Members of the Afghanistan National Journalists Union said that the Islamic Emirate instructed them to not hold the conference until they receive permission….reports Asian Lite News
The Taliban government in Afghanistan prevented media outlets from holding a press conference in Kabul over concerns about the status of media in the country, reported media organisations.
The conference was supposed to be held on Wednesday in Kabul, reported TOLO News.
The Afghanistan Journalist Center in a statement said the conference was to be attended by 11 representatives from different media organisations.
“All national and international media outlets were covering it, however, unfortunately, due to the verbal order of the officials of the Islamic Emirate, the conference was cancelled,” said Ali Asghar Akbarzada, head of the Afghanistan National Journalists’ Union.
Members of the Afghanistan National Journalists Union said that the Islamic Emirate instructed them to not hold the conference until they receive permission.
“We call on the Islamic Emirate to finalise their decision in the future. They should make the decision as soon as possible and give us a permit so we can hold our conference based on it,” Akbarzada said.
The Taliban government did not comment over whether it prohibited the conference of the media outlets or not but said that it remains supportive of the media, based on Islamic regulations.
Over 43 per cent of media activities have been halted and over 60 per cent of media employees have become jobless since the Taliban swept into power in Afghanistan, say media reports.
The deputy spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, Inamullah Samangani, has overruled the statement and any interference into media affairs….reports Asian Lite News
The Taliban on Tuesday denied reports of interfering with media and said that it believed in media freedom after the Free Speech Hub expressed concerns over restrictions on the media.
The Free Speech Hub, a media-supporting organization in Afghanistan, expressed concerns over media freedom and said that the media in Afghanistan has not been completely free since the fall of the republican government, and journalists face systematic censorship, reported Tolo News.
The Free Speech Hub statement said that the media faced restrictions besides the economic problems that have greatly increased since the collapse of the former government, and forces affiliated with the Islamic Emirate’s intelligence body are putting pressure on the media and journalists.
“Afghanistan media and journalists are under pressure by the intelligence forces of the Islamic Emirate and they are trying to compel media and journalists to censor themselves,” the Free Media Hub said, reported Tolo News.
The deputy spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, Inamullah Samangani, has overruled the statement and any interference into media affairs.
“We are making efforts to create good coordination with the media and (give) good opportunities for them to survive and continue their activities. The presence of a free media is necessary for a good and accountable society,” said Samangani.
At the same time, officials at media-supporting organizations urged the Islamic Emirate to respect media freedom, reported Tolo News.
“Any kind of interference with media activities and affairs is a step toward violating media’s independence and freedom, and this is a source of concern for the Afghanistan National Journalists Union,” said Masror Lotfi, head of Afghanistan’s National Journalists’ Union (ANJU).
“As the free Speech Hub reported–and expressed concerns–these problems truly exist and there are some efforts to impose restrictions on media and journalists by some organizations,” said Hujatullah Mujadid, head of the Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA).
Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in mid-August, media and journalists have lost their independence in the crisis-torn country. (ANI)
“During the 1990s, issues of sexuality rather than gender became the focus of discourse and debate…reports Asian Lite News.
Stereotyping and objectification of women in the media narrative is a universal truth that needs to be addressed, questioned and reversed as the media in general, especially advertising, has failed to a large extent to understand and assimilate a definite social shift and the changing status of women in the society per se, says industry expert Jaishri Jethwaney in a new book that examines how objectification, sexualisation and patriarchy loom large in advertising across societies.
“Clients, especially the large advertisers who are the ultimate decision-makers on what would the final ad narrative on their brands would be, have to own the responsibility for ensuring gender-sensitive narrative,” Jethwaney, an ICSSR Research Fellow and former Professor and Programme Director (Advertising and PR) at IIMC, says of “The Beauty Paradigm: Gender Discourse in Indian Advertising (SAGE Response)”.
“The content analysis of more than 1,100 campaigns across three decades from the 1990s until now has proved beyond doubt the blatant stereotyping of women in ads across brand categories,” she says.
