultimate judge of media content. But it’s rare to find someone who has sat on both sides of the chess table and can see this situation from both points of view. When you find this person, you should probably listen to what he has to say.

Such a person we have in Ayaz Amir, a career journalist who finds himself now in the National Assembly on the PML-N ticket. Writing for The News yesterday, Ayaz Amir makes a persuasive claim that much of today’s media attacks are essentially the work of ‘ivory tower’ intellectuals who are attacking for the sake of the attack, and not for any constructive purpose.

If the political class did not get earlier it should do so now. The target of the campaign set in motion last year was not just Asif Zardari. It was the political system as a whole, all in the name of fighting corruption, the slogan with which every road leading to hell has been paved in Pakistan since 1947.

Zardari was just a metaphor and a symbol. The wheels of intrigue, with a band of media jehadis in the lead, would not have stopped with him. They would have gone on to Nawaz Sharif, ending eventually in that dream of most retired senior mandarins, an ‘interim’ government on the Bangladesh model.

This is an interesting claim, and one that ought to be taken seriously. The blog “New Pakistan” found an older article by Shaheen Sehbai that suggests a “one down, two to go” plan.

The main responsibility of this state of affairs rests with the PPP and its leader Asif Ali Zardari, who has astounded his critics, and supporters, by adopting an almost irresponsible attitude, for reasons not yet known publicly, though there is a lot of talk and buzz that he was having some serious intra-family problems, specially with his own children in Dubai.
…
Mr Musharraf has to be blamed a lot for this continuing uncertainty as he did not have the grace to admit that he was now a problem and the sooner he got out of the way, the easier it may be for the country’s political system to settle down.

He has uselessly wasted his time and energy to hang on to a broken branch, which may snap at any moment but in the process he has dragged the system down and consumed whatever positive momentum the new government had to tackle major issues.

But given his state of mind, no one should have expected him to show grace and should have been booted out earlier. According to all the signals emanating from his old constituency, there would not have been a single soul worried about his departure had it been done properly and quickly. Even now, no tears would be shed if a surgical operation gets him going out of the country, or in a safe house within.
…
A greater responsibility also rests with Mian Nawaz Sharif, who has been consistent in his positions but has failed to take political decisions in line with that position to let the system move on.

He fears that if he breaks the coalition, the system will go down. This is absolutely not the case and no one in any power corridor can think, or is thinking, of disrupting this set-up and bringing in anything wild like the Bangladesh option or a replica of the 1999 Musharraf coup.

Ayaz Amir does note that it is very possible that this is all simply the result of self-righteous media representatives cynically exploiting the news to make fame for themselves without considering the consequences.

There is a self-righteous streak in our middle class, especially the non-voting middle class, which makes it adopt over-pure positions, which far from doing any good end up rolling out the red carpet for military saviours.

But even this is rather strange, if you think about it.

Politicians can be the world’s biggest scoundrels but it would be a dreary and bleak world if they were the only scoundrels around. Every profession has its rogues, every calling its blackguards. No one will accuse generals and judges, or lawyers for that matter, of being saints. No one in his right mind will describe journalists as knights of any round table. Why raise the bar to the skies when it comes to politicians?

For all their complaining about corruption, the media is not so innocent itself. The blog Let Us Build Pakistan published a report on tax defaulters from the media recently, why this did not get so much attention, I wonder? What other bodies are buried in the yards of our sacred cows on TV and in the newspapers?

Of course, this is not to suggest that corruption should not be exposed, only to question why the double standard for the political class and not the journalists? What if we got rid of all the journalists who ever wrote something that did not come true, or did not pay their taxes, or took a drink of some alcohol or flirted with some woman? Who would be left?

There are bombings nearly every day it seems, and yet The News, just for one example, is filled with stories about where someone got their degree, and what the HEC is thinking about the matter. Is this a good use of media? Or is it avoiding the real news? Ayaz Amir is a journalist and a politician also. He can see from both sides of the chess table and provide a unique perspective on the media-political situation. It would be worth our time to pay attention.

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Shaheen Sehbai’s Defamation Double-Standard

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010
MNA Azeem Daultana quotes Shaheen Sehbai's own words - is this defamation?

MNA Azeem Daultana quotes Shaheen Sehbai's own words - is this defamation?

One would think that after a 42-year career in the field of journalism, Shaheen Sehbai would have grown a slightly thicker skin. Instead, it appears that he’s grown quite a bit of cheek! Apparently the Group Editor of The News had his feeling hurt by an article penned by MNA Azeem Daultana and has responded with a Rs 100 Millions defamation notice. Reading The News report about the defamation notice, one wonders if Shaheen Sehbai is asking to be treated with a different standard than he himself observes.

