Transcript of Hamid Mir’s conversation

[sparklingway]

The Hamid Mir Email, And The Explosive Charges Surrounding It (Updated With Asian Tigers' Denial Of Conversation)​

Over the last couple of days, I have been trying to wrap my head around the Hamid Mir/Khalid Khawaja/ISI/Taliban issue. I have many, many more questions than answers. In fact, I'm not even going to pretend that this post is any way, shape of form, even remotely enlightening. It's merely me thinking out loud. But I hope you read along anyway.

Let's backtrack for a second. We know the following facts: in the middle of last month, ex-ISI operative Khalid Khawaja was abducted by a group calling itself the "Asian Tigers", presumably a splinter group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and also connected to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Punjabi sectarian outfit. Two weeks ago, he turned up dead, bullets in his head and chest, and a note attached to his body warning that other "American spies" would meet a similar fate.


Just who was this Khalid Khawaja character, and where did he come from? Well, in the late 1980s, Khalid Khawaja wrote a public letter to the late General Zia-ul-Haq, accusing him of not trying hard enough to introduce Islam into Pakistan, perhaps the only time the General had to deflect such an allegation. Khawaja was soon dismissed from the Air Force and the ISI.

He is also alleged to have been the point-man between Osama bin Laden and Nawaz Sharif, when the former financed the latter's efforts, as part of the IJI, to make trouble for the PPP both before and during Benazir Bhutto's first government. In recent times, he resurfaced as a defender of the rights of the "disappeared", people accused of being involved in terrorism and picked up by the ISI and other intelligence agencies without a trial.

In short, his credentials with right-wing and militant elements in the country should not have been in question. Now, he is dead. The question is: why did the Taliban kill him?

An audio file on the Cafe Pyala blog has helped fill in some of the gaps. In it, Hamid Mir, host of Geo's Capital Talk and regular contributor to Jang and its English-language sister publication The News, is heard to be informing a purported member of the Taliban about Khawaja's nefarious ways.

Hamid Mir, through a fairly circuitous route, accuses Khawaja of being behind the killing of Abdul Rashid Ghazi in the infamous Lal Masjid siege of 2007. He calls Khawaja a CIA agent because of his relationship with William Casey (head of the CIA in the 1980s); neglecting to mention that if having extensive contacts with members of the CIA in the 1980s was a marker of being a CIA agent, then our entire military-intelligence apparatus is one giant collective CIA agent. He criticizes his relationship with a man named Mansoor Ijaz -- someone who, I must confess, I'd never even heard of until this weekend -- and claims that Ijaz is involved in an "international network" of Qadianis (Ahmedis), and that he (Hamid Mir) considers Qadianis "even worse than kaffirs". He basically spends 15 minutes on the phone alleging that Khawaja is a fake and a fraud, that his beard and past history is part of a conspiratorial plan to deceive right-thinking people, and that he is fighting for the wrong team.

Hamid Mir signed Khalid Khawaja's death warrant. Of this there can be no doubt. The Taliban guy, who clearly had no strong feelings one way or the other at the beginning of the conversation, is convinced by the end that Khawaja is a bad guy, and must be taken care of. Anyone who has heard the tape can have no other interpretation of that conversation.

Now...

One can spend a lot of time shaking their head at the frankly despicable views that Hamid Mir espouses here. But surely it is not news that Hamid Mir is an intolerant, bigoted and hateful liar?


It would also be easy to question the platform Hamid Mir is given by the most-watched cable news station in the country, as well as his column where he is allowed to, quite literally, make things up and/or quote himself as "a source" (as he does in the aftermath of this Khawaja episode). But, again, given it's Geo and Jang Group, is anyone surprised?

No, for me, the more interesting questions about this entire deal are these:

1. How did the public come upon the recording of the tape?

Evidently, the recording first made its way to a page on Facebook titled "Inter-Services Intelligence". Is it an "official" ISI page? Well, it does have a disclaimer noting that "Views expressed in this page ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE of the Institute. PLEASE KEEP THIS IN MIND." Also, it's a goddamn Facebook page. But you can honestly never put anything past the ISI -- even wasting their time with fake online farms and putting up drunk pictures of themselves.

Be that as it may, isn't it highly suspicious that this Facebook page was where the recording was first released? Even if the page itself isn't official, surely some intelligence agency is involved, purely as an implication of the fact that this was a private telephonic conversation that was clearly bugged? I don't know about your Facebook friends, but I certainly don't consort with people who have casual spying skills.

