their lives in Pakistan?
A three in one collage
from media tribe sources
By Kulamarva Balakrishna
Taravadu Taranga Trust for Media Monitoring
TTTMM
Vienna,June 6,2011: I was saddened to learn the pathetic
choice before Pakistani journalists,who lost according to
reports, 24 colleagues since last year. This year the number
has reached to four with the unexplained death of Syed
Saleem Shahzad,whose body was picked up from a slice gate
net of a Jhelum river canal within forty eight hours of his
mysterious abduction from the fortified capital Islamabad.
He should have completed second part of his report for the
Hong Kong based Asia Times Online.The subject of his
report was the unusual shared attack,shared with insiders,
by terrorists on the Mehran navy airbase of Karachi on
May 22 at the dead of night. The attack was carried out
by no more than six terrorists that caused destruction of
the navy´s two newest surveillance aircraft and killed more
than a dozen security personnel, injuring many more during
the course 17 hour firefight with a total of more than a thousand
security forces participation in the operation. The attack was
so complex that it compelled the security forces to save
eleven Chinese and six American weapons servicing engineers.
It looks as though the journalist gave his life for violating
the unwritten circumscription of FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
in that country by filing the first part of the report..The
second part, he could not complete since he was taken
captive by unidentified hands.The following collage makes
me conclude that in Pakistan journalists´ lives are only
slightly better than that of explosive belt suicide boys
in that, the boys have no chance of survival whatever
but the journalists, who are family men have no more than
fifty percent chance of living their professional lives full.
I have selected three reports of Pakistani Media-Tribe
sources to make a collage that may shed some light on
the sad event. Two parts of the collage was sourced
from a U.K. based Muslim Identity of 21st century website,
qern.org I reached through Media-Tribe. I present the
collage below:
From: Tariq Khattak >
Date: Sat, Jun 4, 2011 at 5:59 AM
Pakistan Government, Local Media Owners, Courts Also Responsible For Troubles of
Journalists
I got mixed response from my earlier mail titled "Foreign
Media Also Responsible For Deaths of Pakistani Journalists."
Majority blamed me for an agent of ISI and establishment but some appreciated it. Many were supportive of truth,
liberty, freedom of expression and other nice slogans without realising ground realities and consequences in a police state like Pakistan.
All of the non-journalists bashed me for writing this piece, as they have nothing on stake. They want others to fight for them, pay for it, while they keep themselves away and safe.
Other sections of society should also risk their lives for betterment of society.
I think that government is also responsible for troubles
of journalist community. Keeping their stomachs empty
is integral part of their information policy so that they
can bar them from independent thinking and keep them busy in making both ends meet.
Pakistani Courts also put their weight behind the owners adding to miseries of journalist community, many judges would personally call owners as soon as they are approached by staff—what a shame.
Similarly, the media owners should also share the blame. They look everything purely from business point of view which is very selfish attitude.The ever-increasing influence of marketing staff in every news organisation is enough to prove it.
Many media owners would stress ethics and honesty among staff without considering it practical for themselves.They think that journalists and their families are super humans that survive without food.
Whatever majority of journalists in Pakistan get in the name of salaries is in fact a small, humiliating and irregular stipend which can be termed alms/donation at best.This double standard works well for owners but it's hard for journalists to accept and there is no institution that can help them out.
The situation leaves majority of reporters/sub editors with little options but to explore other avenues to provide for bread and butter to unfortunate families.
Such areas may include serving other private and government organisations/individuals, indulgence in PR activities, working for foreign media, begging and black mailing.
They are not paid properly yet they hide the fact that they are serving others due to negative mindset of journalist community towards PR professional. (God knows when PR professionals
would be considered as humans and respectable segment
of the society).
Once I asked a friend that why is he hitting Pakistan and Islam in every news filed to foreign media. He said that foreign media has helped his family to migrate from inferior good to superior. Once his salary was OK to meet expenses, now it is not for personal entertainment.
"This is a whirlpool from which I cannot come out even if I try" was his last justification after which I preferred to close the topic.It is an undeniable fact that almost everyone is aware of the situation which has resulted in many problems. Many would not accept any journalist as son in law, ( in a
pimped marriage society.kb) as they know that it amounts to playing with future of their daughters.Will there be any
end to suppression?- Tariq Khattak
Muslim identity
in U.K.!!!
From: Akber Choudhry <akber@qern.org>
Date: Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 4:31 PM
Foreign Media Responsible for Killing of Pakistani Journalists
Great comments all around. Freedom of speech is not absolute, and extra-judicial murders are abhorrent to
civilisation itself.