Shaheen Sehbai’s complaint, filed against two province-based newspapers, claims that,

On May 30, 2010, the Editor-in-Chief of The News International received for publication from the Principal Information Officer of the Press Information Department an article entitled ‘Differentiating between journalism and ‘churnalism’: a case study of Shaheen Sehbai’s (‘Defamatory Article’ authored by Azeem Daultana, PPP Parliamentary Secretary for Information).

Besides making several aspersions on the professional integrity, credentials, character and intentions of Shaheen Sehbai, the article specifically stated that Mr Sehbai ’sought an ambassadorial position from Asif Ali Zardari and the PPP government and when Mr Zardari and the government denied him the coveted position and office of profit, he embarked upon a revenge mission against Mr Zardari.’

The PPP MNA was given an opportunity by Mr Sehbai to retract his baseless allegations through an e-mail dated June 12, 2010, within one week and tender an apology for the defamatory accusations. Instead of withdrawing the defamatory accusations and tendering an apology, the article by Mr Daultana was given wider dissemination and was published in two province-based newspapers, besides some suspicious blogs.

This defamation claim is particularly curious because the complainant, Shaheen Sehbai, is notorious himself for writing “baseless allegations” and “defamatory accusations”.

Just in the past few months Shaheen Sehbai has written numerous columns that include charges and allegations that he even admits have no factual support.

On 28 June, Shaheen Sehbai wrote:

The latest in the Zardari camp is to attack the judges, on the one hand, threatening to withdraw their Executive order and throw them on the street by Rehman Malik’s executive power, while on the other to secretly encourage General Musharraf to seriously come back and put together the remnants of the PML-Q under his wings and then cooperate with the PPP against Raiwind.

Where is Shaheen Sehbai’s evidence for such a claim? Or is this merely “baseless allegation” and “defamatory accusation” as well?

On 10 May Shaheen Sehbai wrote:

Brimming with self-delusional overconfidence, President Zardari and his closest minions are also quietly planning a similar offensive against the Establishment, which includes both the Pakistan Army and the country’s bureaucracy.

Against the GHQ, the presidency has plans to restructure the top hierarchy of the services chiefs and reports have been deliberately leaked from the top that the heads of the army, navy and the air force may be brought under a Chief of Defence Staff or CODS.

Of course this never happened. Isn’t this also “baseless allegation” and “defamatory accusation” as well?

On 23 April, Shaheen Sehbai wrote:

Inside the prison, the first objective for an influential, moneyed person is to develop a network of loyalists who can bypass the jail procedures, the manual, deceive the jailors, provide facilities to make life easy, bribe or negotiate with captors and judges and find conduits to communicate with the outside world. This is what Zardari did in his years of jail. He developed the hard core of his cronies – a jail doctor, a hospital owner, a business caretaker, a protocol provider, a media handler, a few political artists, a number of mafia-type jobbers, some trouble shooters, a couple of well-dressed attack dogs and a bunch of gun-wielders who he calls as his loyal security guards.

Where is Shaheen Sehbai’s evidence for such a claim? Or is this merely “baseless allegation” and “defamatory accusation” as well?

It seems that Shaheen Sehbai has a very long history of writing defamatory accusations about President Zardari. So why is he shocked when someone writes of him,

The extent of the writer’s venomous hatred for the President of Pakistan, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, is well known to the readers of this newspaper. It can be judged by a recent piece written by Sehbai titled “Why is the President scared of political actors” published in The News of April 23, 2010, in which he sadly used words like “fiendish” and phrases like “attack dogs” to describe the person and the official staff who – whether we like it or not — represent the office of the President of Pakistan.

Shaheen Sehbai may not like what Azeem Daultana has to say, but at least he has provided some evidence in the form of Sehbai’s own words. That is more courtesy that Shaheen Sehbai ever extended to the president, is it not?

In fact, Azeem Daultana’s supposedly “defamatory” article is filled with quotes from Shaheen Sehbai’s own articles followed by corrections. Does Shaheen Sehbai allege that he has defamed himself?

Sadly, Shaheen Sehbai cannot even help but to make some defamatory statements in his own complaint about defamation. For example, why does he write, “…the article by Mr Daultana was given wider dissemination and was published in two province-based newspapers, besides some suspicious blogs.”

Mr Daultana’s article appears to have been published on the popular blogs Pak Tea House, which is editied by Raza Rumi, a regular columnist for The News, as well as Let Us Build Pakistan, which is edited by a group of Co-editors, all of whom are publicly listed on the website. So why these blogs are called “suspicious”? Is this not yet another example of merely “baseless allegation” and “defamatory accusation” as well?