So given that some agency was involved -- and as someone mentioned to me, it may be the IB, not the ISI -- the obvious question than becomes: why? Why would Unnamed Intelligence Agency (UIA) want to damage Hamid Mir this way? What's the agenda? Is UIA actually upset at Hamid Mir for killing one of their erstwhile brethren? Is UIA taking on Hamid Mir because of his political views on things like the disappeared, as he alleges in his widely circulated email published below*? Is it something more personal and opportunistic? Did Hamid Mir's jumps from pro-establishment to anti-establishment to pro-establishment and then back somewhere in the middle piss someone off? Just what is going on?

No one knows.

2. Is this the end for Hamid Mir?

The News did not carry this explosive story at all, which is fairly instructive. I'm hoping it means that there are some hard questions being asked within that organization as we speak. Geo/Jang is a disgusting organization at the best of times -- they lie, obfuscate, quote sources that don't exist, print "planted" stories from the agencies, plagiarize, and allow Ahmedi-haters and bigots like Aamir Liaquat to broadcast their views on ***** Online -- but this may be a step too far for even them. I hope.

3. How will the Taliban react to this?

Judging by their shabbily put-together press release that a friend forwarded to me (published below**), not very well. It's quite a rant, jumping from denying the conversation between Hamid Mir and their guy took place, to asking for more pictures of Salman Taseer's scantily-clad daughter to be produced, to threatening PTCL for being party to bugging a conversation they claim never took place, and finally ending with a very friendly sounding "Take care".

More interestingly, for me anyway, was how clueless the guy at the other line sounded. Think about it: why is the Taliban getting information from Hamid ******** Mir on Khalid Khawaja? Shouldn't the very fact that they kidnapped him mean that they have something on Khawaja? Or was it a case of "kidnap first, ask questions later"? I found this utterly bizarre. This could mean one of three things:

(a) the Taliban were really after the Col. Imam (the so-called Father of the Taliban) and/or the poor sod of a journalist who accompanied them, not Khalid Khawaja. He was a bonus that they didn't know what to do with, until Hamid Mir told them what to do with him.

(b) the Taliban are internally divided to the extent that one arm doesn't know what the other is doing. Maybe somebody kidnapped him without realizing the implications, only for them to realize them later.

(c) the Taliban behave less rationally and instrumentally than analysts like myself like to think so, and in fact behave more randomly than we could imagine. In essence, they're making it up as they go along.

I really don't know.

4. Who, exactly, are the types of people to "like" the Facebook page of the ISI?

I mean, seriously.
___________________________________________________________________________________

*Email from Hamid Mir.

Subject: "A new web war for Hamid Mir--warning for journalist community"

Dear All,Thank you very much for your support.Today publisher of Daily Times and Governor Punjab Salman Taseer created a new record in the history of yellow journalism by publishing a one sided tape drama scandle against me.I would like to remind my journalist colleagues that Salman Taseer published many dirty articles against me in the past when i was banned by Musharraf regime on tv.Today he published the transcript of a concocted tape with some comments on the front page of his newspaper.Yes he tried to kill many birds with one bullet.

This is a conspiracy against me.Khalid Khawaja was assassinated in the month of April and this tape surfaced in the middle of May just few days before some important political and leagal events.I am consulting with my lawyers and i will go into court against Salman Taseer for publishing a one sided concocted story against me.My hands are clear and i have no fear except Allah who have provided me a new opportunity to unmask some more realities in the court of law.

This fabricated tape is part of a bigger drama against journalist community.Some elements want to silence the voice of media on certain national issues by blackmailing journalists like me.These people are very unhappy on those journalists who are raising voice for missing people,who are opposing government stand NRO and who criticized the fake degree holder members of the parliament.Many journalists are disliked by the government and some parts of the establishment.These journalists may become a target one by one.Some government ministers warned me on May 13th that some elements are trying to use the family of Khalid Khawaja against me and journalists like Ansar Abbasi,Kamran Khan and Shahid Masood will also face some new cases.I am sure we will face these kind of fabricated cases with unity.Thanks again for showing solidarity with me.

Hamid Mir
_____________________________________________________________________________________

**This is a press release from Taliban Media Center commenting on the fake audio tape issued by some secret agency of pakistan. We are actively condumn the reliability of this tape since there was no conversatin like that in between us and Mr. Hamid Mir. Althoug we have talked with many different persons of media. It is very often and there is no doubt that they are not involved with us. This is seems to be a conspiracy to destroy the reputation of Mujahideen and the brave people of this country who want to bring truth in front while revealing the dark faces of this nation.

