looks like u have a valid point!..media was ‘reporting’ whatever govt was telling it…the other side’s story was NOT AT ALL visible becoz MEDIA WAS ‘FREE’…may God punish those whoever raised ‘false alarms’.
The News International: Latest News Breaking, World, Entertainment, Royal News
Government claims deceptive
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: The government’s repeated claims that late Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi had laid mines and held women and children hostage to use them as a “human shield” turned out to be mere “misreporting” of intelligence informers.
The reports of suicide bombers, reported to be present inside the Lal-Masjid-Jamia Hafsa complex, also turned out to be baseless. Sources said that during the bloody military operation, no landmines or hostages were found in the complex.
A source said that after finding out the real story, the authorities themselves felt embarrassed as to how to confront the media, both national and international, which was fed earlier with baseless intelligence reports.
However, the government’s strict decision not to allow the media to go even near the “battlefield” has successfully helped the authorities to cover up the intelligence agencies’ misreporting so far.
Major General Waheed Arshad, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), confirmed that no “suicide bombing” incident occurred during the operation. He also did not confirm that troops had found even a single mine laid inside the complex, although, he said that the combing operation was in progress.
Late Ghazi repeatedly requested that the media should be allowed to visit the complex to see by itself the situation but the authorities did not permit even the parliamentarians, the Ulema and the government representatives, including Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, to enter the complex apprehending that they would be made hostages.
None of the 27 women “rescued” by the authorities on Tuesday in the middle of the operation confirmed to have been held hostage or used as a human shield. Instead, reports revealed that these women were begging to the authorities to send them back to the Jamia Hafsa as they wanted to embrace ‘martyrdom’.
When they heard of the news of the death of Maulana Ghazi, they burst into tears. Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Ejazul Haq, when confronted on the issue, told The News that the women, who were held hostage, did not actually know that they were being used as “human shield”. About the reaction of women “rescued” from the complex, he said, “They have been brainwashed.”
When asked that usually those held hostage or used as a “human shield” fell victim to a commando action but in this case no hostage was even hurt, the minister said that the operation was conducted with extreme care and to ensure minimum-possible collateral damage.
Secretary General Wafaqul Madaris Maulana Hanif Jalandhari, when asked if he had any knowledge of the reports of women and children being used as hostage, said “that was all government propaganda.”
Jalandhari was included in the Ulema team that had made a last-ditch effort for a negotiated settlement of the Lal Masjid crisis but could not succeed after the Presidency changed the draft agreement.
He said that he was even contacted by parents of three female students of the Jamia Hafsa, who said that these students, despite repeated requests, were not willing to go home. On the question of “hostages”, Waheed Arshad told The News that if the women and children were not held as hostage, they should have come out of the complex on their own accord. He said that 27 women were “rescued” but he did not know how these women had reacted as reported by some newspapers.
When asked how the women who were held “hostage” and used as “human shields” were rescued unhurt, the military spokesman explained that the militants “guarding” the rescued women were first killed that led to their “rescue”.
Absar Alam, senior journalist and Bureau Chief of Geo News in Islamabad, whose team covered the moment-to-moment events of the Lal Masjid since July 3, said that there was no confirmation from any independent source of the government’s recent claims that the militants inside had held women and children as hostage, laid mines or prepared suicide jackets.
Alam said that till Wednesday evening, the media had no access to the Lal Masjid Complex, enabling the government to give its choice information to the press. For most of the stories, he said, the reporters were either dependent on the government or the militants who were holed up in the complex.