Shaheen Sehabi has been writing column after column of rumour and innuendo against President Zardari and others. His allegations are regularly made without any evidence, and his predictions have repeatedly failed to come true. He hides behind the cloak of ‘professional journalist’ and uses this title as a talisman to ward off any criticism. Even though Shaheen Sehbai has no problem criticising others, when someone dares to criticise him, he makes a defamation claim. Does Shaheen Sehbai believe he should be held to a different standard than his own?

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Is Shaheen Sehbai reporting the news, or trying to manipulate it?

Monday, June 28th, 2010

Shaheen Sehbai’s article in The News today crosses the line from reporting to attempting to influence the public perception of current events. I would not even call this analysis, as mostly it is Shaheen Sehbai making statements without any evidence or sources. I suppose this should come as no surpise after Imran Aslam, president of International Media Corp which owns the Jang Group, admitted that they use anti-government bias to boost their ad revenue. But when are we going to at least require some facts and evidence before allowing all such rumours and biases to be published as if they were facts?

The ridiculousness of Shaheen Sehbai’s latest article is immediately apparent from the title alone. Because he does not make a point that is easily turned into a headline, the editors at The News ended up stringing together a series of statements. At 38 words long one cannot help but laugh.

The politics of Raiwind and the Mian brothers; Sharifs fear mly intervention if they go all out against Zardari; sticking to principles may cost them Punjab govt; with Zardari on the rampage, will the Army be sucked in?

The headline is so ridiculous that it even necessitated shortening words like ‘military’ and ‘government’ to make it fit! Actually, though, the ranting style of the title is perhaps a perfect way to introduce the incoherent rambling that follows.

But let’s take a look at the meat of the matter and decide whether or not Shaheen Sehbai is actually reporting or just making stuff up.

Shaheen Sehbai for the PML-N

Shaheen Sehbai right out of the gate sounds like an official spokesman for PML-N. He claims that the Sharif brothers are caught in a ‘Catch-22′ because they are faced with wanting to maintain order to avoid a military coup while also wanting to stand by their ‘principles’ in opposing the present government. Consider how this is framed by Sehbai:

Their dilemma is complex and not an easy one to resolve. If they go all out against Zardari, they think the military camel will again get the chance to put its neck in the political tent, ultimately driving out the genuine residents into a hot desert sun.

If they do not stop Zardari & Co from the massive plundering of state institutions and misuse of political authority, they run the risk of being left out and have to face the genuine criticism of being the friendly opposition, with the PPP running away with everything.

Shaheen Sehbai refers to the ‘Mian brothers of Raiwind’ but I almost expected him to start calling them the ‘Farishtein brothers’ or maybe just ‘the Angels of Punjab’. How else can one describe it when Nawaz Sharif is described as having “confined himself into such a cocoon of self-righteousness that he has ignored the pressing needs and absolutely essential political maneuvers that he must have already made to keep his party in power”. Suddenly Nawaz Sharif is a dervish, whirling away the days while the evil mastermind is plotting and scheming from Zardari house.

Shaheen Sehbai's "Angels of Punjab"

I will not list the controversies that surround the Sharif brothers. Certainly, they are no angels. But who in politics is a perfect angel? Or has Shaheen Sehbai challenging Ahsan Iqbal as the new PML-N Secretary of Information?

Meanwhile, while he praises the purity of the ‘Angels of Punjab’, Shaheen Sehbai has no problem throwing accusations of the worst sort against the nation’s president. What, for example, does Sehbai mean by “the massive plundering of state institutions and misuse of political authority”? Certainly a writer with the years of experience that Shaheen Sehbai has knows better than to make such accusations with no facts or evidence. If he has some facts about plundering or abuse of authority, please write about those incidents specifically so they may be brought to light. But to simply make serious accusations without being able to point to some specific incident is not reporting, it is only slander.

Shaheen Sehbai Looking Into the Future

And Shaheen Sehbai does not stop there. He goes on to accuse Zardari of plotting to withdraw the 17 March 2009 Executive Order which restored the judges. Again, where is the evidence for such a serious claim? Is Shaheen Sehbai’s crystal ball telling him some magical rumours again? Later in his column Sehbai drops even any pretense of honesty and, instead of pretending there is a rumour about withdrawing an Executive Order, he claims that the government is “threatening to withdraw their Executive order and throw them on the street by Rehman Malik’s executive power”. Who has been threatening? Who has done this alleged act? Or can Shaheen Sehbai not even remember his storyline from a few paragraphs before? First it comes from his crystal ball, then it becomes a threat of Rehman Malik? This is not journalism, this is simply fiction writing.

What is worst, though, is when Shaheen Sehbai tries himself to instigate a military coup. What else could he be attempting when he writes lines like, “the PPP is not worried about any military intervention as privately Zardari and the main PPP stalwarts boast that they have used the Sindh Card in such a way the Army will never dare to touch them again”. Are these ‘PPP stalwarts’ boasting privately to Shaheen Sehbai that the party dares challenge the military? Or his he, perhaps, simply making it up?

