What the writer has written is nothing new and, in fact, it is Mr Fulton who is playing to the gallery.
ISLAMABAD: A friend of mine called me the other day and told me that my favorite personality in Pakistan, Justice (R) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, has become ombudsman for The Express Tribune. He said that a picture of Justice Ebrahim was published on the front page of the paper on October 27 — and that a column against me was published on page 6.I didn’t really care because such attacks have been made against me in the past as well. However, my friend said that I should at the very least read the column, titled “Playing to the gallery”, because it was written by none other than George Fulton. Frankly speaking, I was not expecting anything unfair from Mr Fulton. But I have to say that it was a great surprise when I read what he had written, since he tried to paint me as a "pro-establishment" journalist, alleging that I had delivered a pro-democracy speech some days back just to please my English-speaking audience. He also doubted my views on intelligence agencies and the Taliban.
I respect difference of opinion but the writer should not make baseless allegations against me. He is not aware that I have been fighting for democracy since my student days. If he wants proof of that he can check with Asma Jahangir who will tell him that she was my lawyer when I had to defend myself in the courts in 1986 after the Jamaat-e-Islami involved me in some fake cases during my college days. He should go to Peshawar and talk to Naseerullah Babar, interior minister during Benazir Bhutto’s second government, who expressed displeasure on my anti-Taliban columns in 1996. He can also check with Pemra on how many notices were issued against me when I started discussing the role of intelligence agencies in politics in 2005. If I was so close to the ‘establishment’ why was I banned from TV twice — first in November 2007 for four months and again in June 2008? Many religious scholars who started opposing suicide attacks in my show “Capital Talk” were assassinated – such as Mufti Sarfaraz Naeemi, Maulana Hassan Jan and Maulana Merajuddin Mehsud. The activists of a religious party threatened to kill me just because I wrote that most of the Deobandi scholars had opposed Jinnah and the creation of Pakistan.
The fact of the matter is that I have been a target of intelligence agencies since 1990. Mr Fulton must read The Friday Times of November 5-11, 1992 for a detailed story on how many times I had been attacked by intelligence agencies in the first five years of my journalistic career. In fact, I would have to say that what the writer has written is nothing new and, in fact, it is Mr Fulton who is playing to the gallery. I don't need any certificate of liberalism and patriotism from him. I am writing these lines because Fakhroo bhai has become ombudsman for The Express Tribune — perhaps Mr Fulton should check about me with him as well.
Hamid Mir
Published in The Express Tribune, October 29th, 2010.