The findings are not any different from the ASCI’s Gender Next Report, 2021 that reflects that women are stereotyped and projected sensually, with the “average ads featuring an unrealistic and unobtainable standard of beauty… There emerges a gap between the intent to create more positive depictions of women and the current reality of depictions”, the report says.
Going back into time, Jethwaney writes that the feminist thought in the 1960s in retrospect, drew attention to the representation of women in media and called for a systematic investigation into the area of female role stereotypes in popular media.
“Particularly, it was suggested that advertising in popular media was a primary means for introducing and promoting female role stereotypes and sexism, calling attention to a systematic investigation into this area. Scholars believe that whereas the 1960s and 1970s largely experienced the development of the feminist perspective, the 1980s and 1990s coincided with the emergence of a viewpoint that gradually weakened the arguments of feminist thought.
“During the 1990s, issues of sexuality rather than gender became the focus of discourse and debate. During this period, sexual imagery of women was viewed as radical and cutting-edge rather than unfair and exploitative,” Jethwaney writes.
The research in different countries and at various points of time is reflective of the exclusive and gender insensitive nature of societies. Critics believe that it is inevitable because, in general, social thoughts like philosophy, history, science, even theory are also gender insensitive, which has a concomitant impact on the policies as well as on governance and justice.
Media, a part of the social milieu too remains largely gender insensitive in its approach and narrative. Advertising, as a marketing tool, draws its references from various persuasive theories that look for appeals and symbols that largely cater to men and male gaze, she writes.
“Advertising is criticised for voyeurism, misogyny, objectification of women’s body and for following a patriarchal approach in its discourse.
“Objectification is a notion central to the feminist theory. It posits treating a person, usually a woman as an object, the focus being primarily on sexual objectification. Critics believe that the feminist literature of 20th century and later was hugely influenced by Immanuel Kant’s work on sexuality and objectification,” Jethwaney writes.
Objectification, for Kant, involved the lowering of a person, i.e. a being with inhumanity, to the status of an object. He argued that when a woman was seen as an object of enjoyment in sexual relations, the object was of no use once that enjoyment was over. In this way, the loved person tends to lose what was special to her as a human being-her humanity, and is reduced to a thing, a mere sexual instrument. Kant’s notion of objectification, therefore, focused largely on instrumentality: the treatment of a person as a mere tool for the lover’s purposes, the author states.
How, then, does one break out of the shackles?
“Social transformation accompanied with implementation of laws shall be the key to address women related issues in India. The feminist literature and movements bear testimony to the fact that feminism is very much home grown and organic in India and not a copy of the West as generally alleged. The feminist movement is not against men but about fighting the power structures that are so well embedded in the familial, social, political and economic spheres,” Jethwaney maintains.
Zhao was sentenced to a suspended death sentence in September 2020 for rape and other offences….reports Asian Lite News
Social media users in China have criticised the state-owned media, controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), over its failure to report on a jailed Shanghai citizen who raped women and held them captive in a brothel for the rich people.
The person, identified as Zhao Fuqiang started out forcing rural women to work in low-cost brothels disguised as hair salons in Shanghai, before he expanded to offer higher-end clients, Radio Free Asia reported.
Zhao was sentenced to a suspended death sentence in September 2020 for rape and other offences.
“You didn’t dare to report on the Red Mansion story in Shanghai … instead you just keep banging on about the US and the UK, the whole time,” one user wrote under a story posted by the CCP’s official newspaper, the People’s Daily.
“This country is getting more and more like North Korea; you really take us for fools,” another user agreed to the comment.
As reported by Radio Free Asia, another user wondered if the media really is on the side of victims, and the least powerful in society.
“The media, in the final analysis, is a part of the system that rules over us, and represents the will of the powers that be,” the user wrote. “I really feel that we have a long, long way to go to being civilized, democratic and equal.”
“The media has lost its voice, and the platforms are pulling hot search topics, all about a huge crime story that everyone already knows about, because it breaks the relevant regulations,” the user added.
