"TRUTH" Behind My Speak Up! (Bol kay Lab azad hain Terey)

Finally, the former anchorperson of SAMA TV, Jasmeen Manzoor broke the ice by writing a blog on what made her disappear from the scene. Whatever she observed, felt and concluded, stated very clearly in her blog.  It is fact that she has the freedom of expression to state her views, but it is also true that other people also have the right to do the same even disagreeing with her.

Jasmeen Manzoor `s “truth” turns out to be like a Lollywood`s film story that has not only flaws, but also contradictions. Whatever she termed as truth was based on an alleged act of rigging at a polling station of NA-250 (DHA girls` college) on the elections day.

Point 1: According to her, while surveying the building of the polling station, she found a room that was locked from the inside. When she broke into it, she saw that a few young men had made the polling officer hostage and were casting fake votes in favor of MQM. The question is, how did she stop exactly in front of the same locked room and try to open it in which, as per her claim, the fake voting was going on)? How did she come to know that “some illegal activity” was going on inside? Furthermore, isn`t it very strange that “few young men” forcefully entered a room, made the officers hostage, locked the room from the inside and started stamping despite the presence of the Rangers there? Did the “a few young men”, by locking the door from the inside of the room not provide an open opportunity to everyone present at the building to call the police and arrest them red handed?

More importantly, how did those young men manage to run away so freely from the spot despite the presence of Jasmeen Manzoor and many other voters in the room? Practically speaking, if we visualize such a situation, does what she portrayed look true? Moreover, taking into account the traditional attitude of the Rangers towards the MQM works and supporters, can it be believed that they so easily allowed the MQM supports or workers to enter, cast fake votes and run away without being caught???

Point 2: Regarding the story on the DHA polling station, she also wrote, “I barely managed to get out and tried yelling for help from the two rangers standing on guard but no one came to help. They just looked the other way and went out”? (Here, it is also to be noticed that all the anti-MQM political and religious parties claimed that there were no Rangers or army in the polling stations on the election days). If her story was really true, then did she, in her audio beeper on SAMA News, also name the Sindh Rangers for facilitating the rigging in the elections? When no, why not? Why did she directly or indirectly target MQM, but intentionally ignored the Rangers who had protected the culprits during the polling process?

Anyway, despite the unpleasant environment emerged as a result of the above-mention situation, she accepted in the following words, that after having meetings with the MQM leaders, the tension subsided, “After my last show of the week Governor Sindh, Mr. Ishrat Ul Ibad and senior leaders of MQM spoke gently with me about those shows. The same night  Mr. Altaf Hussain apologized for the comments he had made about journalists and anchors.  I liked that gesture and appreciated it publicly.”

 After her on record acceptance, what was remaining between MQM and Jasmeen Manzoor as far as “serious differences” are concerned? When there was no” cause” left, what is the logic of its so-called “result”, i.e., the threat to her? Now, what is the credibility of the information about the threat to her that was conveyed by the local police officer?

Point 3: Jasmeen Manzoor states that, after receiving the threat indirectly through the police, she met the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and informed him about the potential threats, but the PM seemed be very hopeless. Similarly, she also met the Federal Interior Minister Ch. Nisar and DG ISI, but, all her efforts went into vein.

This story, if true, gives very clear impression that, regarding the potential threats to her, the political as well as the military establishments of the country looked to be very helpless and they could not do anything to protect her except expressing sorrow on her dilemma. The question is, is it believable that not only the PM, but also especially the DG ISI (Army`s right hand agency) expressed their helplessness because of the fear of MQM and could not assure security to a well-known anchorperson? In the scenario where the Pakistani military establishment is accused internationally of being playing the double game with the Western world including America especially in respect of dealing with the Taliban and Al-Quaid, can it be even assumed that it becomes helpless before (as the MQM`s rivals call) an ethnic group which is limited to only one city of the country? In the situation where even a democratically elected President of Pakistan feels compelled to write and send a memo to the American officials asking for help against the Pakistani military establishment and the ISI (which were, as per the contents of the memo, trying to sack the political government), does it seem true that the so powerful people and institution have become scared of MQM?  