Suppose, this audion tape can be accepted as a true one than it is also demanded that the video tapes of Shery Rehman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Salman Taseer should also be treated as the same degree. Since sexy pictures of Salman Taseer's daughter and sons are on media so can any one tell the nation how a loose characterd person can be a governor of a province. What action should government agencies took? Why they are delaying?

Unfortunately the secret agenceis of Pakistan are directly opposing the nations benefits and try to sabotash the well repudiated personalities and institutions for the greater interst of their own. We also like to remind the fake movie, released to media for defacing the actual good will of Mujahideen in swat. That was prooved to be faked later but on its basis army did the brutal assault/operation of the whole area. Now people of this country must understand that Mujahideen are not their enemies. But the government, politicians and military beaurucrates are the real enemies of this nation.

Also it is demanded by us that all the relevant records of phone calls in between us and the major media representatives should also be released for public pursuation. ASIAN TIGERS had prooves for their satisfaction that's why they kidnapped Khalid Khwaja. We contacted the ASIAN TIGERS on this matter and they denied any kind of connections with either Mr.Hamid Mir or any other person related to media. They also condumns the fake audio tape. Also they demanded the actual agenceies who bring this tape. If these agenceies have any kind of proof then they need to bring it in front. Who forced ASIAN TIGERS to kidnap Khalid Khwaja and Colonel Imam with Asad Qureshi. What was the role or Gen. Hameed Gul and Gen. Aslam Beg. Where you fit Ibrahim Parachi and Shah Abdul Aziz. Either Gen. Hameed Gul and Gen. Aslam Beg are the actual Punjabi Taliban or this tape is the fake
one. Ibrahim Parachi is also the CIA agent and Shah Abdul Aziz is a doule agent of Xe and ISI.

If Mr. Hamid Mir attracted or give instructions to ASIAN TIGERS in order to kidnap Khalid Khwaja then they must have conversations more than once. These tapes should also be published for media. Are we right in demanding this action? If Mr. Hamid Mir gave proof to ASIAN TIGERS then he also gave instructions to them for kidnapping Khalid Khwaja & company. We expect that very soon these tapes should also be available on internet and youtube. By the way what exactly the dates of this tape is.

Secondly, who gave the authority to PTCL or any government agency to tape a phone prior to any court order. By doing this PTCL is also establishing it's reputaion as an alley of terrorists (Govt. of Pakistan, ISI and Army). If this happened again then PTCL should ready to get the most suitable answer in proper manner. Although we know how PTCL was sold to these culprits and Khwaja was also involed in that deal. Do you want to raise the curtain?

PTCl should clear it's position in order to bring the facts if this tape is true or fake. If they claim it is a true tape then they also give explanation why they tape these calls. If this is the fake one then they also took legal actions against that agency.

If PTCL will not take any action then no problem, we are here and you have a very little time for confession. Take care.

Note: This statement is on behalf of ASIAN TIGERS
___________________________________________________________________________

By the way, just to be clear, in an earlier version of this post I had noted a disclaimer saying that I obviously couldn't independently verify the validity of this Taliban press release, deleted it by mistake, and am reinserting it. A very trustworthy source forwarded this to me, but of course that doesn't mean anything to you, the reader. So keep that in mind.

---------- Post added at 12:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:49 PM ----------

​

​

 

[T-Faz]

Who is an ISI 'Agunt'? Hamid?

Oh I see, so if Hamid is an ISI 'Agunt', some rival intelligence agency recorded the conversation, right? The rival intelligence agency was so 'professional' that instead of acquiring 'warrants' from the court or simply 'abducting' Hamid for further prosecution, it decided to leak the 'top secret' and 'highly sensitive' information to the media. Thats kind of very interesting do you not agree?

When? Where? by whom?

I fully agree with you; some really interesting game is being played out there where instead of sharing sensitive intelligence information among various agencies, its being secretly released out in the media and selectively to the Pakistan Times that is owned by Salman Taseer.

Hamid is no ISI 'Agunt', i was joking by saying that fatman guy is an ISI agent to the question asked by one member as to where he got the transcript from.

The phonecall was intercepted by either ISI or some other agency such as IB or MI, they released it to counter the barrage of news against Pakistan that sprung up after faisal shahzad. Keep in mind that the bombing in cities has dried up as of late and the handlers of these people (TTP) are not very happy.

