Pakistan’s second richest man: Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman

The notorious blackmailer, anarchist and the owner of the Jang/Geo Group of Pakistan

Geo TV involved in running anti-Zardari campaign

November 20, 2009

Lahore: Leaders of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party have accused two TV anchors of running a vilification campaign against President Asif Ali Zardari at the behest of “anti-democratic” forces.

Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, a close aide of PPP chief Zardari, said: “Two anchors of a popular private channel are running a malicious campaign against the President but they will not succeed in their designs.”

Though Kaira did not name the two anchors, other PPP leaders said they are Hamid Mir and Shahid Masood of Geo News channel. “It seems that there are no other issues in the country but the President for this TV channel,” Kaira said.

However, he made it clear the government has no intention to impose curbs on the anchors or on their channel.

In private meetings, PPP leaders have accused the Geo media group of working on an agenda to topple their government at the centre. They have suggested to the party leadership that the government should either ban anti-Zardari programmes or boycott the Geo group.

However, these suggestions have not been heeded by the leadership.

A PPP insider said to a news agency that Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman, the owner of the Geo media group, had conveyed a party leader that there is “no place for Mr Zardari in the presidency” and his group would create such hype that he would have to quit “within three months”.

“This is outrageous. Something will have to be done to check this media militancy,” the PPP leader said.

Besides Geo News channel, the group owns the popular Urdu daily Jang and the English daily The News. Source

Mir Shakil ur Rahman (MSR) is the owner of the Independent Media Corporation and Group Chief Executive and Group Editor in Chief of Jang Group of Companies of Pakistan. This media group publishes a number of Newspapers and Magazines in Urdu and English. IMC also owns the Geo TV network.

Pakistan’s second richest family
Islamabad, Nov. 16: The number of mega-rich families with huge business empires has risen to 40 in Pakistan over the last few years. The holders of these empires include at least three leading newspaper groups and the Hashwani group of companies, which enjoys a monopoly in the hotel industry.

According to a recent survey, The Nishat Group of Mian Muhammad Mansha is the captain of this splendid ship, having around 30 companies on board.

Mansha, who owns the Muslim Commercial Bank as well as several textile, leasing, investment, cement and insurance companies, is now setting up a Rs 1-billion ($17 m) paper sack project. The Nishat Group was the country’s 15th-richest family in 1970, sixth in 1990 and number one in 1997.

The Jang group of newspapers comes second. Its huge media empire was founded by the late Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman some six decades ago.

Today, around 10 top newspapers and the multi-billion-rupee GEO TV project are being run by Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman, Mir Khalil’s brainy son, who has a lot of projects relating to real estate under his belt, too.

The Jang Group
This huge media empire was founded by late Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman some six decades ago. Today, around 10 top newspapers and the multi-billion rupee GEO TV project are being run by Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman, Mir Khalil’s brainy son, who has a lot of projects pertaining to real estate under his belt too. Though he can be very modest, Shakeel is known to have taken country’s Prime Ministers head-on. His tussle with Nawaz Sharif in 1999 spoke volumes of his unmatched influence in all domestic and international quarters which matter. Shakeel is one of Asia’s most well known media barons, whose newspapers have served to be the breeding nurseries for country’s top journalists. He invests massively in stocks business regularly. His elder brother Mir Javed ur Rehman and tender son Mir Ibrahim also assist him in business. Such magnificent has been his influence that at times, a few governments have opted to take a few of his employees as ministers. The Group, as most politicians agree, has been instrumental in both toppling and building governments in Pakistan for decades now. Limelight is the product that he sells but doesn’t like tasting the fruits of his own garden.

Do you think that Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman is a liberal fascist or that his media empire (Geo TV/Jang Group) is pro neo-Cons? Both speculations are not correct. In fact, sons of Mir Khalil ur Rahman are not fool to side with any ideology openly, it is their history that they remain subservient to the interests of the civil and military establishment. They take extreme care not to violate the interests of military rulers (with the exception of a fair amount of face saving criticism); while they are always critical of democratic governments (e.g. Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto), they take extreme care to sign any NROs with military dictators (e.g. with General Musharraf) in order to save their commercial interests. They are thus every ready to jump into the ruling boat no sooner any military ruler grabs power and both sons start to itch palm of the hand, with an aim to loot as much as possible through exploitation of public sentiments, while also enjoying a grand share in the Government sponsored advertisements (to the tune of 60% of all ads in the public sector), for which they are ready to bulldoze their competitors without any sympathy.

Who are the people behind Geo TV. Just think. They telecast a false news and stock market crashes in Pakistan…

· Do you know Shahid Masood and Hamid Mir, each of them gets RS 25 lakh per month ,
· Such huge amount? Is it possible and justifiable in this poor country? Where is all that money coming from?

Geo did not show any good news, e.g. Islamabad Peshwar motorway, Gilgit Baltistan reforms, Balochistan package, Success of military operations in Swat and Waziristan. Instead Geo TV shows dead people in Peshawar and Karachi. Instead of condemning Taliban’s terrorist activities, their anchors are busy in spreading cheap pro-Taliban and anti-USA propaganda. Why?

….

