By Ahmad Noorani (http://www.thenews.com.pk/)
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
ISLAMABAD: While the establishment’s activities are at a peak to instigate journalists and analysts against the Geo/Jang Group and Pakistan’s top journalist Hamid Mir, who’s lying in a hospital bed after receiving six bullets, at least one journalist, Imtiaz Alam, showed the guts and refused to bow down to any pressure and resigned from his media group for wrongly pressuring him and curbing his freedom of expression.
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.”
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-29861-Censorship-forces-veteran-journalist-to-quit
ISLAMABAD: While the establishment’s activities are at a peak to instigate journalists and analysts against the Geo/Jang Group and Pakistan’s top journalist Hamid Mir, who’s lying in a hospital bed after receiving six bullets, at least one journalist, Imtiaz Alam, showed the guts and refused to bow down to any pressure and resigned from his media group for wrongly pressuring him and curbing his freedom of expression.
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.”
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-29861-Censorship-forces-veteran-journalist-to-quit
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