Gordon Duff from veterans today said that it was confimed on its authencity.

They (enemies) have moles in the whole structure and most of them have been picked out, thus the recording was released as a means of propaganda to throw everyone into confusion. Badaber was about to defect but was caught to create a rift between the different factions.

Its all very complicated and it is like a grand play of espionage and proxy wars going on in our midst. You cannot really know, unless someone writes a book on all this later on. Things do not make much sense as we the general public only know the partial story.

Also it 'Agunt' in Hinglish, just for your kind info.

I am also a fan of the ISI page and it is pretty cool. They write some weird stuff on it, but its pretty cool none the less.

ISI Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence | Facebook

Sign up and make us proud.

 

[Aamir Hussain]

This should be grounds for this guys dismissal. Why isnt he being charged with supporting terrorism.

Not Dismissal but "Consorting with the enemy!" The overall charge is treason!!!!!

Enough pussy footing with this debate; our sons, daughters, sisters, brothers are dying daily in the name of Islam by an enemy which lies within -- this is war - anyone siding or consorting with them should be tried for treason and that includes Journalists, Religious leaders, mispgiuded politcians (with the "Pakhtunwali" type misplaced sense of brotherhood), and so called "Area Specialists."

My 2c!!!!!

 

[Aamir Hussain]

Hamid is no ISI 'Agunt', i was joking by saying that fatman guy is an ISI agent to the question asked by one member as to where he got the transcript from.

The phonecall was intercepted by either ISI or some other agency such as IB or MI, they released it to counter the barrage of news against Pakistan that sprung up after faisal shahzad. Keep in mind that the bombing in cities has dried up as of late and the handlers of these people (TTP) are not very happy.

Gordon Duff from veterans today said that it was confimed on its authencity.

They (enemies) have moles in the whole structure and most of them have been picked out, thus the recording was released as a means of propaganda to throw everyone into confusion. Badaber was about to defect but was caught to create a rift between the different factions.

Its all very complicated and it is like a grand play of espionage and proxy wars going on in our midst. You cannot really know, unless someone writes a book on all this later on. Things do not make much sense as we the general public only know the partial story.

Also it 'Agunt' in Hinglish, just for your kind info.

I am also a fan of the ISI page and it is pretty cool. They write some weird stuff on it, but its pretty cool none the less.

ISI Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence | Facebook

Sign up and make us proud.

Intercept equipment of this type is with ISI & IB only. every one else is off the board in this case. You can go to bankwith this info.

 

[Aamir Hussain]

Is there any way to contact geo and let them know that they will start losing viewers if they don't remove this person from their organization. This is high time he has been supporting the terrorists and has been trying to create sympathy for them since the very beginning. Though i am looking forward to seeing how Dawn covers this story.

Great Idea! I think a forum on Facebook should be developed and if GEO does not do anything then a signup campaign should be launched.

 

[Meesna]

Khalad Khawaja's son;

 

[Aamir Hussain]

Khalad Khawaja's son;

Guys our hands are as dirty as the CIA's if not more. We can blame the "Outsiders" for what is happeninig in our country till the cows come home but the fact remain that we were also doing the same in a number of countries with the typical Pakistani "Style" of doing things.

When one plays with fire one get one's fingers burned!! In this case, KK was not anyones' agent, he was doing what he had been doing since the Afghan Jihad ended, out of misguided loyalty to the so called Mujahadeen, Religious Zealots etc. with a common goal to form an islamic emirates in Afghanistan which would than be rexeported to Pakistan at a later stage.

Knowing fully well the KK was involved during the Afghan Jihad it is not surprising that he knew a lot of CIA operatives (BTW the cream of CIA, at that time, was working in and out of Pakistan and the most brilliant analyists in Langley were attached to this effort) -- this does not neccesarily means that he was an American agent.

Rumors abound in these kind of opertions where a number of groups are loosely bound by one common goal amongst many other individual agendas.

However, one thing is certain; out of all this, the clear understanding that the WOT which Pakistan is fighting within it own borders is being undermined through the media by hidden/closeted Taliban sympathisers like Hamid Mir and others (There is another "Mir" who I suspect has the same agenda on a different channel). Action must be taken on this revelation on a broader scale and identify elements entrenched within our media to ensure a more balanced opinion making takes place between 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. every night on nightly "News Akhara (Arena)."