Of course, this is nothing new to Shaheen Sehbai who has long tried to instigate the military and government to go to war with each other. For Shaheen Sehbai, they are all just carrom men for his own game playing.

Judge Jury and Executioner

media executioners

Unfortunately, playing political games in the media can have real consequences. We are not all wooden pieces in a parlour game, we are actual people. When so-called journalists like Shaheen Sehbai write these political diatribes that they masquerade as ‘news media’, they can have a dastardly influence on real events.

Jawed Naqvi, writing for Dawn today, tells the story of a media frenzy in India that may result in a man’s death. The man in this case is Afzul Guru, convicted for having some part in the attack on Indian Parliament on 13 December 2001. Though his conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2004, his execution has been postponed while the government hears a petition for clemency due to questions of whether or not he received a fair trail. But here is where things get problamatic.

A notable aspect of the Supreme Court’s judgement centred on its conclusion that the death sentence on Guru was expected to placate “the collective conscience of society”. Now there is only one way in which the collective conscience of the society can be divined without a referendum or an election. It is through the media. The Express evidently is among the chief keepers of the public conscience. Another as it turned out was the NDTV news channel.

Just a few weeks ago NDTV was airing the views of “we the people” who were adamant demanding the public hanging of Guru and Mumbai attack convict Ajmal Kasab. Some wanted their eyes to pop out of the sockets, others pleaded that a jail sentence would better ensure that the recipients went mad with their suffering. As soon as the mercy petition was filed for Guru, NDTV immediately aired his confessional interview. The interview was rejected by the Supreme Court as material evidence. But the keepers of India’s collective conscience – its media – continued to use it to mobilise public opinion against Guru’s mercy plea. Human rights activists saw it as an attempt to influence the Presidential pardon adversely.

Now consider the following passage from Shaheen Sehbai’s column:

Another key confusion which refuses to go away is the perceived threat in the minds of the Sharifs, or Nawaz Sharif in particular, about the threat of military intervention. The Army has walked away from politics and Zardari has realized and capitalized on this, at least so far. He has taken positions which otherwise would have been difficult but he is now confident he can handle the Army. Nawaz Sharif is not so confident, but why?

The answer to this question is simple. Nawaz thinks he would be the one to lose more if a situation was created in which the Army walks back in. But with this fear in mind, he has stopped even playing the normal role an opposition should play. The massive loot and plunder and the spate of stories of corruption, misuse of authority, wastage of funds etc is all going by default with no one to challenge it effectively either in parliament or on the streets. Press conferences and TV interviews cannot stop this rot and this has not yet been understood by Nawaz Sharif.

The Army-PML-N relations and any misunderstandings if they had, should have been cleared when Shahbaz Sharif and Ch Nisar Ali Khan met the Army chief openly, and secretly, several times. Why has that not happened is a mystery but the Sharifs have to realise that the way Zardari is on the rampage, he will ultimately suck the Army in, whether the Sharifs like it or not. So why not check Zardari politically before he makes it impossible and the only way then left is through an outside intervention.

How can this be read as anything but a dangerous attempt to influence both the PML-N to force a coup d’etat?

The Devil in the Detail

And this is where the truth finally comes out. Shaheen Sehbai tells what his true intentions are in the closing paragraphs.

The answer to all this PML-N confusion and dilemma is for Nawaz Sharif to come out of his cocoon, stop worrying about the Army intervention, stand strongly behind the judges and the judiciary, a free media and confront the government by political moves and hard criticism where needed.

The political moves must include forgetting the Charter of Democracy for the moment as it is already irrelevant in the present context, throw the PPP out of his coalition in the Punjab by getting the PML-Q people back through a face-saving formula, giving them importance and attracting others, re-arranging the decks in the NA by forming alliances and mending fences with MQM, ANP and JUI and doing the political act of throwing out the PPP through the democratic process.

It is hard for me to demand that the Charter of Democracy should be buried, as I am one of its initiators, but when signatories do not adhere to the agreements, it becomes redundant by itself. The Sharif brothers must wake up before Zardari and Associates who are claiming that 2013 will the year the PPP will sweep the Punjab, becomes a reality.

Even his ‘Angel’ Nawaz Sharif is merely a carrom man for Shaheen Sehbai’s strategy to instigate a coup d’etat and throw the Charter of Democracy in the dustbin. He would like Nawaz to play his role in the game quickly, though. For Shaheen Sehbai fears that in the 2013 elections, Punjab voters might elect PPP. I suppose this is just too much democracy for Shaheen Sehbai when voters elect the wrong party!

