Taha Siddiqui is a Pakistan based journalist who works for a range of media outlets abroad and Dawn/Express Groups within Pakistan. In the course of observing his tweets, we have found that he is more than happy to crack highly insensitive jokes about terrorism in Pakistan, accuse fellow journalists of being ISI agents (or at least close to them), insinuate that people who go for Tableegh (a non-political religious group) tend to marry teenagers and/or are involved in terrorism….in short, he is guilty of all the same behavior that he accuses people on the opposite end of the spectrum, i.e. calling journos foreign paid agents with hidden agendas. It does not behoove respected media outlets like The Christian Monitor, France 24, Huffington Post or any other professional media group to allow such individuals a voice on their platform. A journalist should be unbiased and should not throw around accusations without proof but as we have seen on many occasions, an open platform like Twitter brings out the nastiness that one would usually reserve for more private settings. Please read and judge for yourself….we did not collect all his tweets, just a sampling of roughly 18. We would also ask the New York Times, CS Monitor, France 24, Arte France, Express Media and Dawn if these are the types of messages they would like to send the 200 million people of Pakistan.
Below Taha Siddiqui is making jokes about using Uzbeks to get past Airport Security. He is referencing a recent terrorist attack in which more than 20 people were killed and he finds nothing wrong in doing that.
Making jokes about recent terror attacks
Taha, although himself a Pakistani, uses terms like “****” which are considered derogatory. Though it is hard to understand what Taha was thinking when he posted this, it is offensive and totally inappropriate. To imply that “Pakis” worked as slaves to Saudis and that Pakistanis feel that Arabs are better than them….do we need to explain why such jokes by a journo are totally wrong?!
Here Taha Siddiqui is accusing a fellow journalist of being close to the Pakistani intelligence, ISI, an exclusively using the ISI as his sources. Such accusations are a mirror image of the type of accusations faced by Taha himself who is accused by many in Pakistan of being on the payroll of foreign agencies who have given him a mandate to defame Pakistan. Strange that he doesnt realize that he is guilty of the same sort of mudslinging.
Same as above, Taha is accusing a fellow journalist of being in bed with the “deep state”, a reference to the ISI, simply because that journalist retweeted someone. When the shoe is on the other foot, Taha will protest.
Express News has a known rivalry with Geo News and it showed in its broadcasting. This is a long standing business rivalry, but Taha once again sees the hand of the “deep state”…naturally he has no proof…just baseless allegations against the owners of Express Media Group
Invisible Hands is Taha accusing fellow journalist, Mubashir Lucman of being a stooge of the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence agency. He makes the same accusation against mainstream politician, Imran Khan, leader of PTI. Once again, no proof.
RAW is India’s intelligence agency while the Mossad is Israel’s. Here Taha is complaining about people throwing around accusations of journos being agents of RAW & Mossad. Hypocrisy, thy name is Taha!
Apparently Taha finds it funny when people who vote for a mainstream political party such as PTI are called “stupid” and somehow regressive to the point that they will go back to the age of travel by camel.
Tableegh is a non-political organization that promotes religious tolerance and peacefully spreading the message. Nowhere either in Pakistan or abroad has Tableegh ever been accused of extremism or terrorism. However, Taha Siddiqui sees nothing wrong in making crass jokes suggesting that people involved in Tableegh are involved in terrorism..he is essentially ridiculing the beliefs of people who follow Tableegh.
Yet another joke from Taha wherein he dehumanizes young children who attend religious schools…this one is particularly reprehensible
Yes, this is an retweet, but it does reflect his thinking…no respect for other peoples’ beliefs
Here he is thrilled at the fact that a fellow journalist (with whom he disagrees) had his account hacked and the hacker has been posting messages using the account that ridicule the actual owner.
Tableegh is a non-political organization that promotes religious tolerance and peacefully spreading the message. Nowhere either in Pakistan or abroad has Tableegh ever been accused of extremism or terrorism. However, Taha Siddiqui sees nothing wrong in making crass jokes suggesting that people involved in Tableegh marry teenage girls. The story about a famous cricketer, Shoaib Akhtar, marrying a 17 year old girl was false, but it didnt stop Taha Siddiqui from making jokes not just about him marrying a teenage girl but also his religious beliefs.
Taha Siddiqui has demonstrated a tendency to disrespect the beliefs of others using innuendo. Here he is suggesting that the majority of Pakistanis (who are Sunni) are extremists and intolerant…ironic because Taha himself is quite intolerant but doesn’t realize his hypocrisy.
This so-called journalist is making jokes about a terrorist attack at Karachi Intl Airport in which over 20 people died
Just a generic comment reflecting Taha Siddiquis negative mindset where everything Pakistani is somehow chaotic and inferior. Over 20 people died in a terrorist attack at the Karachi Airport (lasting several hours) and 8 were stuck in a cold storage and later died, but Taha Siddiqi felt this should not be given coverage.
So far Pakistan has lost more than 20,000 armed forces personnel to terrorists and is currently at war with them. However, this journalist who several foreign media outlets have thought meets their standards is telling the public to stop glorifying the sacrifice of over 20,000 lives and instead on focus on criticizing them. Sensible people can understand that it is right to support the troops while also questioning those policies which are counterproductive. However, that is not Taha Siddiqui’s approach. Perhaps he feels that such a negative attitude towards his own country and its security forces will ingratiate him with his foreign media bosses? We here at K4Catalyst feel that sensible folks in media will reprimand such negativity and antagonism.
Here Taha Siddiqui says that the Pakistan army always lies…ISPR is the PR wing of the Pakistan army. No respectable journalist would make such blanket comments, but Taha Siddiqui uses every opportunity to sling mud at those with whom he disagrees.
Here Taha Siddiqui pays a compliment to another journalist, Saleem Safi, but refers to him as a hypernationalist for pointing out the importance of the Kashmir issue which is an issue even recognized by the United Nations. For those who dont know, Kashmir is a disputed territory where Indian forces have allegedly used kidnapping, torture, rape, murder and other methods to silence and suppress the indigenous population which has been demanding a referendum to determine their future. Ironically, Taha Siddiqui supports the Baloch militants on the same basis and sees nothing wrong with that.
While all over the world it is normal for people to support their troops during a time of war, Taha Siddiqui feels sickens by it and makes repeated points to the same affect.
A typically sarcastic anti-army rant by this “journalist”, who happens to be working for several western media outlets.
Here Taha Siddiqui is making jokes about the army operation that much of Pakistan and indeed most of the world has been waiting for. North Waziristan area is widely reported by western intelligence sources and governments as being one of the major bases of terrorism not just in Pakistan, but across the world. More than 50,000 Pakistanis have been killed in these 10 years of terrorism while Taha Siddiqui feels it is appropriate to make fun of the armed forces fighting this scourge.
Here Taha Siddiqui is making false claims about the coastal area being sold by the military. According to Pakistani law, all land in the province of Sindh is owned by the provincial government of Sindh. Therefore, the only department/agency authorized to sell land, and indeed the only agency that owns the coastal areas is the provincial government of Sindh. As you will see further in this post, Taha Siddiqui has made it a point to dish out unproven accusations against the Pakistan army. Here he is accusing the Pakistan army of selling land and therefore being responsible for the plight of coastal communities devastating by flooding which followed a recent cyclone.
If you have other examples of Taha Siddiquis offensive, inappropriate & unprofessional behavior, please send it to us to add to this collection.