Hamid Mir____________Another Iftekhar Choudhry?

After the formal statement has been issued by Hamid Mir on who could be the one(s) behind the murder attempt, all the ambiguity about his brother`s accusation towards DG ISI has got removed now. Now, there is s clear-cut charge sheet from the senior journalist as well as the well-known anchorperson against the military establishment. Frankly speaking, the accusation from Hamid Mir, has not merely remained limited to the extent of murder attack on Hamid Mir and his family, but it has in fact, become a complete charge sheet on the military establishment ranging from the interference in the politics to its alleged involvement in the massacre in Balochistan. In fact, what Hamid Mir has presented as charge sheet against the military establishment, people have been hearing about it directly or indirectly for decades. So, the question is, why are Hamid Mir and his Jang and Geo group taking up this issue at this point of time? 

Everybody knows that the Issue of Balochistan is not new at all. To tell the truth, it is the result of the decades` prevailing injustice, discrimination as well as the victimization of the people of Balochistan by the civil as well as the military rulers of the time. However, no one anchorperson or media group ever took a “principle stand” against all that in the past due to which the Balochustan issue now seems to have arrived at the point of no return. Instead of bringing the facts to light, all the pillars of the state kept adopting criminal silence over it. Following the same policy, Hamid Mir and his media group had been trying to prove as if Balochistan issue emerged only after the Akbar Bugti case for which they did their best to hold the former General Pervez Musharaf responsible. The question is, if Balochistan issue was the result of the “misconduct” of only an “individual”, i.e., Musharaf, then why was, according to Hamir Mir”, army annoyed over taking up the Balochistan issue?

Similarly, when the army, as an institution, was not involved in the military takeover of 12^th October and the imposition of emergency on 3^rd November 2007 (as Hamid Mir had been brain washing in his programs), then why was the military establishment not happy with him over criticizing an individual (Pervez Musharaf) for all that? Does it not indicate a clear conflict in his views?

Further, all of those who have been closely monitoring the Pakistani Politics, know very well that the mystery of ISI` role in the politics is not new at all. There are countless things that indicate the same. Asghar Khan case is the most important and undeniable example of the same. The revelations of the people involved in “buying” the elections in the case, is the true reflection of how the desired results were achieved in the elections. That was also the reason why just before the 2013`s general elections, not only the Chief Election Commissioner Fakhar Uddin Ji Ibrahim, but also the Chief Justice Supreme Court of Pakistan Iftekhar Choudhry were claiming that 11^th May`s general elections would be, for the first time, truly fair, free and transparent in the history of the country. In very clear words, it was an open admission of the fact that all the previous elections were not free, fair and transparent at all. Consequently, did all the political governments resulting from such unfair and non-transparent elections have any justification to rule the people? However, very unfortunately, neither Hamid Mir nor his media group ever took a stand against the culprits and the beneficiaries of the engineered elections. Rather, they had been very actively playing the role as their “official spokes` man”. 

During the election campaign of the recently held elections of 2013, the PML-N leadership accused the former DG ISI Shuja Pasha for logistically supporting Imran Khan and his party PTI against PML-N. But, instead of raising voice on the alleged role of the ISI in politics, GEO newscasters looked to be wearing dresses of the colors similar to those of PTI`s party flag. This was very obviously revealing whom it was standing with in the mater. Similarly, it is on record that during 2011-12, PPP government was severely criticized over the memogate scandal. As per the contents of the said memo, PPP leadership wanted to seek help from the American authorities against ISI which, as per the letter, was trying to topple the PPP`s politically elected government. If ISI was really involved in such an activity, then Hamir Mir was supposed to raise his voice over its working against a democratically elected government. However, in contrast to it, he kept on bashing Asif Ali Zardari and his government.

On top of all that, in 1992 when the military operation was launched against MQM by using “Haqiqi group”, the Chief of Army Staff of the time Gen. Asif Nawaz said,“ When Muslim League can be in groups, why not MQM?” The question is, should Hamid Mir or his group of newspapers not have spoken up against that “unconstitutional role” of the military establishment in the politics? Unfortunately, Jang group of newspapers and its pay-roll journalists and columnists were very busy in propagating “all is going well” about the politically-motivated operation in Karachi.

To tell the truth, Hamid Mir with the logistic support of his media group is trying to be the 2^nd Iftekhar Choudhry of the country. Because when there was a pure military takeover on 12^th October, 1999, Iftekhar Choudhry, by betraying against then Chief Justice Supreme Court of Pakistan Justice Saeed-uz-Zama Siddiqui and his colleagues who preferred resigning, took oath under PCO from a “military dictator”. Not only that, he did not hesitate either to grab the post of the Chief Justice Supreme Court of Pakistan to head the PCO judges under the same “dictator`s rule”. All was going very “legally” and “constitutionally” until differences emerged and, consequently, a judicial reference was filed against him. That was the turning point when suddenly he realized that Pervez Musharaf was a military dictator and that it was extremely illegal and unconstitutional to work for him. That was the time when Mr. Iftekhar Choudhry and his colleagues came to know that the judiciary had been enslaved for last 60 years. That was the same sudden “realization” after which the custodian of Constitution “fought” battle of Constitution not in any court of law, but on the roads and streets of the country.         

Once again, it seems that another “Iftekhar Choudhry” (Hamir Mir”) has conceived some sudden realization of the “facts”, after the internal disputes, that ISI was working beyond its jurisdiction and that Army was allegedly involved in some sort of unpleasant activities in Balochistan. Honestly speaking, all the charges leveled by Hamid Mir are of very serious nature and, thus, need be impartially investigated so that the truth can be revealed. However, no aider or abettor should be allowed to be innocent by turning the situation in his favor after his personal differences. People have already faced one doing the same in the name of restoration of judiciary, but now there should not repetition of the same game again.