Shaheen Sehbai doesn’t have to be pro-democracy. He can even be pro-coup if he really wants to. This is a democracy and he has the freedom to believe what he wants and vote how he wants. That is his right. But making up stories and using his privileges as a Jang employee in an attempt to manipulate events is both unethical and irresponsible. That’s not journalism, it’s just propaganda. Please, stick to real journalism and stop playing games with people’s lives.

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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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Who is Shaheen Sehbai working for?

Monday, May 10th, 2010

Shaheen SehbaiGen. Musharraf

Shaheen Sehbai is back with more of his psychic magic in The News. Today he uses his psychic powers to read the mind of, as usual, President Zardari who he says is ‘on a warpath‘ against, well, everyone. But today’s column takes a new, and troubling direction. While the silliness and contradictions that we have come to expect from Shaheen Sehbai are ever present, there is a dark lining to this new column that suggests something very sinister in the works.

Sehbai begins his column by claiming that President Zardari ‘and his closest minions’ are planning an offensive against the military the same way they are waging a war on “the Supreme Court, parliament, its own coalition partners, the opposition, the media and its own government, even the party and its prime minister.”

Allow me to explain just how devious Zardari is. He has masterminded a war on the Supreme Court by reinstating Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry; on the parliament by signing 18th Amendment to return more power to it; on coalition partners by asking for open discussions and negotiations about difficult issues. He has gone to war with the opposition by consulting them on important issues – how else was the 18th Amendment passed unanimously? As for attacking the PM, handing over powers to him is a strange method of attack.

Actually, it was only a few weeks ago that this same author Shaheen Sehbai wrote that Zardari was all but finished, and that he was struggling to stay in office.

His presidential powers are gone, despite the best delaying tactics that he could deploy. His strategies have failed miserably, examples being not restoring the judges, toppling the Sharif brothers in the Punjab, resisting the nullification of the NRO, getting money from the so-called Friends of Pakistan, appointing his own judges, taking over the ISI, dictating the India and Afghan policy, running the day-to-day government, buying over the media and finally keeping the PPP under his thumb.

So, which is it Mr. Sehbai? Has Zardari gone on a warpath against everyone, or is he a failed President who has given away his powers?

Of course, the truth does not matter to Shaheen Sehbai. This is all a set up, of course, to allow him to publish a new set of rumours. This time, he starts by saying that the President is going to try to cut the powers of Gen. Kayani. Sehbai’s evidence is that “There have been whispers in power corridors for several weeks…” That’s right. Sehbai claims that there is a rumour. He names no sources, of course; presents no evidence, but only claims that he has heard a rumour. Then Shaheen Sehbai does something truly surprising.

Sehbai admits that he is making it up.

Surprisingly, all efforts of this writer, and my team in Islamabad, to get to know the factual position about these structural changes in the armed forces have come to a naught so far.

What?!? Let’s read that one more time…

Surprisingly, all efforts of this writer, and my team in Islamabad, to get to know the factual position about these structural changes in the armed forces have come to a naught so far.

That’s right. Sehbai says himself that he has no factual evidence for anything he is writing. It has been already shown that Sehbai does not have connections in the armed forces, so why should we be surprised that he has no facts? But I must admit that I am a bit surprised that Sehbai has decided to admit that he is just making the whole thing up.

Of course, this does not stop him from continuing with this web of conspiracies and rumours.

Actually, when Shaheen Sehbai does reveal some of the sources of these rumours, they are quite troubling. “Circles close to General Musharraf in London and Washington are already telling everyone…” Wait just one minute. Is Shaheen Sehbai truly writing that his sources for inside information are “Circles close to General Musharraf in London and Washington”?

These are the “whispers in power corridors” that Shaheen Sehbai has been listening to? Not only are these not people in power, these are people who have a very clear agenda against Pakistan. Musharraf is being investigated in connection with the murder of Benazir Bhutto – and Shaheen Sehbai thinks that his advisors in Washington and London are a good source of inside information about the government? This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

In fact, Shaheen Sehbai’s entire column appears to be simply repeating rumours started by Musharraf’s advisors overseas. Shaheen Sehbai writes:

This is quoted by the Musharraf people as one more reason for the growing belligerence of PPP against Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who it is said, may be turned into a Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, if he tried to press too hard on the Swiss cases.

We are supposed to believe Musharraf’s foreign advisors about any issues related to Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry? Rubbish.

Shaheen Sehbai really becomes quite cheeky though when he says that officials in the Law Ministry “have opted to go home as they know that these political gamblers will be the first to fly away leaving them in the lurch.”

Remember, all of what he is telling is rumour coming from “Circles close to General Musharraf in London and Washington”. Tell me again who will be the first to fly away?

