Open Invite to Hamid Mir
May 26, 2010
Mr. Hamid Mir
Geo TV and Jang Group of Pakistan
Dear Sir:
I am writing to you today regarding the allegations that you are somehow involved with the Taliban and the assassination of Mr. Khalid Khawaja. As you know, the Daily Times published the first transcript and the Let Us Build Pakistan (LUBP) website broke the story on the internet.
We have since seen constant headlines throughout Pakistan and the world – with many in the media failing to give you a fair platform to present your side of the story. In an effort to set the record straight, you have emailed the American newspaper, Washington Times, with a comprehensive defense against the allegations made against you.
Sir, I am writing as a member of the very blog that published these allegations. Though we have disagreed in the past, we here at LUBP feel strongly everyone is entitled a fair opportunity to face their accusations and offer a defense of their character and actions.
LUBP has formed an online radio show called Students 4 Democratic Pakistan. We have covered this topic and hereby invite you to participate in the next show – time of your choosing – where you are most welcome to call in and engage in a respectful discussion with our editors and bloggers. We would be honored to have your side of the story and a chance to discuss the details with you.
We eagerly await your response.
Sincerely,
Let Us Build Pakistan
Don’t hold your breath. With each passing day Hamid Mir is blaming everyone from small green men to his own grandmother of conspiracy against him. Doesn’t sound as if he is innocent to me.
em ready to have a great time on Radio Show with Mir 😉 Aaja mere baalma tera intizaar hy !!
Thank you Anas, Sana and Khawer for this excellent initiative. Let us hope Mir sahib will be able to find some time for the proposed radio interview.
Pakistani Journalists should report or file the story in the newspapers and leave the conclusion to the readers instead of Filing the news [specifically The News and Jang] in the morning and beat the drum of the same story in the Night Show [Talk Shows] to pressurize the Public the accept [read Trash] their story as a Cardinal Truth. Open your eyes! This is not 1977 this is 2010 and people often consult other sources to verify the facts.
You must see these Journalists [not all] in any Press Club because most of the time they eat and “Drink” together and behave as if they the dearest friends amongst themselves and when one of them leave the company [even for taking a leak] then you should observe their “Backbiting” against the very same colleague they would have shared the bread a little while ago. So infested and infected with “Superiority Complex” that would make you puke. This thing you won’t find in those Journalists who have seen the Good Old Days of Late. Ahmed Ali Khan, Late. Zamir Niazi, Late. Nisar Osmani, Late. Zafar Samdani and countless other Respected Journalists. For example, even a one short meeting with Late. Ahmed Ali Khan [Former Editor Dawn, A Great Man, A Great Human Being and then a Great Journalist and sorry to say a Maternal Unlce of ACCURSED SHAHEEN SEHBAI (Khan Sahab was never happy with his nephew] would make you feel lighter like a Fresh Air and that magnetism was only because of his humility, humbleness and civilized nature of Khan Sahab [he was Famous as Khan Sahab]. Once a Chief Crime Reporter [who later worked in Newsline and Time Weekly] cheated on a crucial report and Khan Sahab immediately sent his packing and within half an hour the Correspondent was sacked [that Journalist deserved that] – Even Rascal Like Zia used to meet him with much respect.
Journalists should learn some manners from their elders.
Pakistan’s icon of press freedom, Zamir Niazi, whose book The Web of Censorship is a prescribed read for students at Ivy League universities, is today, flying solo against the poseurs in Pakistani press. Anticipating another labour of love, I shoot off an e-mail to him. “It’s more a labour of anger and frustration!” he archly relies. “For the last three decades, I have fought for freedom of thought and expression. The press is really free to a great extent,” reminding me that while the newspapers of today are “better printed and better produced,” with more pay to its workers, “but look at the content…believe me, with a few honourable exceptions, the majority of reporters are on the payroll of one or another agency.” A scholar of international acclaim, who has dedicated his life researching, analyzing and writing on Pakistani press, he now feels let down by his own ilk. “Most journalists/reporters/writers shun reading books or absorbing themselves in serious study,” he laments. “You will not believe that even senior persons, including some editors, do not read their own newspapers.” He has contempt for journalists who enjoy all kinds of “perks and privileges” and when their demands are denied, “they cry foul.” As a crusader for this very class of people who wield the pen, Niazi, who wrote his famous book, The Press in Chains, is a bundle of angst who now wants the title changed to The Books in Chains – Libraries in Flames. What a sad reflection of our times. [Courtesy: Daily Dawn There’s deception to every rule by By Anjum Niaz – Dawn Magazine (LINK IS DEAD)]
It is matter of great concern that some senior journalists are supporting Hamid Mir while no investigation has taken place yet. Is possible to generate fake voice, speech, and style of talking? If yes than Pakistan is advanced in this new technology and telephonic conversation between and Mulla and Baitullah Mehsood regarding killing of Benazir Bhutto may also be fake.