Not only that, it was also one of the recently leveled allegations on MQM, that its leadership wrote a letter to the British Prime Minister Mr.Tonny Blair requesting him to take actions against the ISI. Thus, if Jasmeen Manzoor is telling the truth, then where the political as well as the military establishment find themselves helpless before MQM, did MQM need to write any letter (if it was really written) against the Pakistani establishment? In the light of what she has mentioned, actually who should have written a letter to the British Prime Minister? The Pakistani establishments against MQM or MQM against them? Who was a danger for whom? If we believe Jasmeen Manzoor`s words, then does it not automatically clear MQM from the charge of writing a letter to the British PM against ISI? But, on the other hand, if the charge of the letter on MQM is considered true, does it not mean that Jasmeen Manzoor is telling a lie?       

Point 4: In the blog, on one hand, she has tried to prove that none of the heads of the Institutions could do anything for her protection, but, on the other hand, she has herself written the following:

“When I came back (from Umrah), I saw huge deployment of the Police and Rangers outside my home, I was shocked the first thought was Oh God robbery…”, “ The Police and intelligence agencies men came to my house shortly.” “The next day I went to work moving under heavy security” and also “I am in self imposed exile due to serious threats from unknown target killers. The security agencies have asked me to do so”.

Do all the above facts support her claim that she was not helped out by the political as well as the military establishments regarding the threats? Not exactly after her meetings with the PM, Interior Minister and DG ISI and also after her “triggering point”, “breaking down” and “sobbing for Karachi”, she was provided the heavy security even when she herself was not aware of any “potential threats” on her return from the Umrah.

The question is, how it is possible that the heads of the state (Prime Minister), LEA (Federal Interior Minister Ch. Nisar) and ISI (DG ISI) remained quite unable to do anything for her security, but their lower officers in advance arrive at her house for protection? Were they not scared of MQM like their heads? Are these lower-ranked officers braver than their heads that they did not find themselves helpless despite being in Karachi, but their heads did in spite of being hundreds of miles away from Karachi? Does all this stand to reason?

Point 5: The fact reveals that even before the 11^th May elections, 2013, Jasmeen Manzoor did not have any sort of complaints from MQM and this is what that she mentioned in the blog,“I have spent 15 years a journalist and have been doing current affairs shows on private news TV channels of Pakistan but this is the first time, according to law enforcement agencies, I and my family are under serious life threats”. She further clarified her past relationship with MQM in these words: “Before this incident (i.e., receiving the information of her life threat through the police and the agencies men), I have never received any direct threat from MQM  let me clear this and put it on record.”

The above lines prove that the bone of contention between MQM and Jasmeen Manzoor was the “revelation” from the local police officer. The question is, is the “information” from any of the LEA`s worth blindly believing?  Whether we speak of the recent jail break in KPK, suicide attacks, attacks at Mehran base, Ziyarat Residency or GHQ, did our LEA`s ever intercept a call of the terrorists in advance and take the necessary measures to counter them? On top of it, Pakistan had to face very awkward situation when Osama Bin Laden was discovered from Abbotabad as a result of the 2^nd May operation by the USA forces. Did the Pakistani police, Rangers, FC, CID, MI, ISI or IB ever intercept even a single call from the Al-Quaida terrorists leaking any terrorist plans or revealing the presence of the Internationally most wanted terrorist in the Pakistani militarily sensitive area who had been residing there for about 9 years?

We should also not ignore the fact that by the 2nd May operation, the Pakistani Prime Ministers, Army Chief as well as the DG ISI, on the basis of the internal reports by the same secret agencies, had been ruling out all the possibility of the presence of Bin Laden in Pakistan. But, what happened then? As a result of the misinformation from the agencies, even the Chief of Army Staff Gen. Kiyani had to admit openly that it was the total failure of the Pakistani secret agencies.