But knowing that Shaheen Sehbai is only repeating talking points from Musharraf’s Washington and London advisors helps make some sense out of his article. It has been well established by other commentators that Shaheen Sehbai has a history of trying to set different actors against each other. Actually, this is his modus operandi.

Let’s take a moment to go back and examine his present column knowing this:

First, he tries to set government against military.
Then, he tries to set government against judiciary.
Next, he tries to incite MQM against PPP.
Not content to be finished there, Sehbai writes some slander about PM Gilani and tries to create suspicion between the PM and FM Qureshi.

This is what causes me great concern. Shaheen Sehbai has resorted to publishing rumours he has been told by Musharraf’s foreign advisors, and slandering officials in the military, parliament, and the government. He is clearly trying to incite suspicion and doubt between government officials. Normally, I might think he is just trying to get headlines. But the fact that he admits all of his evidence comes from rumours told to him by Musharraf’s Washington and London advisors makes me fear there is something more sinister going on.

Could it be that Shaheen Sehbai is acting as a political operative, not a journalist? If so, what is his political objective? Is he actually trying to pave the path for Musharraf to return to power?

Given all this, a question arises: Why is The News allowing its pages to be used for political propaganda?

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Shaheen Sehabi Explains What It Means To “Have No Shame”

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

Amir Mateen’s attempt a script writing seems to have disappointed ‘The Godfather’ of wild storylines, Amir’s mentor Shaheen Sehbai. In today’s The News, Sehbai shows Mateen how to really write an attack column. Sehbai’s column targets his favourite topic, of course, Asif Ali Zardari.

Before we begin, we must mention that The News has published this bit of writing in the National News section, not the Opinion page. Perhaps the editors were confused by the lack of a ‘Libel’ section in the newspaper – something they should definitely consider including. It would make it so much easier on their dear readers.

shameSehbai starts his column in a prison, which he seems to have detailed knowledge about. We meet the ‘Evil Genius’ Zardari that Amir Mateen introduced us to, but now he is not just an Evil Genius, but he is running a massive prison gang filled with goons that would make Scarface blush with envy.

Sehbai doesn’t tell us who exactly these people are, or how he has learned any of this information, of course. Rather he just tells us that “a number of mafia-type jobbers, some trouble shooters, a couple of well-dressed attack dogs and a bunch of gun-wielders” are now running the show and that “every other sane voice, adviser or friend” has been suppressed. So, we are to believe that the people elected a national government filled with mafia-type killers.

Do not wait for Sehbai to be filling in the cast later. This is one of his most common plot devices – the ‘Mystery Man.’ Shaheen Sehbai knows that he will quickly be sued for libel if he even hints at a name for one of his these colorful characters who you never actually meet, so he gives no one a name. But here is a question for Mr. Sehbai: If you truly believe what you write – that there are mafia-type killers in the government – why don’t you file some report? Why don’t you, at a minimum, name some names? Surely you will be protected by the courts who will see you are only doing a duty. Unless, of course, you are making it all up.

Sehbai goes on to claim that Zardari lost his powers “despite the best delaying tactics that he could deploy.” Apparently the best delaying tactics he could deploy were to voluntarily push the parliament to pass the 18th Amendment and then signing it. Seems like a strange way to delay a bill, if you ask me. Of course, many of the “failures” that Shaheen Sehbai mentions “may not be entirely visible.” This is more exciting than saying, ‘it didn’t happen.’ Or perhaps this is just more of Shaheen Sehbai’s ‘Wishful Journalism.’

Next, Shaheen Sehbai begins to cry that Zardari and his government “make wild accusations and tall claims and trash the opponents without any decency.” This is really too much! Shaheen Sehbai is accusing someone of ‘making wild accusations’ and ‘tall claims’ and ‘trashing opponents without any decency!’ Oh, I just might fall out of my chair. That is truly hilarious.

Who is the victim of these attacks by Zardari and his friends? According to Sehbai it is “a democracy and freedom-loving media.” Yes, you have read this correctly. It’s okay. I will wait for you to finish laughing.

Shaheen Sehbai spends the rest of his article writing things like this:

[Zardari's] close associates, who talk freely against him when sitting in private drawing rooms, say he will stick to the Presidency to keep his immunity if the courts force him to quit either the PPP office or the Presidency.

How does Shaheen Sehbai know what Zardari’s close associates say in private drawing rooms? Are we to believe that the close friends of the President of Pakistan are stabbing him in the back to give some gossip to…Shaheen Sehbai? Shaheen Sehbai can’t even get himself invited to a military press briefing, but we are supposed to believe that he has insider knowledge from the President’s close friends. It is too much to believe.