The Chinese media is heavily controlled by the CCP under Xi Jinping’s leadership.
A recent report from the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has also revealed how journalists are being forced to become the CCP’s mouthpiece.
As per the report, in order to receive and renew their press cards, journalists will soon have to undergo a 90-hour annual training partly focusing on Xi Jinping’s “Thought”.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government has also unveiled a series of plans that are seen to further consolidate the CCP’s control over the media. (ANI)
Dubai Press Club today announced the launch of the Arab Media Award, which builds on the success of its prestigious Arab Journalism Award…reports Asian Lite News
Under the directives and in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Dubai Press Club today announced the launch of the Arab Media Award, which builds on the success of its prestigious Arab Journalism Award (AJA).
Dubai Press Club announces launch of Arab Media Award
The announcement of the Arab Media Award was made during a ceremony organised by Dubai Press Club at Expo 2020 Dubai’s Al Wasl Plaza to honour the winners of the 20th and final edition of the Arab Journalism Award in its current form. The event was held in the presence of H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Media Council.
Over the past 20 years, the AJA has recognised excellence and promoted creativity in print and digital journalism. With its new structure, the Award seeks to stay abreast of rapid developments in the media landscape and enhance its impact by recognising excellence across three main Arab media sectors: Journalism, TV and Digital Media.
Mona Al Marri, Vice Chairperson and Managing Director of the Dubai Media Council and President of Dubai Press Club, said that the creation of the Arab Media Award, which builds on the achievements of the Arab Journalism Award, follows a comprehensive evaluation of the AJA by its Board of Directors and Dubai Press Club, the General Secretariat of the Award.
The AJA’s various categories were assessed to create a new award that is more aligned with the evolution of the media landscape. Based on extensive evaluations and proposals in meetings, it was decided that the Award should cover a wider range of content across media sectors including TV and digital media platforms, besides journalism, she explained.
MONA AL MARRI, VICE CHAIRPERSON AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, DUBAI MEDIA COUNCIL AND PRESIDENT OF DUBAI PRESS CLUB: “We are proud of Arab Journalism Award’s contributions to the region’s media over the last 20 years, which were made possible thanks to the support of the Award’s patron, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The Award has played a crucial role in inspiring talent and creativity in various journalism fields and recognising prominent personalities and Arab journalists who have had a significant positive impact. Today, we seek to deepen the impact of the Award with a revamp that reflects the rapid transformations in the media landscape, which will enable us to recognise a broader variety of outstanding creative content across various media sectors.”
The President of DPC and Secretary General of the Arab Journalism Award expressed her appreciation to the members of the AJA Board, who have included leading media figures in the Arab World, for their role in strengthening the Award’s prestigious position in the region and beyond.
The Award has achieved its prominence due to its ability to consistently maintain credibility, transparency and integrity over the past 20 years, Al Marri said.
The Arab Media Award, featuring new categories, will continue to maintain the highest levels of professionalism and impartiality in its evaluation process.
Launched under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Arab Journalism Award is one of the key initiatives of the Dubai Press Club. Other major initiatives by DPC include the Arab Media Forum (AMF), the region’s largest media gathering; the Emirati Media Forum (EMF); the Arab Social Media Influencers Summit (ASMIS); and the Arab Social Media Influencers Award. (WAM)
Dubai Press Club announces launch of Arab Media Award
Dubai Press Club announces launch of Arab Media Award
China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) released the “Market Access Negative List 2021” to solicit public opinion…reports Asian Lite News
In an attempt to rein in their power and influence, China recently released “Market Access Negative List 2021” that aims to ban non-state capital (private companies) from the news and media sectors and live broadcast services of activities and events involving politics, economy, military, diplomacy, society, culture, science and technology, health, education, and sports etc.
China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) released the “Market Access Negative List 2021” to solicit public opinion, as per the reliable sources.
It says that non-state capital cannot invest in establishing and operating news organizations, which include news agencies, newspaper, magazine publishers, radio and TV broadcasters, radio and TV stations and web media publishers.
