HAMID MIR – SURVIVING JOURNALIST

This article relates to the regrettable event of attack on renowned journalist and anchor person Mr. Hamid Mir. The attack on Hamid Mir is in fact the attack on truth, courage and struggle. This gutless act has created doubts in the different segments of society and left the country in disagreement in institutions.

It is mind blowing and unfortunate that the person who is attacked is blamed as agent, even though he has a history of sacrifices for the beloved homeland. His father, his grandfather, his brothers and his entire family have worked for the development of country.

Let’s put a glance at the career and struggle of Hamid Mir to evaluate his role. See the facts, and then decide or pass a judgment about anyone.
Few instances are given here.
• In 1994, he broke the submarines purchase scandal in Daily Jang. Some close friends of Asif Zardari (the former president of Pakistan) were involved in that scandal, along with some Navy officials.
• He lost his job in 1997, when he wrote an article in the Daily Pakistan about the alleged corruption of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
• Mir went eastern Afghanistan, where he investigated the escape of Osama bin Laden from Tora Bora mountains in December 2001.
• Mir was arrested by Hezbullah in Beirut during Israel-Lebanon war in July 2006 while trying to cover the scenes of Israeli jets bombing on Beirut, but was later set free after Hezbullah was assured that he was not an Israeli spy.
• On 16 March 2007, during live coverage of the lawyers' protest against the suspension of the Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Mir was attacked by police at his Islamabad office.
• Mir visited Bajour tribal area in January 2006 after a US missile attack in Damadola village. He again proved that the US missiles killed only innocent children and women, not Al Qaeda militants.
• Musharraf declared Hamid Mir a Taliban sympathizer after the emergency rule of 2007 and banned him from Geo TV for more than four months. In an interview with Monthly Newsline Karachi (December 2008 issue), Mir explained his differences with Musharraf.
• Mir worked as a voice of peace and objective journalism during the India–Pakistan tension created after the Mumbai attacks in November 2008.
• In December 2011, Hamid Mir received Several Death Threats after he hosted a TV show on Influence of ISI in Pakistan Politics. On 26 November 2012, a bag containing a bomb was found under his car but that was not exploded and was defused by bomb experts and Mir remained safe.

Hamid Mir survived in a murder attempt. This is the time to show sympathy with him. But, the people are calling him an agent of enemies? How foolish idea is this? A person was attacked, and hardly survived and he became a traitor!! If this is the state of nation and its institutions, how do we claim to work for the prosperity of country?

Hamid Mir always struggled for the people, for the country, so people should play their role now. The aggrieved party has the right to complain, and to protest, so the accused must co-operate to prove their selves innocent.