All of you who saw the incident of geo office in Islamabad live and heard the first live call, the conversation between Hamid Mir & Kamran Khan. Hamid clearly sounded terrorized, his voice was shaky, he was screaming, scared …“kamran mujhay mara…kamraan mera poch rahay hain” as he was about to cry and say someone please help me :o
But now, the headlines read “Jab police ai Hamid Mir ne unhain roknay ki koshish ki, he stand besides the door, then went up etc etc” :o
SO what was the real story, what he actually did? :o
Police kay saath to aap panga nahin kar saktay na kyun keh police to kuttay gi aapko. Same prolly happend to hamid mir, prolly got his ass whooped a lil bit here and there along with others.
But one thing is clear, the police doesnt take such action on its own esp attacking a place like GEO HQ's. They must have gotten their orders from higher up in the chain and some of these govt ministers must have known. Now Mushy is trying to act all innocent and asking for an investigation and talking bout suspending those police dudes. I find this quite amusing.
Jony, I watched the call live and heard them both. Kamran Khan was at the Khi studio and he was very shaken and his voice was shaking too.
Hamid Mir apparently had first resisted at the main entrance and when the police broke in he was online with Kamran Khan and obviously very shaken as he may well have feared the worst. He was in the basement I think and seemed determined to protect the newsroom and equipment. Being the bureau chief he apparently did put up a good show as a team leader and handled the staff well. While he was on the phone the moment he started screaming in the background and stopped talking to Kamran Khan it seemed some police men were charging at him and trying to overpower him. That's where the call was eventually dropped. And later Hamid narrated while reviewing the scene half hour later that there had been some wrestling with him too. He said a poilice man came in front of him talkingon a phone and said into the phone 'sir hamid mir is in front of me, what should be done of him?' So the whole scene must have been quite scary for them all and Hamid must have felt fear aswell, and it showed in his voice and anxiety. But overall it seems Hamid Mir handled the situation well and promptly had the info minister informed who came wihin minutes. Had he not arrived it may have gone worse. But quite a scene it was.
But the irony is that plenty similar incident have taken place in the past decades involving some journalists that are still among leading media personalities now. The only diff is that this time it was on LIVE TV, and the President, PM, concerned ministers all apologized LIVE on TV too.
But the irony is that plenty similar incident have taken place in the past decades involving some journalists that are still among leading media personalities now. The only diff is that this time it was on LIVE TV, and the President, PM, concerned ministers all apologized LIVE on TV too.
Haris, in your opinion, why do you think police attacked GEO HQ, who ordered this?
Haris bhai, it should take five minutes of investigation to ask this police man which sir he was talking to. Within an hour you can trace the sir’s phone number.
like I said yesterday, I don’t think Musharraf would order such an attack. but then i don’t think Sharif ordered the attack on SC either. according to Mir, the ransacking was carried out by punjab police personnel. any punjab police personnel operating in ICT are supposed to take their instructions from federal authorities/police officers, not provincial authorities or police officers. however, this can make things look complicated. blame can be shifted. was it done in the heat of the moment? was it done by some punjab police officer? was federal authorities behind the attack? was it someone else? it is also noteworthy that senior police officers are alleged to have been unhappy with the treatment meted out to them by the CJ. this kind of actions are capable of a variety of interpretations. in any case i don’t think it’s too difficult for musharraf to find out the truth. both the PM and the president have promised that the persons responsible should be punished. let’s see how long does it take and what the outcome is.
what i find interesting is that apparently Geo did not show the same enthusiasm in covering the scuffles and incidents in Lahore yesterday. 12 and before anyone lays all the blame on police, the preparations by the police in this regard had been reported in the press one day in advance. so everyone should have had enough time to ask police for restraint in this matter. it’s possible that the govt. did try to communicate the message through various channels, and after failing in this endeavor, someone decided to send the message in a not so civilized way. that’s just a theory. this is what acting CJ had to say about media and lawyers.
*In reply to a question, Justice Iqbal said the media was free and reporters could visit the Supreme Court. However, he advised the media to be careful in reporting events, saying any news “must not be scandalised and both sides of the picture should be portrayed”.
“If the media keeps showing a fifteen-second clip of stone pelting 15 times a day, the impact will not be good,” he said.
He urged lawyers to “maintain the sanctity of the Constitution and Supreme Court” and “keep the dignity of the judiciary”. Lawyers should protest in a “peaceful and dignified” matter, he said, adding they should also not chant slogans. http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\03\18\story_18-3-2007_pg7_13
*
does he share some of government’s concerns?