NDRC also said that the non-public capital cannot introduce news published by organizations outside China.
Moreover, they cannot host forums, summits or awards in journalism and the public opinion space, as per the reliable source.
This looks like an attempt to reassert domestic discourse and shift as much dependence on state-owned media as possible.
News outlets such as Caixin, Guancha which are perceived to be private non-state media are also heavily invested in by state-owned enterprises, so they won’t be coming in the “non-state capital” category.
If this draft becomes official regulation, it won’t leave space for private capital media.
This news was discussed by Weibo users and the talk of going back to the era of the Cultural Revolution again surfaced in Chinese social media, the reliable source added.
Jianli Yang, writing in The Washington Times said that the echoes of the Cultural Revolution are reverberating throughout China today, with the Chinese government harking back to the past and placing curbs on many aspects of ideology and culture.
President Xi Jinping’s efforts to shape the minds of Chinese youth and control Chinese culture have begun to resemble the tactics employed by Mao Zedong, reported The Washington Times.
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) approach towards dealing with society–particularly the business and entertainment industries–is aimed at regulating aspects that it considers detrimental to its larger goals and is likely to have a lasting impact on Chinese society, just as the Cultural Revolution did in the 1960s. (ANI)
Some of their fake news has turned out to be authentic as several of the official Chinese embassies around the world keep tweeting them that finally ‘becomes’ true. These news items are picked up by China’s state newspaper and TV channels as well, reports R.R.M. Lilani
The Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Qi Zhenhong, at a recent meeting with Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi (now appointed as the Minister of Transport), said Covid-19 is a matter of science and not to politicise it, despite the fact that evidence proves beyond all doubt that the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has engaged in world politics using fake accounts and dismissing everything related to coronavirus as ‘not their baby’.
China has introduced an army of fake personnel on social media accounts and every news that emerges as pro-China news can be misleading and dreadful, these days.
Some of their fake news has turned out to be authentic as several of the official Chinese embassies around the world keep tweeting them that finally ‘becomes’ true. These news items are picked up by China’s state newspaper and TV channels as well.
The Chinese Envoy in Sri Lanka told the Minister not to politicise Covid-19 and also urged the Sri Lankan government not to engage in trying to trace the origin of the virus. He said it would not solve the questions, but it would hinder progress in fighting the pandemic around the world.
Making such an awkward statement to the countries with whom they are dealing with and urging them not to worry about the origin of the virus is worrisome and suggests how irresponsible China has become towards mankind.
Any disease needs proper analysis to find the origin of the disease, mainly for treatment and prevention. The Covid-19 that has destroyed over four million lives cannot be dismissed by such words by China, which calls itself a guardian angel to third world countries that depend on the Chinese Yuan.
On August 13, it came to light that the Chinese researchers did not want the lab-leak theory to be included in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) findings on the origins of Covid-19 and influenced the presentation of the report. This was told by a WHO expert on a Danish TV documentary.
A WHO team member in the investigation of the virus’s origin, Peter Ben Embarek, told Danish channel TV2, that the Chinese counterparts were reluctant to link the origins of Covid to a laboratory in Wuhan or for the theory to be included in a report, and the team had eventually agreed ‘on the condition that they didn’t recommend any specific studies to further that hypothesis’.
The tug-of-war of ‘yes’ and ‘no” between China and the WHO experts on the probe into the virus is continuing while the world is seeking an answer.
For the second time, China rejected the WHO’s proposal for a renewed probe into the origin of the global pandemic, citing it as a political tracing and nothing else.
social media
Why is China reluctant to let world health experts probe? It is questionable and intriguing, but the reason is now exposed. They are guilty!
By the end of March 2020, more than 80,000 Chinese had been infected by the virus from the time it first emerged in Wuhan. In Wuhan alone, there were 50,000 cases reported and, starting from August 2021, 4,512 new Covid-19 deaths have been reported. That is self-explanatory.