My 2c worth

 

[Mujahid]

Audio

 

[Meesna]

 

[Hyde]

Bechara Mir phass gaya - i wonder if that was the reason why Osama readily agreed to give him an interview and he got more publicity after that interview

Now Hamid Mir will be known as Mullah Hamir Mir aka Maulana Bandooq or Maulana Journalist

 

[fatman17]

Puppet strings

by Nadeem F. Paracha on 05 19th, May -2010

The emergence of a taped conversation, allegedly between famous TV anchor and journalist, Hamid Mir, and a member of what is called the ‘Punjabi Taliban,’ has created great furor – especially within the journalistic community in Pakistan.

In the the conversation, a man recognised by some as Mir, makes derogatory remarks against the Ahmadiyya sect and insistently alludes that Khalid Khawaja – the controversial former ISI man who was kidnapped and murdered by an group that is believed to have ties to the Punjabi Taliban – was a CIA agent and close to the Ahmadiyya sect.

He blames Khawaja for the death of Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) cleric, Ghazi Rashid, who was killed in the military action against armed men holed up in the volatile mosque in 2007. He tells the Punjabi Taliban that it was on Khawaja’s insistence that Ghazi continued to fight from within the besieged mosque, but was then abandoned by him.

Khawaja, who was supposedly in the custody of the Punjabi Taliban at the time of the conversation, was later found murdered by his captors who accused him of being a CIA agent and responsible for Ghazi’s death. These are the two main points that the conversing journalist makes while talking to the Punjabi Taliban member in the leaked tape.

Leading members of the liberal intelligentsia have frequently been raising concern and alarms against certain prominent figures in the local print and electronic media, blaming them of overtly sympathising and at times glorifying the violent antics of assorted sectarian and Islamist organisations.

People like Hamid Mir, Dr. Shahid Masood, Aamir Liaqat and Ansar Abbasi (all belonging to a large media group in Pakistan), have come under intense scrutiny by their detractors for not only ‘angling’ their stories and rhetoric in favour of extremist organisations, but also constantly undermining the current democratic set-up in Islamabad.

Ironically though, whereas the liberal sections of the media have not gone beyond labeling these men as Taliban sympathisers, it is their opponents within the large net of pro-Taliban actors in the media and the intelligence agencies who are said to be behind leakages such as the taped conversation mentioned above.

According to well-known columnist and author, Ayesha Siddiqa, “the conversation should not surprise people as Hamid Mir has old links with the Islamists and the intelligence agencies.” In an article she adds that there is not a single journalist, especially on the electronic media, who comments on national security and is not fed by the military or one of its many intelligence agencies.

Author of the acclaimed book, Military Inc., Siddiqa says that at present there are three opposing groups within the military and its agencies. One is pro-West, one is pro-Taliban, and the third is pro-China. All three are always at loggerheads. This also means that while each one of these groups has journalists planted in newspapers and TV channels, they use their plants to cancel out the reputation and influence of those belonging to the opposing groups.

But there is nothing new about this. The agencies have always had personnel on their payrolls operating as reporters, anchors, and ‘analysts’ ever since the Ayub Khan dictatorship in the 1960s. Respected journalist and author, late Zamir Niazi, in his book, The Web of Censorship, suggests that the agencies recruited a number of ‘journalists’ during the Ayub dictatorship, specifically to check leftist sentiments that were all the rage among journalists at the time.

Then during the Z.A. Bhutto regime, Niazi hints that the populist government and the conservative ‘establishment’ fought a battle of ideas through paid journalists. But the phenomenon of agency-backed journalists upholding the military establishment’s agenda and ideology in the press really came to the fore during the Ziaul Haq dictatorship in the 1980s.

As left-leaning journalists were forced to exit newspapers during the Zia dictatorship, the corridors of these newspaper offices were suddenly stormed by large groups of pro-establishment personnel, mainly consisting of anti-Bhutto journalists and pro-Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) men.

With the role of the ISI and other intelligence agencies expanding due to Pakistan’s direct involvement in the so-called ‘anti-Soviet Afghan jihad,’ many of these journalists were brought under the wings of various agencies, triggering a trend that still disfigures prominent sections of mainstream Pakistani media. What’s more, between early and late 1980s, the agencies were also able to plant men in the administration and finance departments of various mainstream media groups.

I got first-hand experience of this in 1993 when I joined a newspaper of a large media group; my appointment letter was constantly delayed, in spite of the editor asking the head of finance to release it. The head then bypassed the editor and went straight to the publisher, claiming that I should not be hired because I was a ‘communist’ who’d had links with the KGB (as a student) in the 1980s! As it turned out, this man was an active member of the JI, and also said to be close to a pro-jihad agency.

