Disaster Porn and Pakistani media
by Ali Ahsan First of all, my apologies for using an ‘objectionable word’ in the title of my piece given how some 15 year old is already on a self-crusade to note down every single ‘vulgar’ website there is, and try to get the PTA to ban them all for ‘protecting our youth’. Never mind the mental masturbation, but an adult website is the last worry we should have in Pakistan when there are more vulgar and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Citizens, drama, Fiction, human rights, Identity, Islamabad, journalism, Media, Pakistan, Regulatory Affairs, Society
List of Journalists Given Plots
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has been informed that some 1,000 journalists of Islamabad had applied for plots after the government launched new sectors in Islamabad and invited applications from the general public, government servants and others as part of a uniform policy to give plots to those who were permanently living in Islamabad and did not have any property. A two per cent quota was also fixed for Islamabad-based journalists. A high-powered committee comprising government officials and senior journalists was formed which after careful scrutiny of the applicants, had recommended names of 172 journalists who were given plots against payments. The PAC is in possession of a list of 172 journalists who were given plots in the federal capital in line with their two per cent quota in G-13 and G-14 sectors … Read entire article »
Filed under: journalism, Justice, Media, Uncategorized
Pakistani Media: Misinformation and manipulation
The purpose of the media is an easy one to understand. The dissemination of factual information on issue relevant to the citizenry. This entails (or should entail) a research and effort to uncover the truth, as well as a responsibility to uphold principles of free speech, adequate voice (as absolute voice and impartiality is impossible) and a separation to some extent from the control of politics. Thus the media has always been imagined as a … Read entire article »
Filed under: journalism, Media, Opinion
Lucman’s Latest Obsession
By Zia Ahmad Late night current affair talk shows on some TV channels have successfully taken up the task of providing entertainment to the masses. Where some rely on shameless displays of sensationalism, ranging from all out cat fights to pandering to gutter sensibilities, others have taken the high road to indulge and inform its share of viewers on the not so fine nuances of our political, strategic and policy making endeavors. Worse still is when a talkshow host with an inflated ego uses his TV show and his public persona to grind any sort of personal axe against whatsoever and whosoever that offends his limited sensibilities. Mubashir Lucman of late has been busy trying to fit the above mentioned bill. Lucman takes a wrongfully placed sense of pride in being … Read entire article »
Filed under: journalism, Media
Full text: Statement by Human Rights Watch before Syed Saleem Shahzad Inquiry Commission
After our earlier post, here is the full text for PTH readers. Yes, it is a PTHleak… Statement by Ali Dayan Hasan, Human Rights Watch, To Syed Saleem Shahzad Inquiry Commission 9 August 2011 I. Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch is a nongovernmental organization that monitors human rights in more than 80 countries around the world. Human Rights Watch researchers conduct fact-finding investigations into violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and then publishes those findings in dozens of reports and hundreds of news releases every year, generating extensive coverage in local and international media. This publicity helps to inform the public and hold abusive governments accountable to their international legal obligations. Human Rights Watch meets with government officials to urge changes in policy and practice in countries, at the United Nations, … Read entire article »
Filed under: ISI, journalism, Pakistan
PTH Exclusive: Statement on Saleem Shahzad by Human Rights Watch
An PTH contributor has managed to obtain a copy of the statement given by Human Rights Watch (HRW) statement submitted at the Syed Saleem Shahzad Commission set up by the Government of Pakistan. This statement was made by Ali Dayan, Director Human Rights Watch. We are posting it without prejudice. Pakistan’s journalists and writers need protection and PTH fully supports all efforts to this effect. It should be noted that this statement is one of the many submissions and the final verdict is yet to come. Full statement as a pdf document is here: Ali Dayan Hasan HRW statement to SSS Commission An excerpt from the full statement below: Syed Saleem Shahzad was a reporter for the Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online and for Adnkronos International, the Italian news agency. My dealings with Shahzad were entirely … Read entire article »
Filed under: human rights, journalism, Pakistan
The most Dangerous Place for Journalists
Recently, the journalist Saleem Shahzad has been killed in Pakistan after he had been reporting on the connections between the Pakistani intelligence agency and al Qaeda. Admiral Mike Mullen, who is the top officer in the US military, has said that the Pakistani government has sanctioned Shahzad’s killing. Even before this Pakistan has been the most dangerous place for journalists. FutureChallenges’ regional editor Farhan Janjua from Pakistan interviews Pakistani journalists asking whether they feel safe any longer in their home … Read entire article »
Filed under: journalism
President of APNS confirms that Saleem Shahzad’s emails were not ‘baseless’
Statement from Hameed Haroon, Chief Executive Dawn Group of Newspapers and President All Pakistan Newspapers Society. A leading newspaper publisher in Pakistan and the president of the nationwide newspapers body has reacted sharply to charges by the Inter Services`Intelligence Agency (ISI) that allegations by Human Rights Watch of the intelligence agency’s involvement in the abduction and murder of Pakistani journalist Salim Shahzad were “baseless” . It has … Read entire article »