A well-developed country like China, that does not want to find a remedy for the wound that has caused a magnitude of deaths, should be held accountable, no matter what.
If China cannot care for its people by telling the truth, it has breached the law of the land.
Due to its closed-door diplomacy, several top scientists from mainland China have gone against the CCP. Even ordinary people fear the CCP rule. It is a synthetic virus created for bio-war and was leaked by the Chinese.
By throwing incentives and freebies at its friendly countries, China today managed to create a relationship that is tight-gripped.
Moreover, China has been using several media outlets to carry their propaganda globally and has not spared even a tiny country like Sri Lanka.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his troops have used all the propaganda to project China as the protagonist on seeing the mammoth of accusations they are facing.
Recently, a Swiss-based professor who wrote a pro-China article that went viral in China was in fact a fake identity and the Swiss government said a person with that name does not exist in Switzerland.
Chinese state media quoted a Swiss biologist by the name of Wilson Edwards to accuse the US of politicising Covid-19 origins.
On July 24, on Facebook, this so called Wilson Edwards claimed to have witnessed or learned of US efforts to politicise the WHO Covid-19 investigations from within.
The fake ‘Edwards’ cited unnamed WHO sources and ‘fellow researchers’ complaining of having endured “enormous pressure and even intimidation from the US side as well as certain media outlets”.
‘Edwards’ further said, the WHO sources told him the US is so obsessed with attacking China on the origin-tracing issue that it is reluctant to open its eyes to the data and findings.
The Facebook post was picked up widely by Chinese state media, including the Global Times, the People’s Daily – which headlined its story as “US attempts to overturn report, leveraging WHO into political tool” – China Daily, and CGTN in multiple languages.
Is it possible to develop a healthy relationship with Social Media? (Photo: pixabay)
This ‘Edwards’ mounting fame, caught the eye of the Swiss Embassy and they searched citizen records and academic publications for any mention of him. Finally, the Swiss government’s official twitter tweeted: “Looking for Wilson Edwards, alleged (Swiss) biologist, cited in the press and social media in China over the last several days. If you exist, we would like to meet you!”
“But it is more likely that this is (sic) fake news, and we call on the Chinese press and netizens to take down the posts.”
An attached statement said the Chinese reports were false, and there was no registered Swiss citizen named Wilson Edwards, or any academic articles in the biology field under his name.
Following this humiliation, Chinese state media articles that had the name Edwards began disappearing from the internet, including from the Global Times and CGTN.
The Wilson Edwards Facebook account, which was created on the same day it published its only post, with a profile photo of a library at Oxford University, and had just three friends, also appeared to have been deleted.
Also, after a seven-month grilling by the Associated Press (AP), the Oxford Internet Institute, a department at Oxford University, found that China’s rise on Twitter has been powered by an army of fake accounts that have retweeted Chinese diplomats and state media tens of thousands of times, covertly amplifying propaganda that can reach hundreds of millions of people — often without disclosing the fact that the content is government-sponsored.
The AP also noted that China’s ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, who stepped down from his post, took to the US’s Twitter and Facebook, which are banned in China.
Liu has 119,000 followers and transformed himself into the ‘wolf warrior’ of diplomacy. But later, it was detected that Liu’s followers who claimed to be colleagues were, in fact, manufactured people.
Also, Jacob Wallis, Senior Analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), and Sanjana Hattotuwa, Special Advisor, ICT for Peace Foundation (ICT4Peace) and former Senior Researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), Sri Lanka used the Twitter datasets to explain how China runs its information operations (both covert and overt). Wallis and his team analysed 23,750 Twitter accounts and 348,608 tweets from January 2018 to April 2020, to be fake. Twitter deactivated those accounts for promoting misinformation and disinformation used for propaganda by diplomatic messaging through social media platforms.
The ‘hard work’ by China to create fake accounts for pro-China propaganda is now known. They could have put that valuable time into giving firsthand information on the virus’s origin, instead.
The masses have come to realize China is fighting a battle of their own, trying to prove a point using fake identities, which is irrelevant to the world.
