A number of news agencies reported yesterday that the Prime Minister’s secretariat has recently prepared a list of 30-odd journalists who have been labelled as being a pain in the ass for the government and hence need to be dealt with and require “softening up”. You & I can easily assume the type of softening which is actually being suggested, it would either be a decent softening of a few bones, it could easily be a handsome exchange of wealth or it could even be a top notch government post in exchange for a neutrality. Anything is possible in this political system of ours.
This exercise could very well be in preparation for the elections where Musharraf desperately needs the support of a good positive press. These top notch jouranlists wil surely not help him being re-elected into power. I have tried to reproduce the list as it appears in The Daily Times for easy reading, surprisingly the list goes to even identify the individual responsible for the “softening up” process, how interesting.
I would like to form a collective effort of all my blog readers to follow these journalist and report any noticeable change in any of these people hence trying to keep a running tab on who has been softened up or even elevated to a position of power.
|
Journalist
|
Association
|
Assigned Party
|
---|---|---|---|
1 |
Irshad Haqqani
|
Jang
|
Info Min Durrani
|
2 |
Ardeshir Cowasjee
|
Dawn
|
|
3 |
Amina Jilani
|
||
4 |
Khalid Hasan
|
TFT
|
Shahid Rafi
|
5 |
Kamran Shafi
|
||
6 |
Irfan Ghauri
|
||
7 |
Khaled Ahmad
|
TFT
|
|
8 |
Kamla Hyat
|
The News
|
Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan
|
9 |
Rauf Klasra
|
The News
|
|
10 |
Ansar Abbasi
|
The News
|
|
11 |
Mehtab Haider
|
The Nation
|
|
12 |
Sherry Rehman
|
PPPP
|
|
13 |
Farhatullah Babar
|
PPPP
|
|
14 |
Roedad Khan
|
||
15 |
Hasan Nisar
|
Daily Express
|
Info Min Durrani
|
16 |
Abbas Athar
|
Daily Express
|
Info Min Durrani
|
17 |
Irfan Siddiqui
|
Nawa-i Waqt
|
Info Min Durrani
|
18 |
Attaur Rehman
|
Nawa-i Waqt
|
Info Min Durrani
|
19 |
Haroon Rashid
|
Nawa-i Waqt
|
Info Min Durrani
|
20 |
Attaul Haq Qasmi
|
Jang
|
Senator Tariq Azeem
|
21 |
Abdul Qadir Hassan
|
Daily Express
|
Senator Tariq Azeem
|
22 |
Hamid Mir
|
Geo TV
|
Javed Akhtar
|
23 |
Farrukh Saleem
|
News/TFT
|
Javed Akhtar
|
24 |
Shafqat Mahmood
|
The News
|
Javed Akhtar
|
25 |
Khaled Ahmed
|
Javed Akhtar
|
|
26 |
MB Naqvi
|
The News
|
Jaffar Bilgrami
|
27 |
Ghazi Salahuddin
|
The News
|
Jaffar Bilgrami
|
28 |
Ayaz Amir
|
Dawn
|
Ashfaq Gondal
|
29 |
Farooq Qaiser
|
Khabrain.
|
Ashfaq Gondal
|
30 |
Raja Anwar
|
Khabrain.
|
Ashfaq Gondal
|
PS – I aplogize for any errors and will edit items as the errors are pointed out
Source: The Daily Times (free registration required to view the news story)
Comments
13 responses to “PM issues a Bribe’em Bash’em Policy”
how did it get out?
No Shahid masood?He doesnt write for papers but hes very outspoken person.
first off.. Nice post! i dont follow print media much though, so most of these names might as well be foriegn to me.
secondly, LOVE what you’ve done with your blog! Who designed it?
This would be intersting to follow up. Maybe the Government will go for bloggers next. Olive Ream, teeth maestro look out !
But some people on this list will not sway. I am keeping my fingers crossed just in case.
I'd be really shocked if Cowasjee sways althought truthfully for most it is seems very unlikely that they will take the bait…but you are right one should keep track and see what happens..
BTW, great post Awab.
Rai – Personally I think it appears to be a deliberate leak to maybe destabilize Shortcut Aziz actually convert all the raw anger towards the PM and at the same time attmept to neutralize the Spin Doctors of Pakistan.
Adnan – When compiling the list I too wondered as to why Dr. Shahid Masood was not found on the list – maybe hes already been neutralized? Any suspicions do report it.
Omer – I doubt Cowasjee and the other big guns would fold under this pressure but they might soften up a persistent pressure, who wouldn\’t fold up when offered the right price.
Mansoor – thank you for the kind words, I have just being playing around to finally end up with a design which really appealed to me. Literally pulled a few items here and there to create this design – glad you liked it…
Checkmate – I seriously doubt it but it would be fun just ending up on this list we lonely folks (Omer & I) will surely be the only ones thrown into the slammer and no questions asked who would care about two missing bloggers 🙂 but I would relish the thought to at least have myself featured on the list. *wishful thinkin*
Nice post. I had also read the news adn made a mental note to follow on what happens. There seem to be some on that list who, I think, will be very happy to be be ‘swayed’; others — like Ayaz Amir, Cowasjee, Khalid Ahmed and Khalid Hasan, for example — will probably not; if they do, they will break my heart!
But the interesting thing to me is that this type of activities have been standard policy of all governments; its just that buying journalists used to be so much cheaper in the good ol’ days; taking them along on a foreign trip used to be enough to do the trick. I guess, its not just the price of property that has gone up 😉
Interesting list, indeed. There’s another kind of ‘softening up’ Doc. Detaining the ‘pain-in-the-ass’ in jails. A detention order is atleast for 3 months and unbailable by (our shitty – formulated by the English masters) law! Watchout, there’s more to political drama than meets the eye. One of my very close acquitance who writes for Daily Din had been through this. Hail democracy!
I wish the government good luck in trying to shut Cowasjee up….it should be a cakewalk for someone like him who has survived Retardo-in-Chief Ziaul Haq.
In this age of 20-odd channels, the government’s going to have a hard time keeping people from knowing the truth…that is IF our news channel stop spewing Indian-influenced bull$hit
But then again, if the entire U.S. media was shut up for 3-4 years, then surely the Pakistani media can be held at bay too.
Um, perhaps you should be worried about the source of this information. Not only does the paper belong to a devout follower of BB and the PPP (former PPP Senator, in fact), but the paper is well-known for ripping off articles without paying for them, and for glamourizing items without substantiating them.
As Pakistanis we are blessed (or cursed) with extremely short memories. This is the first time in 22 years that this country has enjoyed Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press, regardless of how limited it may be. Having worked at Newsline through two “Democratic” terms, I can tell you that the brutal suppression of the press during those times is a thing of the past.
Perhaps we should take this opportunity to engage in honest and constructive debate, rather than bashing the ruling party, which has become almost tradition among those who pretend to have a brain!
In the absence of an effective opposition, the free press must step into that role, if there is to be any control over government.Regardless of the excesses of the media, they cannot match the excesses of any government without effective opposition, so be grateful, Pakistan, for those brave souls who are willing to put pen to paper in defence of what little democracy you may have, whether you agree with their viewpoint or not.
can anyone tell me what a ‘print journalist’ is?i am really confused with that term…plz help me as sson as possible…thanks…
chills…
peace:D
Have been keeping an eye on who will turn – The News seems to have kicked Kamran Shafi out!!