In addition to this, very recently, the Supreme Court has altogether rejected the reports prepared and submitted by the Police and the Rangers in the court on the lawlessness of Karachi. Have we forgotten the remarks that the judges passed on the very misleading reports prepared by them? Do these not expose the credibility of the reports/information provided by the Pakistani LEA`s? Logically, when our LEA`s have submitted the very misleading reports even to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, can it be expected that they would be sharing true information to Jasmeen Manzoor especially against MQM when, in her own words, they were fighting a proxy war with it? Taking into account all these bitter facts, should Jasmeen Manzoor not have been very careful while making her mind against any one just on the basis of any unverified “information” provided by our LEA`s? Should she have been so easily misguided (if she is not doing all that intentionally against MQM)by the traditionally anti-MQM elements?

Point 6: Anyway, the MQM`s stance in response to the disinformation from the agencies, was very clear and co-operative as mentioned by Jasmeen Manzoor in her blog too. The question is, how else should MQM have reacted in response to the allegation on it? In what other way, should MQM have extended its co-operation in clarifying its position to her? Although, the main responsibility legally lies on the shoulders of the Police officer and the agencies personnel because it was them who originated that information/disinformation leveling an allegation on someone, yet MQM not only denied all that rubbish, but also sent its senior members to her house for further clarification. Now, what else was remaining on the part of MQM in this respect? Does she expect it to look into the “information of her life threat”, trace and arrest the alleged target killers by hiring some sort of private detectors for her?

Point 7: On top of it, when she admits that there was a confusion in her mind about that situation and she was quite unsure who to believe, LEA or MQM, then, why to jump into conclusion for declaring MQM the responsible for an still undone thing? Can such a decision be legally and logically justified?

Point 8: However, if she is still in a mood to consider the LEA`s reliable in comparison to the MQM representatives, then why should a common man, not blindly believe the under-oath statement given by the head of ISI before the commission in which he termed the Pakistani journalists as easily salable commodity in the words “The journalists can heavily be bribed with money, woman and alcohol”? It is on record that when these remarks came up, she was disagreeing to it. Now, the question is, when she herself gave preference to the verbal information of the low-ranked officers of the LEA in comparison to MQM, why should the common people give any value to the Jasmeen Manzoor`s stance on this issue? Why must they not blindly believe not an intercepted telephonic call, but an under-oath declaration given by the head of the ISI before the constitutionally set up commission on the order of the Supreme Court? Would she like to comment anything in this respect?

Point 9: Here, it is also important to notice that she stated in the blog that she left for Saudi Arabia for three days to offer Umrah. However, in the bracket, she also explained what Umran meant in these words “(The Muslims religious obligation to go to Saudi Arabia and perform prayer)”. The question is, are the people of Pakistan not aware of what Umrah means? If yes, then why did she explain that? Does it not appear that she was trying to explain the meaning of Umrah to the people outside Pakistan especially the non-Muslims? Whom was she addressing and why?

When we read the following lines of her blog, there emerges an answer to this question,

“Hunt and target a woman." Not only will this make international headlines but will also tell the world that we are hostage to handful of terrorists these terrorists  control our destinies.”

In very direct words, by writing this blog, she mainly addressed the international media. The question is, does it not turn to be very illogical that, in the scenario where she herself is confused whether to believe the intelligence report or to trust the clarification from MQM, she makes her mind to make international headlines and also to tell the world that the journalists are hostage of terrorists? By doing this, is she not following the footsteps of Imran Khan who, immediately after the murder of Zehra Shahid, charged the MQM`s Quaid while the deceased`s own family members could not name anyone in the FIR?

Jasmeen Manzoor must keep this in her mind that it is not the matter of making a decision after hearing the political speeches from the tow different political parties and then casting her vote for any one of them in the election. Rather, it is the matter of accusing and punishing someone. In current situation, the blamer, the personnel of the LEA, have to prove with concrete evidences in the court of law all of their allegations, and until then, the accused (MQM) must be assumed to be innocent. However, if she, still continues directly or indirectly maligning MQM in this way, then sooner or later, the reality will appear before the world and then she will have no place to hide her face…Insha Allah