ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
A three-member judicial commission set up by Pakistan’s Supreme Court to probe into a murder attempt on famous journalist and anchor Hamid Mir will begin its proceedings from Monday in Karachi.
The commission has issued notices to the interior secretary, and senior police and intelligence officials to appear before the commission on Monday, the Supreme Court Registrar told reporters.
Mir, who presents the popular talk show Capital Talk on Geo TV, was on his way to his office after landing at Karachi airport from Islamabad when he was attacked on April 19.
According to Geo TV, Mir a few weeks ago told the channel management that if he had ever been attacked, the country’s powerful spy agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), and its chief Lt general Zaheer ul Islam would be responsible for that.
Pakistan Army, and the ISI rejected Mir’s accusations.
Amid allegations and counter allegations, some senior cabinet members are acting to stem the ongoing verbal war between the ISI, and Geo, the country’s top news channel.
“The ongoing tussle between the army and the media is not to anyone’s interests,” a senior cabinet member told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity.
“We are in touch with both sides, and are trying to stem the situation”, he said.
He, however, admitted that the ISI appeared to be “very angry” at the news channel especially for displaying the picture of agency chief Lt General Zaheer ul Islam while broadcasting the allegations leveled by Mir’s family.
“Things are not very easy to handle. But we do not have any other choice except mediation,” the minister said.
Geo has been blacked out in most parts of Pakistan due to military pressure on the channel.
The GEO management says the cable operators across the country are being forced by security authorities to go off-air.
The Defense Ministry has already filed a reference for cancellation of Geo’s broadcast license for “orchestrating a willful campaign to damage“ the reputation of country’s premier spy agency, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) after murder attempt on Mir.
The ministry has filed the reference with Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), a state-owned body that deals with the electronic media affairs, on the complaint of the ISI.
Mir, who rose to fame after interviewing former Al Qaeda Chief Osama bin Laden in 2002, had escaped a similar attempt in 2011 when a bomb was recovered from his car.
This was the second attack on TV anchors in the last two months. Raza Rumi, another famous anchor that works for Express TV, was shot and injured in the northeastern city of Lahore in March.
According to Reporters Sans Borders, Pakistan is one of the three most dangerous countries for journalists.
By Aamir Latif - Anadolu Agency
englishnews@aa.com.tr
