The Citizens for Free and Responsible Media, Pakistan, has sent an email to the Editors of The News and Jang regarding an unethical, false and irresponsible report about Ali Dayan’s testimony before the US congressional hearing on Balochistan, in response to a private member’s proposed resolution in the House of Representatives. Text of the email posted in a Note in the CFRM facebook page; also copy-pasted below. (Note: Contrary to the impression given in some sections of the media in Pakistan, the U.S. has not passed any ‘bill’ on Balochistan; even if such a bill does pass, it will have no legally binding status unless it is debated and presented for a vote in the form of a bill that would need to pass through both the lower house and the senate). 

Emailed to:
Mr Talat Aslam, Senior Editor The News
Mr Amir Zia, Editor, The News Karachi
Mr M. Malick, Editor The News Islamabad
Mr Muddassir Mirza, Editor Jang Karachi

cc:
Mr Shahrukh Hasan, Group Managing Director Jang Group
Mr Shakil-ur-Rehman, CEO Jang Group

Dear Editors

We are writing to express our dismay at the unethical and false reporting in your paper regarding the appearance of head of the local chapter of a leading international human right NGO at a US congressional hearing.

The report in The News and Jang dated Feb 21, 2012 is not the first time that this particular reporter, Mr Ahmed Noorani, has targeted Mr Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch in what appears to be a very vindictive manner.

The report of Feb 21st not only takes the highly unethical step of publishing Mr Hasan’s cell phone numbers, but is also full of falsehoods regarding Mr Hasan’s recent testimony at the U.S. Congress House of Representatives hearing on Balochistan in Washington DC.

The factual inaccuracies and outright lies of Ahmed Noorani’s opinionated ‘report’ include assertions that:

1. HRW presented a “one-sided view” on Balochistan at the hearing, that the hearing itself was “illegal”
2. Mr Hasan presented “wrong facts and figures on Balochistan” and “recently attacked Pakistan’s superior judiciary for considering a case of alleged treason”.
3. Mr Hasan “has started a full campaign to fuel more and more fire on the issue of Balochistan by holding security institutions as solely responsible for the whole crisis”
4. Mr Hasan “is narrating a one-sided story before the whole world from the platform of HRW without describing the background of the issue”
5. Mr Hasan’s HRW “reports have little mention” of “killing of settlers in Balochistan
6. Mr Hasan “used to glorify killings of Baloch people with the twist that all these were killed by security agencies.”
7. HRW is an “American” organization (it is the second largest international human rights organization headquartered in NY, with offices all over the world).

Basically the entire ‘report’ is a malicious fabrication and appears to be calling for Mr Hasan to be tried for treason. None of the statements in The News/Jang report can be corroborated by facts, which are:

1. Mr Hasan began his verbal presentation by stating that Balochistan was an internationally recognized province of Pakistan and HRW expected all constitutional protections available to Pakistani citizens and international human rights standards to apply to the people of Balochistan
2. He presented facts and figures based on extensive on the ground research in Balochistan and from Human Rights Watch’s published reports
3. He referred to Balochistan as a complex situation with multiple abusive actors – the military and intelligence agencies, Baloch nationalist groups and religious extremist groups – though he called the military the “engine of abuse”.
4. Mr Hasan categorically stated in his verbal testimony that the US is responsible for introducing the practice of widespread disappearances in Pakistan by being complicit in the disappearances of Taliban and Al Qaeda suspects after 9/11.
5. He pointed out that at least 40 per cent of Balochistan is non-Baloch, and any analysis of Balochistan must factor in this demographic reality and its implications.
6. Mr Hasan’s written testimony provided on behalf of HRW details recommendations to the US Government to approach both Pakistani authorities and the Baloch nationalists with a view to ending human rights abuses by ALL parties.
7. Mr Hasan has never “attacked” the judiciary. He in fact called for “due process” in the memogate proceedings and asked for “justice to not just be done but be seen to be done” in light of “the history of civil military relations” in Pakistan. (The News attacked him then too).