It’s time China face reality and fight the real global causes, joining real friends and not faceless humans who will be deactivated. (All views expressed are personal.)
Afghan journalists have urged the world not to just stand back as they called for actions to ensure safety of Afghan journalists from the threats…reports Asian Lite News
150 Afghan journalists have signed an open letter calling on the United Nations and other international organisations to protect them against the threats.
Among the letter’s many signatories are Afghan based journalists, media workers, cameramen and photographers, TOLO News reported.
“Considering the increasing challenges and threats facing media workers, as well as their families and property, we urge the United Nations and donor countries to take action to save our lives and our families,” TOLO news quoted the letter.
According to the TOLO news reports, media personnel urged the world not to just stand back as they called for actions to ensure safety of Afghan journalists from the threats they face after Taliban takeover.
Meanwhile, disturbing video clips of an Afghan TV news presenter reading out the headlines while being surrounded by armed Taliban members went viral on international media.
The clip was shared online by the TV studio after the militants stormed the building and demanded the news anchor praise the Taliban, the Daily Mail reported.
In the 42-second clip, which has since been viewed more than 1 million times, the news anchor is surrounded by eight armed men who appear to be guarding him as he reads.
It has been reported they stormed the building on Sunday and demanded the presenter speak with them.
According to Wio News, the news anchor carried out a debate with the militants while on air.
The news outlet reports that the presenter spoke about the collapse of the government in Afghanistan and urged the Afghan people not to be afraid.
During the show, called ‘Pardaz’, the anchor also reportedly told people to co-operate with the group.
The video was filmed as US armed forces said they had carried out a successful drone strike mission which prevented a second terrorist attack at Kabul airport, the report said.
Sharing footage from inside the newsroom, Zaki Daryabi, the Publisher of Etilaatroz and Kabul Now, took to Twitter to say: “This is what @Etilaatroz can’t accept. If so, we will stop our work.”
Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad retweeted the video and wrote: “This is surreal. Taliban militants are posing behind this visibly petrified TV host with guns and making him to say that people of Afghanistan shouldn’t be scared of the Islamic Emirate.
“Taliban itself is synonymous with fear in the minds of millions. This is just another proof.”
The clip was shared online by the TV studio after the militants stormed the building and demanded the news anchor praise the Taliban…reports Asian Lite News
In a shocking moment, an Afghan TV news presenter read out the headlines while being surrounded by armed Taliban members.
The clip was shared online by the TV studio after the militants stormed the building and demanded the news anchor praise the Taliban, the Daily Mail reported.
In the 42-second clip, which has since been viewed more than 1 million times, the news anchor is surrounded by eight armed men who appear to be guarding him as he reads.
It has been reported they stormed the building on Sunday and demanded the presenter speak with them.
According to Wio News, the news anchor carried out a debate with the militants while on air.
The news outlet reports that the presenter spoke about the collapse of the government in Afghanistan and urged the Afghan people not to be afraid.
During the show, called ‘Pardaz’, the anchor also reportedly told people to co-operate with the group.
The video was filmed as US armed forces said they had carried out a successful drone strike mission which prevented a second terrorist attack at Kabul airport, the report said.
Sharing footage from inside the newsroom, Zaki Daryabi, the Publisher of Etilaatroz and Kabul Now, took to Twitter to say: “This is what @Etilaatroz can’t accept. If so, we will stop our work.”
Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad retweeted the video and wrote: “This is surreal. Taliban militants are posing behind this visibly petrified TV host with guns and making him to say that people of Afghanistan shouldn’t be scared of the Islamic Emirate.
“Taliban itself is synonymous with fear in the minds of millions. This is just another proof.”
“Shadowy forces operating beyond public view wield enormous power in Pakistan and are seeking to control the media,” says Hamid Mir…reports Sanjeev Sharma
The anchor and host of the now-off air primetime show “Capital Talk” on Geo TV, Hamid Mir, in an interview with the BBC World Service said he is a living example of censorship in Pakistan.