Sehbai makes more of his famous predictions, this time about Zardari’s secret plans to place his sister as head of PPP. Sehbai’s evidence for this is that:

…the PPP post is called that of a co-chairperson, when it actually should be co-chairman.

Really? THAT is your evidence of a conspiracy? Perhaps Shaheen Sehbai is a sexist, but that does not make a conspiracy.

After this, things take a turn for the truly bizarre as Shaheen Sehabi then calls on the entire nation to unite against Zardari in order to prevent…”another spell of military rule.” It is almost as if Shaheen Sehbai believes that if he follows one crazy statement with another that is even crazier, that maybe people will forget that the first thing he said is crazy.

Obviously, people can have their own opinions about the 18th Amendment and whether there need to be some more changes made. But does anyone really believe that Zardari is going to usher in military rule? Rather it seems that uniting to overthrow Zardari would usher in the military. I don’t pretend to see the future, but Sehbai’s logic is truly puzzling.

Sehbai next goes on to suggest that the Prime Minister to dismiss all the ministers and government officials and replace them with…well, Sehbai doesn’t say. He just says “credible and respected people” should be appointed. Perhaps Shaheen Sehbai could provide a list?

Most hilarious, though, is what Shaheen Sehbai says about the Supreme Court.

It is unfortunate that through a smart game of politicking the focus on implementation of NRO judgments has been shifted to the tussle between the SC and parliament. This tussle is a long drawn test match but the SC has to complete the T20 match it started on the NRO first.

Does Sehbai really want to call the NRO judgments a ‘T20′ match? T20 may be popular, but it is obviously just flashy entertainment and all show, not a real ‘test’ of the two sides. We have had enough show trials in this country. The NRO judgments should be given more thought and consideration that a T20 match.

And this is the problem with Shaheen Sehbai’s column. It is as if he wrote it while watching a match on television, and hurried to write down whatever nonsense popped into his head. His column is filled with the typical assortment of mystery sources, wishful journalism, crazy predictions, and poor logic. He writes a long and drawn-out attack with a poison pen, and he complains that his victim is hurting his own very sensitive feelings. Once again, Jang Group publishes all of this as news. THAT, dear readers, is the real shame.

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Posted in Jang, The News | 4 Comments »

Watching the Watchers

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

Zaair Hussain’s column in Daily Times today is an excellent explanation of why it is so important that we, the citizens, keep a check on the media and do not allow it to become like a dictator in its own right.  We talk about accountability for government officials, politicians, and police – but rarely do we ask for accountability from our journalists.

For example, why is it that a journalist like Shaheen Sehbai can continually make wrong predictions, and still he continues? Or that Ahmed Quraishi can say the most wild conspiracy theories over and over again with no consequences?

This is not to say that there should be some laws against free speech. Quite the contrary. But what it does mean is that, if we are going to have a press that is both free and fair, we the citizens will have to keep our eyes on them to hold them to standards of professionalism – especially if they will not do it themselves.

(more…)

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Are So-Called Defense Experts Really Connected?

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Interesting article received from a dear reader by email. It raises the question of why some journalists who are considered defense experts were not invited to a recent press briefing by the military. As always, please write in your tips and articles to pakistanmediawatch@gmail.com!

Not invited

A few weeks ago, Army Chief Gen. Kiyani invited editors and columnists to a press briefing. Interestingly, Ahmed Quraishi, Shireen Mazari, Shaheen Sehbai, and Shahid Masood were not invited. Was this an intentional snub by the military brass to send a clear signal that these people do not speak for the military? Or was it just that these journalists are so irrelevant that the Army did not think to invite them?

Usually, if a reporter is truly close to the establishment, they are not only invited, they are given special access like a closed door briefing before the official briefing so that they can get background statements from the officials. These four not only got no invitation to a closed door briefing, they were not even invited to the regular press briefing!

Ahmed Quraishi, Shireen Mazari, Shaheen Sehbai, and Shahid Masood are well known for claiming to be unofficial experts on the Pakistani establishment – especially the military. They are always saying that they have spoken to high up sources, even when what they say turns out to be wrong. But it seems from this latest snub that they are not as connected as they claim to be.

Ahmed Quraishi and Shireen Mazari in particular tend to represent ‘old think’ on security issues. They support a military coup and for the military to cut iself off from allied powers and are opposed to the present democracy and the way that Gen. Kiyani is working with the government.

While each of them probably has some contacts from the military, it could be that their contacts may not be current military leaders. Also, it could be that their sources are actually retired military or ex-military who supported the Musharraf and Zia dictatorships and are filling their heads with false information rather than accurate information in attempt to disrupt the actual policies of the current military establishment.

If this is the case, it makes sense for them not to receive invitations to press briefings by the military brass. The military leadership would recognize them as working for elements that are opposing the actual plans and policies of Gen. Kiyani and his staff so they would refuse them any invitations.