We would like to place on record our protest at this unethical and irresponsible reporting that is not only inaccurate and based on lies, but also endangers the life and safety of a Pakistani citizen.

We hope that our letter finds space in the letters column of The News and Jang, and that as responsible newspapers, The News and Jang will publish and apology and a correction.

Sincerely,

Citizens for Free and Responsible Media, Pakistan

https://www.facebook.com/C4FRM

‘Reducing the social cost of silence’

NOTE: We are including links to other information that may be useful for those who wish to understand the issue in greater detail.

This ‘report’ in The News/Jang follows days after a somewhat menacing press release from ISPR on Feb 16 reacting to Ali and HRW’s continuing insistence on the killers of Saleem Shahzad to be held accountable.  The Express Tribune condemned the ISPR statement in an editorial, making the connection with Balochistan. Blogger Sana Saleem also took this issue on in an oped in Express Tribune

A full transcript of Mr Ali Hasan’s oral testimony to the Congressional committee is at this link at the HRW website. Mr Hasan’s 20-page written submission to the congressional committee is also posted at this link on the HRW website. A PDF of the transcript of his five-minute presentation at the hearing is available here: Hasan Balochistan House Transcript

Here is a link to the video of the hearing.

Mr Ali Hasan has clearly expressed reservations about the hearing and explained why he attended in this report in Dawn and in The Examiner

Post-hearing, he explained his and HRW’s position further in this report published in Dawn

Maya Khan: fired for refusing to tender an unconditional apology

From: Dr Kamran Iqbal (cc’d to signatories below)
Date: Sat, 28 Jan 2012
To: Zafar Siddiqi

Dear Mr Siddiqi,

Thank you for your prompt and courageous response. We appreciate the moral courage of SAMAA TV’s stance. We hope you will continue to lead by example in developing a code of ethics and directives, which you have issued for your channel that we urge, should be made public on your website. You may want to have a look at the code of conduct guidelines of the Society of Professional Journalists, to consult while drafting your guidelines.

Also, we would like to mention here that in Ms. Maya Khan’s team which is being terminated, innocent people should not be axed, and protection for those lower ranking workers, who had no say in what Ms. Maya was doing should duly be taken care of.

We will support you in taking the step to make directives and code of ethics and conduct guidelines made public. As a citizen media consumer group, would promote and spread these improvements in other channels one by one as there had been numerous examples which deserve similar attention and correction and it is clear that flaw has been at policy design level. A group of us would be happy to meet you and/or anyone you designate to initiate a discussion on this if you desire.

We look forward to seeing the directives on your website to share with the public.

Sincerely,

Ali Kazmi, Student, Islamabad
Ali Taj, Hedge Fund manager, Winchester Fund, Cerritos, California
Ally Adnan, Director, Huawei technologies, Dallas, TX
Amna Chishty, marketing consultant, Canada
Asadullah Khan, Head of Programming, Capital TV, Islamabad
Asif Alam, Financial Services Executive, New York, NY, USA
Asif Sattar, Admin Operations at Kiers Facilities Ltd, Slough, England
Beena Sarwar, journalist, Cambridge MA/ Karachi, Pakistan
Danielle Gehrmann, linguist, Sydney, Australia
Hassan Turi, student, Agricultural university, Peshawar
Hira Kamal, concerned citizen and media person, Jeddah
Syed Hussein El-Edroos, Business Development & Training Manager, Islamabad
Prof. Dr. Ijaz Khan, Chairman, Department of International Relations, University of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Dr. Kamran Iqbal, Founder & CEO, Human Voice Initiative, Karachi, Pakistan
Kamyla Marvi, Citizen, Karachi Pakistan
Kiran Nazish, Freelance Journalist
Meera Ghani, Concerned Citizen, Lahore
Mira Hashmi, film critic and teacher, Lahore
Mohsin Sayeed, journalist, Karachi
Muhammad Faraz Faheem, Senior Software Engineer, Karachi, Pakistan
Munnazir Aziz, video producer, Lodhran, Pakistan
Nadia Fazal Jamil, actor, Lahore, Pakistan
Naheed Tofiq Mooraj, Proprietor of Candle Works, Karachi
Naziha Syed Ali, journalist, Karachi
Nighat Dad, advocate, Lahore
Noman Quadri, concerned citizen, Karachi
Dr. Osama Siddique, Law Professor, Lahore
Rabia Akhtar. PhD candidate, Kansas State University, USA/Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Raza Bashir, Corporate Banking, Karachi
Saadia Toor, professor, New York,
Saba Hamid, Actor, Lahore, Pakistan
Sahar Habib Ghazi, Journalist, Palo Alto, California
Shah Hayat Ahmad, Citizen, Karachi, Pakistan
Siraj Khan, Financial Executive, Boston MA USA
Shayan Afzal Khan, a concerned citizen, Islamabad
Tammie Mahmud, Trainer & Education Program Developer, Boca Raton, FL
Usmann Rana, student, Lahore