Mir spoke from Islamabad with Stephen Sackur, the host of the BBC show HardTalk.
“There is democracy in Pakistan but there is no democracy. There is a constitution in Pakistan but there is no constitution. And I am a living example of censorship in Pakistan,” Mir said when asked if the Pakistani state is out to silence independent journalism.
On the Pakistani Prime Minister, Mir said” “Imran Khan is not directly responsible for imposing a ban on me. I don’t think he wants me to be off air. But like past Prime Ministers, he is not a very powerful Prime Minister, he is helpless and he can’t help me.”
Dawn reported that Sackur introduced his guest as a high-profile journalist who has faced a string of threats and attacks.
In the 1990s, Mir was kidnapped and interrogated, and later survived two assassination attempts.
Sackur told listeners that since June 2021, Mir’s show and his column for Jang Group have been banned by his employers after he made a speech about intimidation and attacks against journalists.
“He (Mir) says shadowy forces operating beyond public view wield enormous power in Pakistan and are seeking to control the media,” Sackur said.
When asked by Sackur if intelligence agencies were behind the attack on journalists, including Asad Toor who was attacked in his home in the capital by masked men, Mir said: “These are documented facts and the state agencies and the intelligence agencies were blamed again and again for organising attacks or kidnapping journalists.”
Sackur then drew attention to the six sedition cases lodged against Mir, reminding him that if he is convicted he could serve life in prison.
To this, Mir said: “I am ready to face a life in prison because if they will convict me at least the whole world will come to know what is going on in Pakistan. The whole world is already aware of what is going on because I am living example of censorship in Pakistan. Everybody knows what happened to Hamid Mir and why he is banned and everybody knows the names of the people which I have not mentioned.”
Mir added that journalists want the rule of law to be established in Pakistan. “If a journalist is asking questions, don’t try to silence his voice.”
Mir said he was not backing off, and that the article referred to a case filed against him in Gujranwala which alleged that he tried to malign senior generals.
“So I clarified, that I never mentioned any name… I thought that maybe my tone was very harsh and maybe some people were trying to give the impression that I was blaming the whole institution, so I clarified my position that I am not blaming the whole institution. I only talked about some individuals who are trying to silence the voice of the media.”
Pakistan TV channel Samaa TV published the transcript of Mir’s interview with BBC.
'I'm ready to face life imprisonment' says Pakistani journalist @HamidMirPAK who faces accusations of sedition and has been suspended from his TV job and newspaper column after speaking out against attacks on press freedom in the country pic.twitter.com/kXuSvozXXi
Mir: I am banned on my TV channel and I cannot write my regular column in my newspaper. This is not the first time. When Pervez Musharraf was in power, he also banned me on TV but you see, he was a military dictator, he only banned me on TV, he never banned me on newspaper. Now Imran Khan is the Prime Minister of Pakistan, and now unfortunately not only am I banned on TV but I am banned from my newspaper column. So there is democracy in Pakistan but there is no democracy. There is a constitution in Pakistan but there is no constitution. And I am a living example of censorship in Pakistan.
Mir: Yes, and I am ready to face a life in prison because if they will be able to convict me at least the whole world will come to know what is going on in Pakistan. The whole world is already aware of what is going on because I am living example of censorship in Pakistan. Everybody knows what happened to Hamid Mir and why he is banned and everybody knows the names of the people which I have not mentioned, everybody knows who were responsible for imposing a ban on me. The common Pakistanis are very wise, they are very clever. They know each and every thing about what’s going on. But you see, there is no rule of law in Pakistan. And we only want justice, we want that the rule of law should be established in Pakistan. And if a journalist is asking questions, don’t try to silence his voice.
Mir: No, I am not backing off. You see, there was a legal problem. In one of the petitions against me which was filed in Gujranwala, the petitioner, who is a lawyer, he claimed in his petition that Hamid Mir tried to malign the senior generals of the Pakistan Army, including the army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, he mentioned the name of the army chief, but in my speech I never mentioned his name. That was the first thing. So I clarified that I never mentioned any name. And the second thing was that I thought that maybe my tone was very harsh and maybe some people were trying to give the impression that I was blaming the whole institution, so I clarified my position that I am not blaming the whole institution. I only talked about some individuals who are trying to silence the voice of the media.