None of these media personalities will reveal who their sources are, so we do not know if this is the case. It could be that sometimes their sources do not exist at all, but are simply invented in order to give their articles and talk shows some air of authority that is missing. But it seems very apparent that if they cannot even get an invitation to a public press briefing, they probably do not have sources that are very high up.

Was this a calculated snub? Is it because Ahmed Quraishi, Shireen Mazari, Shaheen Sehbai, and Shahid Masood do not represent the Army? Are Ahmed Quraishi, Shireen Mazari, Shaheen Sehbai, and Shahid Masood reflecting an old mindset from the past that the present establishment wants to distance itself from? Or does the military brass think that Ahmed Quraishi, Shireen Mazari, Shaheen Sehbai, and Shahid Masood are just too irrelevant to bother inviting them?

Whatever the answers are, one thing is made clear by the snub – Ahmed Quraishi, Shireen Mazari, Shaheen Sehbai, and Shahid Masood obviously do not speak for the military.

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Wishful Journalism (part 1): The End of the Zardari Government

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

This is the first post in a series on ‘Wishful Journalism’ – an unfortunate practice that seems to be taking place more than actual reporting in some parts of the media.

There is a difference between wishing for something and reporting something. Unfortunately, this is too often lost on our journalists who prefer to actual reporting to only say something that they wish would come true even if it is not based in any facts. This is not journalism. It is only wishing.

From the day of his election as President, Shaheen Sehbai has been predicting the failure of President Zardari. A few months later, Sehbai continued his wishful thinking:

My considered opinion is that the present Zardari-led set-up will not last long as it has been structured on a wrong and distorted political premise as result of which the key players who have emerged as main power wielders were never in the picture, neither of Benazir Bhutto’s PPP, which actually got the votes and won the seats in the February 18 elections, nor anyone else. And these new players have failed to establish their political legitimacy and moral authority through their actions after coming to power.

Seven months later, Zardari was still in office. It seems the key players had more political legitimacy than perhaps Mr. Sehbai had hoped. Rather than admit his mistake, however, Mr. Sehbai simply wished harder.

The PPP and its Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have now started talking in exceptionally confident and aggressive terms, the latest statement made to Geo TV’s Hamid Mir stating categorically that he was ready to create history – which in other words suggests that he was about to stage a political and moral coup against his own party co-chairperson, Mr Zardari, because his government had turned into a joke and Mr Zardari, exercising all the powers, had failed to come up with any successful initiative or policy.

Again, several months pass and, despite all of Mr. Sehbai’s wishes, Zardari remained in office. Again, rather than admit his mistake, Mr. Sehbai published more Wishful Journalism.

The State Department, specifically Hillary Clinton, has almost categorically declared that they are no longer interested in saving President Asif Ali Zardari if he falls in his current battle for survival, waging in the superior courts of Pakistan. But the message Pakistanis have been sent is to get over with the in-house turmoil and transition as quickly as possible to stabilise the democratic system and focus on the war on terror.

Once again, Mr. Sehbai’s wishes were denied.

Of course, Shaheen Sehbai is obviously not the only Wishful Journalist who has written about Zardari’s imminent removal as President. Dr. Shahid Masood wrote his wishes last October, saying that the Americans were going to remove Zardari from power.

After meeting top political and defence decision-makers here in the US capital, where I was invited by the National Defence University (NDU) for a two-day seminar on the anniversary of 9/11, I was told in unambiguous terms that a change in Pakistan was inevitable for US policy interests, although Washington does not intend to disrupt the system.

Several important Pakistani political players have also been conveyed the same message by the US political and defence establishment, including the MQM and recently the ANP, whose chief is travelling with President Asif Zardari in New York.

The Americans were only a new twist on an old wish, though. Several months before, it was the “minus one formula” that was secretly worked out between the Chief of Army Staff, PM Gilani, and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif that was going to remove Zardari from power. Then there was the mid-term elections that were going to take place and re-shuffle the entire government. Or was it the NRO verdict that was going to remove Zardari from power?

Can you see the pattern?

‘Wishful Journalism’ is practiced by writing something that you wish is true. When it turns out not to be true, you do not admit your mistake and offer a correction. Rather, you wait a few months and then say your wish again. Maybe this time with a new twist. Instead of Army overthrowing Zardari, it is the Americans! Or the judiciary! Either way, it is still a wish based on no supporting facts. It is still not actual reporting, and not real analysis.

Making wishes is not the same as proper journalism. It is fine for me to wish to be rich and good looking, but no matter how many times I write an article saying I am rich and good looking, it does not make it come true. Actually, it is just a waste of everyone’s time.

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