Newspaper editor rebuked for misusing ISI name

* Female editor told to refrain from claiming her views mirror those of military, intelligence leadership

ISLAMABAD: Security agencies have rebuked the female editor of a Lahore-based English daily after taking notice of a campaign allegedly launched against the government and its relations with a foreign country by journalists who claim to have been briefed on the matter by the army or intelligence agencies.

Last week, the investigators of one of the country’s leading intelligence agencies visited the newly-appointed female editor and demanded she furnish concrete evidence of her newspaper’s claims of US security contractor Blackwater operating in Pakistan.

The security officials, during a meeting that lasted more than an hour-and-a-half, found that she kept changing the names of the people who had provided her with the information when asked to substantiate her claims on Blackwater’s alleged presence. A senior official who accompanied the investigators became very agitated by the claims, asking the editor to make sure she checks her facts before she publishes or comments on any reports.

No ties: The officials also told the editor to refrain from claiming close ties with the intelligence agencies and claiming – as she did recently during a television programme – that her point of view was mirrored by the military or intelligence leadership. The sentiment has been echoed by the military leadership, which has criticised the tendency of a certain section of the media to attribute its claims to sources within the military or intelligence services. This has included the intelligence services stating that media reports of Blackwater operating in Pakistan are baseless. staff report (Daily Times)

Previously on 7 September 2009:

Shireen Mazari replaces Arif Nizami as Editor The Nation

LAHORE: Dr Shireen Mazari, the former director of the Islamabad Institute of Strategic Studies and Information Secretary of the Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf, has replaced Arif Nizami as the Editor of The Nation, a private television channel reported on Monday. According to the channel, Dr Mazari was appointed The Nation editor following Waqt Media Group Editor-in-Chief Majeed Nizami’s decision to sack Arif Nizami. daily times monitor