Crowded at the top


By the 1990s, most media groups had become a startling reflection of the tense sectarian, ethnic and ideologically fractured society that Zia’s disastrous regime and policies had left behind.

The media group I was a part of (for 10 years), was teeming with various lobbies, fighting out a cold war against one another. There were the usual high-profile agency-backed journalists who (as Siddiqa rightly suggests) were/are the ones who always manage to get the best scoops; then there was a large pro-JI lobby (whose mission, it seemed, revolved entirely around getting those they deemed to be ‘leftist’ or ‘liberal’ chucked out from the organisation); there was also a pro-MQM lobby who made sure that MQM received as much positive press as possible; and a ‘liberal’ lobby made up of assorted progressives. But more worryingly, the 1990s also saw the entry of ‘journalists’ planted or having sympathies with radical Sunni sectarian organisations such as the Sipah Sahaba.

As the agencies again became active, this time to sideline any democratically elected government that they saw as a danger to their on-going post-Zia maneuvers in the field of jihad (in Pakistan, Kashmir, and Afghanistan), a number of fresh recruits were instilled in newspapers, so much so, that opposing agencies (all with right-wing Islamist agendas, but differing on sectarian and policy grounds), now began drafting ‘journalists’ to put forward their particular version of pro-jihad ideology and interests. The result was infighting in the country’s intelligence gathering and security apparatus as one agency tried to undermine the other in their quest for more funds and political influence.

An attack in 1992 on a prominent journalist (famous for scoring a number of scoops and presently a famous TV anchor) was a stark reflection of this. The journalist, whom many believed was being fed stories by an agency, was claimed to have been attacked by the supporters of an opposing agency.

Such was the talk at the time, heralding the laying down of a whole new ball game in the intrigue-filled world of mainstream journalism in Pakistan. And this new ball game really got going when (during the Musharraf dictatorship) private TV channels were allowed to mushroom. This is the phenomenon that many within the media blame for triggering the on-going ‘anti-democracy’ and ‘pro-Taliban’ narrative one comes across on almost all major TV news channels. Opposing agency men were said to have come together during the Musharraf dictatorship to counter (through their ‘media contacts&#8217 agency people who were supporting Musharraf’s (albeit half-baked) operation against extremist organisations.

Some political commentators point at the electronic media’s role during the Lal Masjid operation and the Lawyers’ Movement as examples in this respect. They believe whereas some TV anchors and reporters blindly lapped up ‘exaggerated figures’ and scenarios that they were fed to them by agency men opposing the pro-Musharraf organs, the game got even bigger when the same anti-Musharraf agencies ‘facilitated’ some political parties to invest heavily in the Lawyers’ Movement.

Though almost all mainstream parties took part in the landmark movement, however, the PPP and some small leftist parties blamed the PMLN and JI of mutating the movement’s orientation towards the rightist sides of the ideological divide, especially when pictures of activists carrying pro-Taliban and pro-Osama placards at the lawyers’ rallies started appearing in (mainly English) newspapers.

Observers believe that if the journalists belonging to the so-called pro-Musharraf factions of the agencies felt themselves being bogged down by those with alleged links to the more pro-jihad factions, the pro-Musharraf strains in the agencies put men like Zaid Hamid on TV – a manufactured pro-Musharraf demagogue originally placed to distract the people from events such as the Lawyers Movement.

Whose line is it, anyway?

Whereas today when the agencies (with the pragmatic support of bosses of some large media outlets) have successfully sidelined whatever there is left of any liberal, secular or leftist thought in the mainstream electronic media, it seems the channels are now overflowing with right-wing media men, many with clear links in the agencies.

But it’s not been a unanimous takeover. Simply because of the mentioned infighting between various groups within the agencies. For example, on surface, it should sound strange and contradictory if one right-wing media personality attacks another, as was the case when Zaid Hamid publicly accused Hamid Mir of being a CIA agent.

But this can easily be explained if one dwells deeper into the increasingly overlapping and complex maneuvers of the agencies. As a fellow columnist recently noted, in a matter of merely a month, two leading media personalities have been exposed in the most dramatic manner. He claimed that Zaid Hamid had dubious relations with a particular faction of the agencies, but was brought down when another faction decided to strike by bringing into play Zaid’s controversial past with a cult-like Islamic group which some puritanical Islamic organisations consider was blasphemous in its beliefs.