Pic credit:Wikipedia
Mir: I will not make a wrong statement. Yes, certainly I am disappointed but I can understand the circumstances because the editor in chief of my media group, Mir Shakil ur Rehman, he was arrested last year and he remained in the detention of the National Accountability Bureau for more than seven months for a three-decade old case which was not a very big case. And I think that he was arrested, he was detained, just because of the freedom he was trying to give us. He got bail from the Supreme Court but his name was placed on the Exit Control List. He cannot leave Pakistan. He is already (being held) at gunpoint. So my employers, the gun is already at their (temple). So when they were asked to ban Hamid Mir, they banned me. So I can understand their problem.
Mir: Definitely, there is a climate of fear in Pakistan. A lot of young journalists, they are very disappointed and look at the state of media freedom in Pakistan. When Imran Khan came to power in 2018 Pakistan was ranked at 139 on the World Press Freedom Index. Today, in 2021, it is 145. So Pakistan lost six points in the last three years. According to the International Federation of Journalists Pakistan is one of the five most dangerous countries for journalists in the whole world. This is not good for Pakistan, for its reputation and credibility in the international community. And yes, there is a climate of fear in Pakistan because journalists think it is becoming very difficult in this country and this government of Imran Khan Is now planning some more anti-media laws which is not acceptable to us.
Mir interviewing al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 1997.(Pic credits:wikipedia)
Mir: Pakistan is a viewed as a security state and if you go through the autobiography of Imran Khan, which I was reading last night again and Imran Khan gifted me his autobiography with his autograph. Imran Khan himself accepted about the role of the military establishment and the role of the ISI in his autobiography in his very clear words.
But let me tell you, it is Imran Khan, the current Prime Minister, who has written in his autobiography that no politician in Pakistan was able to defeat the military establishment. And he himself accused the ISI that when Musharraf was in power, the ISI tried to twist the arms of some of his colleagues and force them to change their loyalties to the then king’s party, the PML-Q. And the irony of the situation today is that PML-Q is the biggest ally of Imran Khan.
Mir: But and on the other side this same government which you think is not responsible for imposing censorship on us, the same government to make a new law by the name of the Pakistan Media Development Authority though which they want to establish media tribunals and they want to convict journalists who will raise harsh questions, who will criticise the government. They will impose fines in the millions. They will send them to prison for two years, three years, and on one side, the government of Khan is doing a good job by making a journalist protection bill but on the other hand, they are also trying to make a Pakistan Media Development Authority bill which is a total negation of the journalist protection bill. He is going to make the legislation for journalist protection, we are supporting him but if he will impose censorship on us through the Pakistan Media Development Authority bill and concentrate all the powers in the Information Ministry, and Fawad Chaudhry will be the person to decide the fate of journalists in Pakistan then we will criticise them.
Pic credit: wikipedia
Mir: Yes, I am very concerned about my personal security for a long time. I asked my family to leave Pakistan and my family left, my daughter and wife have already left. I was also approached by some people who, they suggested I leave Pakistan. But I decided not to leave.
Mir: When I was born in Pakistan a military dictator Ayub Khan was ruling Pakistan, when I went to school a military general, General Yahya Khan, was ruling Pakistan. When I went to college, a military general, Ziaul Haq, was ruling Pakistan. When I started my journalism, General Ziaul Haq was ruling Pakistan. I was first banned by General Pervez Musharraf. So my life, my journalism is very much affected by military dictators in Pakistan. That is why you see, I think that the rule of law is the solution to all of our problems. That’s why we want a general democracy in Pakistan because the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah was a democrat and I am a follower of his. And all those people who are trying to snatch media freedom from us are enemies of Pakistan and are enemies of Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