Jang Group versus Nawaz Sharif: A page from the past:

The Jang Group–empire would be a more appropriate term to use–became big by playing handmaiden to every regime in Pakistan. It has seldom taken an adversarial position in the past. In fact, Jang London was launched with seed money provided by the late general Zia ul-Haq. The string of newspapers and magazines it has launched are all the result not so much of talent but of government largesse.

If the government says the Group is in default of two billion rupees in tax arrears, there may be some truth to it. In fact, most newspapers and magazines as well as businesses in Pakistan are tax cheaters. In addition, they get preferential treatment in newsprint allocation if they toe the government line. Similarly, their largest source of revenue is government advertising.

This last is incidentally not confined to Pakistan. Even in a largely free and democratic society like Canada, government advertising is used to keep some media outlets in line. The Crescent International for instance, used to get Canadian government advertising until it turned itself into the newsmagazine of the Islamic Movement in 1980. Government advertising immediately stopped. Our advertising agent told us that we were becoming ‘too serious’ about our work.

It was alright to talk about bhangra and songs, or praise the lord and pass the bacon but getting serious about issues was not. Even today, scores of rags–what pass for community papers–get substantial Canadian government advertising because they are non-serious and nonsensical. Discussing issues in-depth and giving a clear perspective exposing government wrongdoing–in this case western hypocrisy in matters of international affairs–lands one in trouble.

We did not complain. We simply got on with the job relying on Allah for help. He is the best of providers. We have not become an empire but we have acquired a global readership that is committed to sustaining us. The owners of Jang Group do not think this way. They have made their fortune by piggybacking on successive governments. Newspapers are a source of moneymaking in Pakistan. Most journalists, too, are not concerned about truth, barring a few notable exceptions.

In the seventies and early eighties, Dawn newspaper was bought in large numbers by the Pakistan government and distributed free among expatriate communities abroad through its embassies and missions. Mahmoud Haroon, owner of the Dawn Group, was at the time interior minister in general Zia’s cabinet.

Most newspapers and magazines in Pakistan cheat on their tax returns. The government is well within its right to go after these business, but in the proper manner. It is the job of the tax department to assess tax revenues and a defaulter must be given the right to challenge what is assessed against him.

In October 1998, thegovernment served the group with tax notices totallingover 720 million rupees (about $13 million). Soon afterthe group’s bank accounts were frozen.

Between Nov. 25 and Dec. 22, 1998, 25 notices were served on theGroup for various offences. On Dec. 22, a demand for 2 billion rupees in tax arrears wasmade against the group.

Source

What is the political agenda of Geo TV?
Published by TV Explore on November 5, 2009

Stung by an avalanche of criticism from the leading Jang media group, the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has decided to take action against it by imposing some curbs on the electronic media or by boycotting the organisation.

President Asif Ali Zardari, who also heads the PPP, has called a meeting of the party’s central executive committee at the presidency on November 9 to discuss this issue, party sources said. Zardari and his party believe the Jang media group has been working on a “special agenda” to topple the PPP-led government at the centre, they said.

“The way the Jang group, especially its Geo News channel, created hype by twisting the statement of Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain about asking the President to offer a sacrifice on Monday has annoyed all in the PPP, including Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani,” a senior PPP leader who did not want to be named said to a news agency.

Geo News had reported on Monday that the MQM chief had asked Zardari to quit the post of President over the issue of the National Reconciliation Ordinance, a controversial law passed by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf to grant PPP leaders immunity in graft cases.

Several MQM leaders had made similar claims to other reporters but the party later changed its stance. However, PPP leaders believe Geo News had implied that “Zardari is a product of the NRO” and he should face corruption cases in courts after resigning.

Major parties like the PML-N, PML-Q and MQM said they would not back a move to get parliament to endorse the NRO in line with a ruling from the Supreme Court. The PPP then decided to go back on its decision to present the NRO in parliament for ratification.

“The owner of the Jang group, Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman, has conveyed to one of our party leaders that he will throw Zardari out of the presidency within three months. How can we sit idle after receiving such a warning from the owner of a major media group?” asked the PPP leader, who is a close aide of Zardari.

He said the PPP’s opponents, acting in connivance with the Jang group, want to install a government led by former premier Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N party.

“We have already received suggestions from some senior party leaders who are unanimous that putting curbs on the media as a whole may backfire and instead the PPP should boycott the Jang group,” he said.

“By doing so, we will register not only our protest but force it to set aside its hostility to the PPP government and President Zardari,” he added.

Meanwhile, the parliament’s standing committee on information and broadcasting has decided that laws enforced by Musharraf to bridle the electronic media should be incorporated in the proposed Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Act. (Source)

sajjad bufat Says:

Geo is a westren propaganda, it is the biggest and badest thing happen to pakistan since fall of Dacca, all these people are paid by westrens atleast in the beginning, now this has become a cancer, at times it is more powerful than anything else, and do you why, it is because Mir Shakeel ur Rahman (owner of Geo)is a blackmailer, he got some tapes of some key people and he is using it for his own advantage, he is earning millions of dollar a day, yes millions of dollars a day, no buddy is save from Geo, we all watch it and people think what ever Geo is broadcasting is true, all the anchors are agents…. be careful guys, this is not the end, they are up to something much larger than this,….. just watch your backs and save pakistan, Pakistan Zindabad.