Filed under: journalism, Media, Pakistan
Saleem Shahzad’s Passing: And The Score Is Despair 3, Hope 0
By D. Asghar Nothing can be more disheartening, than news of someone’s brutal murder. This year started out with a tragic and insane murder of Governor Salman Taseer in Islamabad. That killer who was supposed to be the “bodyguard”, Mumtaz Qadri surrendered on the spot. Or else we would still be looking for Taseer’s assassin. The indifferent attitude of many was appalling. Their callous and cruel display towards his point of view was to say the least, beyond shameful. It was followed by the equally gruesome murder of the Minorities Minister, Shahbaz Bhatti. He was gunned down and till date his killers are perhaps roaming. Of course his life was not such a precious thing to many, perhaps because of his belief. In both of these cases, the cold and crazy … Read entire article »
Filed under: Democracy, journalism, Liberal Democratic Pakistan, Pakistan, secular Pakistan, Terrorism
Liberal Pakistani Websites and Indian Right Wingers
By Raza Habib Raja Liberalism as a philosophy is more inward looking and therefore does not try to blame others for the follies of one’s own nation. Thus it takes a stark divergence from the conservative and ultranationalist philosophies who assume that identity cultivated on the basis of religion, ethnicity, or geographical location is always under threat from outside forces. Therefore liberalism’s natural thrust is towards self introspection and on fostering cooperation with the different ethnicities and nations. This orientation always bring it into conflict with the ultranationalists who often accuse liberals of being “unpatriotic”, soft and even traitor! Pak Tea House is one of the liberal website in Pakistan and let me assure you such websites are rare. We are committed to cultivating a spirit of self introspection and are doing our bit … Read entire article »
Filed under: India, journalism, Liberal Democratic Pakistan, liberal Pakistan, Pak Tea House
Fatima Bhutto: please focus on fiction
Nasima Zehra Awan Pakistan may have lost a talented fiction writer when Fatima Bhutto went into journalism. Clearly, she is adept at spinning a tale, fudging facts and re-defining reality in a manner that is the exclusive domain of talented story tellers. Throw in her photogenic looks and her propensity to endear herself with the security establishment and she is the poster child for them. This poor author does not share the same connections as Fatima Bhutto, so she will clearly not pass of (Fatima’s) alleged ISI links as established fact. Clearly, my humble perception was reinforced when I read her recent article, “Why my uncle Asif Ali Zardari’s rule in Pakistan cannot be trusted“. The most outlandish spin in her article was that it was President Zardari who had banned facebook … Read entire article »
Filed under: Benazir Bhutto, journalism, Liberal Democratic Pakistan, Politics
Impoverished Journalism and Impious Mullahs
Amaad Ahmad’s exclusive piece for PTH. On June 16th 2010, Ulema of different religious parties appeared on the popular show Point Blank hosted by Mubashir Lucman of Express News for a discussion on the case of Ahmadis. The ‘scholarly’ panel launched unwarranted and slanderous attacks on the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian and his followers. Compromising all journalistic ethos, no hearing was given by Mr. Lucman to those being denounced as the infidels. Image the reaction if Sunni beliefs were analyzed by Shia Ayatollahs on Point Blank instead. This was not a discussion between two points of view since no Ahmadi scholar was invited to rebut or reply to the pronouncements of the Ulema. Rather it was only an affirmation of the alleged heresy of … Read entire article »
Filed under: journalism, Media, Taliban
Half Muslims and Non Muslims
By Farzana Versey Born in the Ismaili faith, I have been quite accustomed to the ‘aadha Mussalman’ (half Muslim) tag. Members of the community are none the worse for it. However, I cannot understand the attitude towards Ahmadis in Pakistan. Ismailis have a living Imam, yet they are not considered a minority. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Democracy, human rights, Islamism, journalism, Media, minorities, Religion, Rights, state
Chinese whispers of the press
A couple of weeks ago a screening of “Taqwacore- The Birth of Punk Islam” was held at the National College of Arts Lahore. The documentary film offers an insight into the Muslim punk movement called Taqwacore, inspired by a novel by American Muslim Michael Muhammad Knight of the same name. The film primarily follows Muslim punk band The Kominas, along with Michael Muhammad Knight, on a road trip through the US and, in the latter … Read entire article »
Filed under: culture, Islam, journalism, Media, Music, Pakistan, Religion
The More Things Change…
…the more they remain the same The ISI – a proxy for the Army, since Z.A.Bhutto’s creation of ISI’s infamous Political Cell – seems to be making it clear that it (too) is beyond accountability. After Malik Qayyum tried to show he still had some nuisance value by declaring to Hamid Mir that ‘a former head of a powerful intelligence agency had confirmed to him that (the missing person) Mr Janjua was dead’, there were news items about the police (possibly) investigating a handful of former and serving intelligence and army officers in relation to missing persons. Mrs Amina Janjua promptly responded to the possible muddying of the intelligence agency’s name by writing to The News. She declares in this letter that she does not seek investigation against any ‘valuable’ national agency … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Al Qaeda, Army, baluchistan, Citizens, Democracy, human rights, journalism, Judiciary, Justice, Pakistan, Taliban, USA
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