The fourth estate has a watchdog role -- what the public
should be aware of in order to make rational decisions
about their lives and their leaders. When the powerful
start to deceive, the truth should be known. Even then,
operational details and names are hidden, even by Wikileaks.
In fact, Wikileaks was a phenomenon due to Western
media becoming too cosy to power, a fact that
has since been acknowledged, even by the New York Times.
The New York Times declares boldly 'All the news that's
fit to print' with the clear realisation that there is news
that is not fit to print.
Intelligence agencies carry out tit-for-tat operations to keep
us OUT of war -- it shows the intelligence level and operational readiness of the other side without going into full-scale war.
KGB-CIA shenanigans kept the Cold War cold. All intelligence
agencies fund and keep militant organisations to do their dirty
work.
ISI is very good at what it does, and is an intelligence
agency worthy of a nuclear power, and necessary for
such a power. Again, some dirty games of intelligence
agencies keep us out of full-blown war.They keep the
American and Indian agencies in their place.They are not
angels, and we would not want them to be either.
The ISI, as part of the government, should be held
accountable by the media, but its operational details
should not be revealed. The most a journalist should
do in such situations when he/she feels that a broader
principle may be compromised is to go abstract and
outline the principle at stake.
A golden rule -- how would a US reporter write
about the CIA, or the Hindustan Times about RAW?
Operational details are just titillating details that have
no purpose in educating the public. While Saleem was
a great reporter, and he laid bare an issue, which
Ghaznvi has discussed here (http://www.qern.org/en/rapidly-changing-al-qaeda-endgame-pakistan-0), his crossing the line may have left not choice for the people
who regularly put their lives on the line for us.Still, if it
was the ISI, it was wrong.It is a delicate balancing act.
Regards,
Akber Rapidly Changing Al-Qaeda Endgame in Pakistan
Submitted by ghaznvi on Tue, 2011-05-31 20:43 
Saleem Shahzad was the fearless Pakistani reporter who was kidnapped last night and found dead today.As usual, the Interior Minister promised an inquiry and visited his home,and all the foreign news agencies for whom he worked expressed their condolences.
In addition to the sorrow over a reporter I admired, his death tells us a lot about the changing game within Pakistan. Saleem was as close as you could get to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda while not being overtly sympathetic to them.A gifted reporter, he found his natural voice when reporting about the intricacies of the relationship between the various warring factions in Pakistan. He had written on "asiatimes online" Part 1 of what went on behind the attack on the Pakistani Navy but did not live long enough to write Part 2.He had also written a well-received book on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
The background of this goes to the court-martial of Al-Qaeda infiltrators into the Navy,which resulted in this attack.
The Pakistan military has two problems:
- Like all militaries around the world, nationalism and religion are used as motivators for the fighting armed forces. Pakistan was created with a Muslim identity, and thus the same terminology used by the non-state actor al-Qaeda is the same one used to inspire the state's armed forces -- jihad in the way of God.This requires a philosophical clarity that is lacking and that will be published on this site as 'Dominion, Sedition and Struggle'.
- While the Pakistan Army does wish Al-Qaeda and Taliban success in forcing the Americans and Indians out of Afghanistan,it does not look kindly on this isolationist and anti-state rhetoric infiltrating its ranks. It has now drawn the line.
The reason why jihadi forces have failed throughout modern history is because the virulent fanaticism that makes them so effective in the battlefield is the same virulent fanaticism that does not allow them to rule without creating perceived enemies out of everyone.Infighting, lack of compromise and respect for others, and disobedience to all authority sets them on a path where they can never run a state.
The food supplies, hospitals, markets, telephone networks, trains, petrol supply chain, roads and arms that al-Qaeda relies on to further its own goals are provided by the states of the host countries.This is very similar to a parasitic existence -- but it is not in the interest of the parasite to destroy the host. Nowhere has Al-Qaeda or other militant groups succeeded in providing the basics of a functioning society for any length of time.It is only a myth propagated by illiterate 'scholars' who are intent on augmenting their power base.
Al-Qaeda may be near the peak of its soft power -- it needs to get political very fast, very soon, like the IRA -- or it will lose its sympathisers and will be militarily crushed in South Asia.Or, we hope, some politician can harness the soft power while distancing the al-Qaeda version of jihad from the Pakistani military's version."- Ghaznavi on qern.(end)
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