According
to credible sources, the establishment officials are meeting different
journalists and analysts and are either convincing them or pressing them
to malign and defame the Geo/Jang Group in a way that the real issue —
the attack on Hamid Mir — is put on the backburner.
Only a
few of these journalists and analysts have accepted this duty and
showed their performance in the Sunday and Monday talk shows by
levelling baseless allegations in a specific emotional tone against the
Geo/Jang Group and even indirectly attacked great journalist Hamid Mir
who is paying the price for trying to save Balochistan and fighting for
the rights of the poor Baloch people.
Hamid Mir is
bed-ridden but these emotional sick minds continued their attack as was
directed to them in an emotional and foolish tone and misled people by
distorting facts to undermine one of the worst ever attacks on the
Pakistani journalism after knowing, rather fearing, the Judicial
Commission constituted by the prime minister could uncover the real
facts.
Some of these journalists are known to be close
friends of Hamid Mir and some are his known opponents and some are those
who had been expelled from the Jang Group. None or them is hesitating
to defame him and Geo News through baseless allegations. Some
journalists on Monday crossed all limits of decency and attacked the
Geo/Jang Group and Hamid Mir for speaking the truth and standing for
principles.
These sick minds were even unable to think
that pointing out any deficiency in any institution always helps it to
improve and trying to be more loyal than the king himself is always
harmful for the king as well as for such sick minds.
The
print and broadcast journalist Imtiaz Alam has resigned from hosting his
television show on Express News against what he called “the channel
imposing censorship and adopting a policy hostile to the freedom of
expression and media solidarity”.
In his resignation letter to the chief executive office he said:
“This
is after detailed exchange of messages and telephonic conversation
between us today, Monday 21 April 2014, and your refusal to allow my
programme on the attack on Hamid Mir, a leading journalist and
colleague, threats to freedom of media/expression and the need for media
solidarity, etc, that were to go live at 07.03 pm from Lahore station,
that I am constrained to issue you this 30-day notice to resign from the
Express News as a host/analyst of the programme in protest against
imposing censorship and adopting a policy hostile to the freedom of
expression and media solidarity-in-self-defense.
“The
media group’s top management got disturbed, as I was told, by the
principled position taken by me in solidarity with a colleague who was
attacked in Karachi. The points for today’s programme sent by me to you
were appreciated by you: Following were the issues for discussion:
“Hamid
Mir: issues are: right to life and social contract, freedom of speech,
security of journalists and a culture of impunity, fate of enquiry
commissions, professional ethics, media debates (attack on media or on
sensitive institutions), ISPR’s reaction—editorial note: Need for
caution and restraint; letting due process take place without prejudging
or maligning any person or institution”.
“Since you
were keen to run a vilification campaign against another rival media
group, you insisted on pre-recording the programme so that you could
censor it, knowing well that I abhorred censorship. I had told you that
it was a wrong policy which would damage the whole media; it was this
group yesterday when Raza Rumi was attacked and I got death threats, on
which equally despicably some media groups kept quiet, it is Geo today
and tomorrow it could again be this group or any other group.
“You
know that I am against vilification of any person or institution and
could never pre-judge any accused without investigation, nor could I
ever use this group’s platform to serve anybody’s interest. Since you
had other plans on the behest of somebody else to launch a campaign
against your rival media group and I could never become an instrument in
such a shoddy business, you preferred to plan an obnoxious programme
against all media ethics telecast in place of the one I was supposed to
host.
“You are aware that I have been struggling for my
whole life for fundamental rights, freedom of expression, free press,
professional ethics, tolerance, peace and cooperation in the region. How
could I become an instrument in such a sordid business and you knew it.
You could have waited for two days when I was supposed to go on leave
on 23 April, but it seemed you were under great pressure from somewhere
else. I don’t want to cast aspersions, but I think this group has been
pressurized or followed its instincts of rivalry, as had happened in the
case of this group’s newpaper when the Editor had to send a letter to
his contributors not to write against extremists. It was the Taliban
threat in the case of the newspaper, it is somebody else who made you
take a decision even you appreciably didn’t like. I may warn you in a
most friendly spirit against the consequences of this policy which is
against not only the whole media but also against this media group. I
may assure you that whenever this media group came under pressure from
any quarter you would find me on your side. This has not happened for
the first time. A few weeks ago my talk-show was also stopped on PTV,
which I had started during the caretaker period.
“Let’s
part ways in an honorable manner and according to our legal obligations.
My dear Baig Sahib, kindly accept this 30-day notice of resignation
from hosting the programme with a request for not bringing a bad name to
a show that was quite credible. I will be available to do this
programme if you so like during this period of resignation but without
restrictions.
“My best regards with a wish that you don’t
play into the hands of those who are bent upon undermining freedoms and
democratic values
No comments:
Post a Comment