Over the last few days, the corridors of power in this country have echoed with the controversy surrounding the attempted assassination of Hamid Mir, one of the country’s most well-known journalists. An overzealous media, led by Mir’s employers, immediately took on this ‘holy cause’ and made the defence of freedom of the press and, indeed, it’s very future in this country, their primary goal. In their enthusiasm to take on the powerful, Geo TV has all but sacrificed Hamid Mir – who was pitted against the state’s all-powerful intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence – within minutes of the deadly attack on his person in Karachi. Mir’s own fears and his allegations against certain elements within the country’s security establishment have been used by media moguls to fuel a nasty campaign against the ISI.
A few fundamental questions must be asked at this point. Firstly, what was it that prompted the channel’s owners to take on the ISI? Can it be that this is the manifestation of Geo’s apprehensions against the upcoming BOL media group? Or was it the fear of losing their near-three decade-long monopoly on the media industry in Pakistan? Did these allegations stem from a genuine concern for Hamid Mir’s safety and a desire to secure justice for this wronged man? Or is Geo fighting for the future of journalism in Pakistan?
There are no simple or clear answers here, but what is painfully obvious is that the news business is just that, a business; it has its own driving principles and morals with regards to its business interests, which at times take precedence over national interest, journalistic integrity or even basic human decency.
In cases where an underdog takes on the powerful, the people’s sympathies automatically fall on the side of the aggrieved party. But by launching a campaign against the country’s intelligence agency and implicating its chief in the attempt on Hamid Mir’s life without concrete evidence, Geo has denied Hamid Mir the mass sympathy that he rightfully deserves. By accusing the armed forces of a sin they may not have committed, Geo has reduced Mir’s own justified apprehensions (which he expressed in this very publication just last month) on his safety and the safety of his family, to what is now being perceived by certain segments of society as the ‘ravings of a paranoid media man’.
These are difficult times for Pakistan. The dust of war and internal strife coats institutions which are still going through a transition phase. This was hardly the time for the so-called ‘fourth estate’ to take on the defence establishment and demand the resignation of the country’s spymaster. Nonetheless, the die has now been cast and the first salvos have been fired, in Mir’s case by his employers. But in the grand scheme of things, a momentary lapse of judgment on their part could become a bigger problem for the embattled press than they would have thought.
It is most tragic that in the midst of all this, the man who took those bullets has been denied justice. The attack on the ISI by Geo should be treated as separate from the attempt on Mir’s life. Both matters should be investigated, but we must not deny Hamid Mir the right to see his attackers being brought to trial. The judicial commission formed to investigate the attack on his life must not repeat the mistakes made by similar commissions in the past. It must be ensured that this reprehensible, condemnable and highly tragic matter is thoroughly probed and settled as soon as possible.