Another fellow journalist thinks that the ‘Mir tapes’ were leaked by a different faction of the ISI or IB. A faction perhaps opposed to the faction that Mir is alleged to have had links with.

The most interesting thing is that whereas attempts by the liberal media personnel to castigate right-wing and contentious TV personalities have not gone beyond protest columns and editorials, it has been such personalities’ fellow rightist journeymen who have been out to orchestrate their downfall.

Zaid Hamid called Hamid Mir a CIA agent, but it was Zaid who got his animated TV slots canceled when a sectarian Sunni organisation threatened to attack the channels that so enthusiastically ran the hate-monger’s much watched shows. On the other hand, Mir laughed off Zaid’s accusations but not before (unwittingly or otherwise) providing a platform on his own show for some politicians to make a meal out of another rightist TV anchor, Shahid Masood, only to supposedly have his own conversation with the Punjabi Taliban ‘leaked.’

Much more is being ‘leaked’ (more frequently than ever) to various websites. Recently, a website also put up a list of the outstanding dues that major media groups still owe in taxes to the government. Also under scrutiny are the ideological orientations and ‘links’ of journalists such as Ansar Abbasi, Shaheen Sehbai, and Amer Mateen.

Hamid Mir has denounced the taped conversation as fake. So has the media group he works for. But surprisingly, instead of investigating the level of involvement some journalists clearly have with extremist groups and intelligence agencies, all the organs of the said media organisation have gone into overdrive in attacking some of their contemporary media outlets, the government, and ‘liberal journalists’ of instigating a ‘conspiracy against free media.’

It is true that many of this media group’s ‘attackers’ have no respect for a free media. But by suggesting that the free-for-all mudslinging and dangerous angling that some of its anchors openly exhibit is akin to the group’s love of democracy and freedom of the media is really a self-defeating delusion, if not a big black joke.

Nadeem F. Paracha is a cultural critic and senior columnist for Dawn Newspaper and Dawn.com.

The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.

 

[seekers]

^ Sir he should go to court if he believes that he is Right , and bust the crap out of All responsible.

Going in court is one sort of threat for Govt. and Salman taseer.
Our S.court is one of biggest enemy of Govt. and sympathetic to terrorist as per their actions.
Hamid meer know he would get full support from courts.
Their is no quick justice for general public in court but these courts are very active to give quickest discions against gov.

 

[mr42O]

remeber swat girl video ? We found out later it was fake .

We know these days every thing is possible so we should decide too quick..

 

[sparklingway]

Our S.court is one of biggest enemy of Govt. and sympathetic to terrorist as per their actions.

While the court is most definitely extending beyond its historical role, it has not been as aggressive as its Indian counterpart. Come next week and precedents of Indian SC being cited in the SC will spell frenzy in the 18th amendment case for the Indian SC has exerted its control over altering the basic structure of the constitution.

Sympathizing with terrorists is what you could say only out of hate and illiteracy.

Their is no quick justice for general public in court but these courts are very active to give quickest discions against gov.

"discions against gov" have been in constitutional petitions. There are separate processes for civil, criminal and constitutional prosecution.

While the justice system most definitely needs an overhaul, it is undergoing serious reviews as of now.

If you don't know how the law works and have never attempted to understand it, don't spew vomit across the forum.

 

[sparklingway]

remeber swat girl video ? We found out later it was fake .

Did you care to read the responses?

It was proven that the news story about the video being fake was fallacious.

VIEW: The Swat flogging video —Samar Minallah​

At a time when the entire country was under the threat of militants, I not only brought the attention of the country to this video but also condemned it at the risk of my own life. Much to the disappointment of many “professional conspirators”, the video was made by the Taliban and not by me

A year has passed since we heard the screams of a girl from Swat and saw how she was flogged by the Taliban in open view of the public. The Taliban spokesman, Muslim Khan, admitted in clear terms that the Taliban had carried out this act. Not only did he say on international electronic media that the Taliban flogged the girl in public, he also admitted that the case had not been investigated properly before the girl was punished. In addition, he has said it on record that the punishment was not carried out in the manner prescribed by Islam, where a child is supposed to administer the lashes to women. And he said that the girl should not have been flogged in the open, in the clear view of the public. Having heard all that loud and clear on TV, are we still disputing the fact whether the incident took place or not? If an Islamabad-based NGO allegedly paid money to filmmakers and actors in Swat to make a ‘fake’ video, then did the Taliban spokesman also take money to say that the Taliban indeed carried out the flogging? For those who still think the entire country suffers from memory loss, please have a look at the video at this web address, in order to refresh your memory and help you decide sensibly:

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Much to the disappointment of our ‘conspiracy theorists’, the entire country condemned the incident. People came out on the streets and the Taliban and their supporters conveniently termed it as a western conspiracy and a video produced at the behest of “anti-Islam forces”. The same Taliban apologists are again attempting to engage the people in this nonsensical argument. They ignore how the Taliban used violence against women and men, cutting throats, hanging body-parts in public places and executing people without any judicial process. They seem to have conveniently forgotten all those gruesome beheading videos in CDs that were sold openly as ‘Swat-1’ and ‘Swat-2’. All this was not only filmed by the militants but also proudly owned and disseminated by them. None were ‘fake’, none were funded by any anonymous NGO based in Islamabad. The entire world knew about them. Alas, short is the memory of our many so-called armchair analysts! “Always tell the truth. That way, you don’t have to remember what you said” — Mark Twain.

An article recently published in a local English daily alleging that the video was fake, does not bear the name of a journalist. It does not specify the name or identity of the ‘Swati man’ who claims to have made the video. It does not give the name of the NGO that supposedly paid the ‘local actors’ for acting in the ‘fake’ video. If all these were paid actors, does that imply that the Taliban leaders who admitted that the incident had happened were paid too?

At a time when the entire country was under the threat of militants, I not only brought the attention of the country to this video but also condemned it at the risk of my own life. Much to the disappointment of many “professional conspirators”, the video was made by the Taliban and not by me. My role was merely to bring it to public attention. No NGO made millions by ‘launching’ the video because the video was already on mobile phones and the internet since weeks. The only thing “added” to it was open and clear condemnation from me.

In the words of Rehana Hakim from Newsline in April 2009, “Everyone, it appears, had been silenced into submission by the Taliban guns, including the ruling ANP government. It was shocking to hear an ANP spokesperson remark that the incident had taken place before the Swat peace agreement, and that the video clip released by a Pukhtun activist to TV channels was intended to break the peace-deal! Did the incident, whether it happened now or six months back, not warrant investigation or condemnation?” If this was not the ‘right time’ to raise a voice in support of the Pakistani girl who was flogged, can someone tell me when is the ‘right time’ to do such a thing?

Thanks to the distraction and maligning campaign, I have received death threats, my credibility has been questioned, again, but only by people who do not matter. The rest have given me strength and support.

The people of Pakistan came out onto the streets so that no other girl should be treated in this manner. As for myself, I have been giving voice to the women of this country for the last 15 years, and will continue to do so. I have spoken against all forms of violations and abuse against women. If the news item titled ‘Suicide bombers have set out in search of Samar Minallah’ (Daily Mashriq, April 8, 2009) could not deter me, nothing will.

Enough of gimmickry has occurred in the name of politics and religion! Now, for yet another u- turn, again for portraying the perpetrators of the past as the heroes of today, I and many other conscious citizens of Pakistan will not let the women’s voices be muffled yet again. For all the self-proclaimed analysts who sit on their comfortable sofas commenting on how the girl could get up after she was flogged and the authenticity of the incident, a resident of Kala Kalay said, “I witnessed the flogging myself, so there is no reason to doubt the occurrence”, which was quoted in a local English daily. “At that time about 200 militants and 130 villagers were present to see the flogging of the girl. The flogging was a shocking development for the villagers. They had assembled to watch the screaming girl but everyone was frightened and helpless while the militants were unmoved,” he said.

If this is ‘fake’, what about the way Shabana was brutally killed in front of many silent spectators? All those (visible and invisible) Muslim Khans who remained unmoved have not only defamed our religion but also the integrity of each and every man and woman of Pakistan.

As for me, I will continue to challenge those who misuse Islam for power and politics. I will continue to raise my voice against individuals and political parties who use my religion to spread hatred. I will continue to expose and challenge the ‘conspiracy’ and ‘propaganda’ theories that try to befool the people of this country.

For those who continue to sit on the fence, I urge you to please join together to make our voices heard. It is essentially the sane voice of the silent majority that matters. In the words of Martin Luther King, “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people, but the silence over that, by the good people.”

The writer is a research anthropologist and documentary filmmaker with an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, UK. She is the Director of an NGO, Ethnomedia. She can be reached at samarminallah@yahoo.com