As we stood at “Do Talwar” with our banners and placards raising our voices against irresponsible statements from politicians, insensitive and unethical reporting by media and increased unchecked incidents of violence against women in the city, it was strange to see people passing by in their cars or on foot, turning around to look at us as if we were the weird ones. There was a bevy of media people gathered around us, most of them trying to understand what the fuss was all about, many of them probably on the lookout for a politician or two. They spotted a couple of celebrities amongst the protesters and headed for them and when one of the policemen decided to make a statement, the focus of the media switched to him instead of to the protest itself.

One of the television guys actually tried to get all the women in one place so that he could film just us. I asked him why he wanted just the women. There were a lot of men there too. He said “because this is a woman’s issue.” How is violence a women’s issue? How is crime a women’s issue? How is a protest against irresponsible reporting a women’s issue? How is totally senseless statements that are aimed at the survivor as opposed to the perpetrator a women’s issue? How is revealing the name, car registration number and other details of the survivor a women’s issue?

When will people begin to understand that any issue that affects any citizen of this country, actually affects us all and all of us need to raise our voice against injustice, against violence, against corruption, against inadequate health and social services, against insufficient funds spent on education, against unethical and irresponsible behaviour. If we don’t, then we have only ourselves to blame.

With the increased number of media channels, magazines, newspapers, FM stations and social media networks out there, it is extremely important that we become more responsible in whatever we say and write. I am not suggesting unnecessary legislation or censorship. However, we need to understand that with Freedom of expression comes great responsibility. We must ensure that whatever we say is accurate, is corroborated, does not infringe on someone’s privacy and is not insensitive or unethical or likely to cause harm. We also need to do some research on the subject we decide to write or talk about.

Many of the tv channels had only sent cameramen to the protest and even those reporters who were there, were unaware of the issues so how could they possibly create a credible report. A few of the Print media had sent people who asked some sensible questions. However, I was very disappointed to see that when WAR’s (War Against Rape) Khadija started to talk about all the pending cases that needed attention, no-one from the press actually listened. It was very sad.

We look to the media to be watchdogs, to report the news responsibly, ethically and intelligently so that there is accountability. But with Breaking News being the order of the day, who checks facts, who bothers to be sensitive to the victims needs, who cares if the survivor’s privacy is protected. Sensationalism and sound bytes is what it’s all about.

This was the first time that the “Take Back the Tech” team participated in a street protest. We were proud to be there with our placards asking for an end to violence. Other protesters were curious but happy to see us there. They asked us what the Take Back the Tech campaign was all about and, once they knew, many of them held up the extra placards we had taken with us. If nothing else, we were able to create an awareness, speak up against injustice and show our support for the cause. I was also happy to see some colleagues from Microsoft at the protest. It was actually quite a diverse group. Amongst them were artists, writers, finance people, housewives, teachers, business executives, NGO representatives, students and activists.

Maybe people are finally realizing that it is time to wake up. We are citizens of this country and if we want things to change, we need to speak up for ourselves and for others. Let’s break the silence now. Let us hold people accountable. Let’s join hands and offer solutions, not just criticism.