IMO, if musharraf wants to maintain the status quo, he will have to provide leadership, assert his authority (not through any extra-judicial means) and take people into confidence. his own cabinets members seem to have no clue about what’s going on. you can’t depend on these ‘poor’ people to speak for you. some of the rumors being spread and analysis from the media people may actually help him as he stays out of the line of fire, but after a while it is bound to hurt him if he doesn’t quell rumors and take people into confidence. if he fails to maintain the status quo, IMO, there are probably three options for him:
1- ‘deal’ with the opposition and bring his civilian side forward.
2- declare emergency (which will be met with resistance from civil society, but he may succeed. however, it’s not a long-term solution)
3- third option may not be his option. it was neither Ayyub’s, nor Yehya’s nor Zia’s.
nevertheless, Musharraf is probably more shrewd than most people give him credit for.
Haris, in your opinion, why do you think police attacked GEO HQ, who ordered this?
5Abi,
So far I'm clueless and even the imagination seems to be flightless in this regard, but it seriously doesn't seem like Musharraf's personal work. If it actually does turn out to be a govt backed work then it has to be some middle-ranking official and his own incentive. or perhaps there are elements within the govt that are trying to play termite for Musharraf? And like Cowasjee wrote, it could be Geo...? But in any case, Musharraf needs to be more alert, realistic, better versed and responsive with what goes on around and under him. If it indeed was his plan to manipulate circumstances for some reason including elections (which he has said today will take place on the scheduled time this yr) then he needs to be more careful with the advice he takes and from whom.
I had been watching the entire transmission live that Friday afternoon and Geo's office being located at a rather strategic position in Blue Area had the best view from their roof showing protesters and the police at war. every five minutes the protesters would come forward throw stones, police would fire tear gas return stones and return only to find the protesters back with a vengeance minutes later. A while before Geo incident took place some channels reported that some mob had overpowered a policeman and took him to some location and that he was yet be located--to date nobody knows what happened to him and when he was returned. Some mob tried to climb police APCs. Another report at that time added that 2 policemen had been injured and rushed to hospital-there had been no protester injury reports till then. So the police, though a devil in itself, had actually been on the receiving end all morning and had nothing but tear gas shells or lathis. They were being insulted, demoralized, beaten up, cursed at while at duty to ensure peace and were not allowed to do anything beyond the use of lathi or tear gas and for some time rubber bullets. This the Geo network showed all morning live with the best view on the road facing their office. It could have been some DSP, SP level officer's hurt ego at that particular time too...? But the fact that at the centre of Islamabad at constitution ave, where Capital Police operates, Punjab Police performed this operation. So it could also be a case of operating outside area of authority?
But like Musharraf mentioned in his book, nobody seemed to know on 13 Oct 99 who and what caused 12 Oct 99 and apparently nobody to date admits being a part of the flight etc drama. This seems similar. How could they not know who did this? Suspending inspectors and below was a lowly thing to do, all know they couldn't have been the force behind. I hope the picture gets clear and what actually happened comes up...what has your analysis been so far?
Amorphous,
Youre right, and it was interesting to note that day that in his first report after the incident Hamid Mir also mentions that he tried to read that policeman's name tag on his chest but was unable to. These policemen stayed there a good while, did no single Geo official catch any policeman's name tag at all!?
haris, musharraf has been interviewed by kamran khan. i haven't seen the transcript yet, but musharraf has reportedly claimed that the investigators haven't been able to trace the whereabouts of the inspector who led the raid.
Geo staff may not have read their names, but these policemen have been suspended, which shows that thier identity is not unknown to the authorities. i'm sure they can at least identify the inspector even if they haven't been able to locate him yet. they should be able to trace all the incoming and outgoing calls to and from his mobile number to know who this 'sir' was. the kind of action taken against this person could depend on whether he was 'acting in good faith' -although there is nothing good about such unlawful acts- or was really trying to hurt musharraf.
i personally don't think that somebody was conspiring against musharraf by raiding Geo's office, because attacking Geo's office is more like a suicide than any secret conspiracy. maybe Geo's coverage of the whole event, the way the things were covered got on somebody's nerves.
another theory being obliquely referred to by some press speculators is that some people in his own forces are conspiring against him. i place these kind of analyses in the same category as those rumors which rumormongers so efficiently spread when he was on his visit to USA.
commenting only on the last video, i think the police showed extreme restraint otherwise not one of these lawyers would have come out unscathed. Pakistani Police ka laThi charge bohat zalim hota hae, i have seen it many a times during my student life. These lawyers should consider themselves lucky.