Many years back I had read “A Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. Dr. Jekyll was a honorable person of the society, a man of principles, well humane, but after drinking a potion of his invented medicine, the same Dr. Jekyll transformed into a horrible inhuman character and does all no-nos prohibited in the society, even committed murder.
So many days have elapsed since the surfacing of this controversial tape but no clear version from Hamid Mir has so far been availabe. Only hectic and somersault statements implicating Hamid Gul and Mirza Aslam Baig. In all probablities, Hamid Mir looks a guilty conscious person at this point in time. I watched Talat Hussain show and at the start of this program Talat informed the participants and the audience that he had also invited Hamir Mir to present his case but somehow Hamid Mir did not join. Masses are very quesitive, when they do not get the truth they assume for themselves. I, myself, am at a loss as to why Hamir Mir is behaving like this. He is a journalist and he has a right to talk to Talibans to dig out some truth beneficial for public and administration as well. But, no, the matter is not that simple as it looks, it might have some serious issues, not unfolded at this point in time.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/world/murdered-isi-officials-son-blames-tv-anchor-m-zulqernain-28186.php
The son of a former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) official who was abducted and killed by militants has filed an application with Pakistani police in which he has held popular TV anchor Hamid Mir and a Punjabi Taliban leader responsible for the murder. Osama Khalid, the son of slain ISI official Khalid Khwaja, filed the application for the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) at Shalimar police station in Islamabad, which has jurisdiction over the area in which Mir lives.
He sought the registration of an FIR under section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which relates to murder. In the application, he alleged that Mir supplied “wrong information” about his father to Punjabi Taliban leader Usman Punjabi and instigated him to kill his father. Osama also nominated the Asian Tigers and its members in his application. The Asian Tigers, a hitherto unheard of militant group, had claimed responsibility for kidnapping and killing Khwaja. Deputy Superintendent of Police Naeem Iqbal said police were considering the possibility of registering a case.
However, a final decision would be made after analysing the legal aspects of the case, he said. Osama said he hoped that he would get justice. “All material, including the tape of a conversation between Hamid Mir and Usman Punjabi, has been handed over to the police. We will also provide some sensitive material to the police at an appropriate time because it involves matters of national interest,” he said.
He vowed that he would expose Mir’s “deep relations with Taliban militants”. Mir has been at the centre of a controversy after a recording of a purported conversation between him and a Punjabi Taliban leader was leaked on the internet earlier this month. Some media organisations have called for an impartial investigation into the tape. In the conversation, Mir is heard accusing Khawaja of being a double agent working for the CIA and the Ahmedi sect. Mir also accused Khwaja of playing a “dirty” role in the 2007 standoff between the military and radical elements holed up in the Lal Masjid in Islamabad.
Over 100 people, including hardline cleric Ghazi Abdul Rashid, were killed when the army stormed the mosque. Khwaja was kidnapped on March 26 in Pakistan’s restive tribal belt along with another former ISI official, Col Imam alias Sultan Amir Tarar, and a British journalist of Pakistani origin, Asad Qureshi Khwaja was shot dead on April 30 while the other two men are still being held by the Asian Tigers. Osama alleged: The mistake my father committed was that he told Hamid Mir that he was heading to Waziristan on a peace mission. Mir disclosed this to his friends there.
I have with me the call record (of the conversation between Mir and the Punjabi Taliban militant). “The call was made on April 19 and the video of my father’s confessional statement was released to the media on April 23. That is enough evidence to lay hands on the so-called journalist for his role in the killing of my father,” he further alleged. Mir refused to comment, saying his lawyer has stopped him from making any statements on the issue.
The Chief Justice of Pakistan must take Suo Moto action on delaying registering FIR against the journalist. Father of the complainant was murdered last month and a tape has surfaced in which the accused journalist is heard telling a terrorist about khawaja being a CIA agent. This is enough for registration of FIR. Further investigation may be carried out after arresting the journalist. This is the law of the land and no one is above law. Nowadays there is talk about withdrawing immunity enjoyed by the head of state which has been guaranteed in the constitution. What about unwritten immunity being enjoyed by journalists and judges. Is there any clause in Constitution Of Pakistan that journalist or a judge cannot be arrested on any criminal charge?
One thing leads to another. I have not heard the tape, but its contents are being cited and discussed on web pages abundantly. What transpires to me, Hamid Mir quoted “Khwaja is CIA agent and Ahmedi agent as well”. Within 2 or 3 days after surfacing of this tape, a horrible terrorist attack was made on Ahmedi worship place in Lahore and around 80 innocent persons perished. If the above said quote was linked with this act of terrorism as well, a horrible picture comes out.
God save Pakistan and doom her enemies.
Cannot agree with u more on the emphasis of putting these “so called” Media leaders on a fair platform. Great work guys.