The Way I See It : Hamid Mir Attack and Its After Effects

The attack on Hamid Mir in Karachi was an unfortunate and condemnable incident; the attackers should be brought to justice as soon as possible but the allegations made soon after the attack by Mir’s employer Geo against ISI and its DG is even more condemnable and unbearable for any patriotic Pakistani.

We were watching the TV screen when the news of Hamid Mir’s attack in Karachi broke out. We know that Hamid Mir’s stance most of the time is Anti Pakistan Army and ISI whether it is about the establishment, the border security, Indian relations or Baluchistan issues but still we were not expecting the allegations of this extend to surface which were later revealed by his brother Mr. Amir Mir. He said that Hamid Mir had informed his close family and friends that if he got killed ISI would be responsible for it. The question arises here what made him think like that? Was he so sure that he was working against Pakistan ideology? Was he a foreign agent on a mission here?

As the nation was shocked by such news immediately Geo News took the opportunity to cash in on the statement, as if they were waiting to burst against the ISI and started repeating these rubbish news on air and pasted the DG ISI’s picture on the TV screen putting direct allegations on him and some of his officers as if they were criminals. We were stunned and thought how could anyone put allegations on others so early without any evidence? For a moment a doubt came in my mind whether I was watching a Pakistani channel or not? As both the two channels of Geo Network were showing Indian content; the news channel blaming ISI and the sports channel showing IPL matches.

Indian media capitalized on these news as it feeds their mission and started disgracing the Pakistan Premium Intelligence Institution (ISI) as they reported “ISI orchestrated attack on Hamid Mir” and it was ridiculous to see this news hitting waves on international media.

We switched channels to see how others were responding, it was clear that the incident was condemnable but the allegations put on ISI were very immature and childish, some senior analysts putting it as disgusting and an act of treason. I saw my team getting active and talking sense online. The backlash that hit Geo TV after this was very much clear and it showed with whom the masses stood. The top trends on the social media were #BanGeo and #ShutupGeo which speaks for itself. Journalists also took on other journalists to act patriotically and report the things fairly. Some put it as an inside job of Geo, as Hamid Mir was pressurized to visit Karachi and the official car of Geo was not sent to pick him rather a rental car was sent. Police was also not informed about his arrival making it a complex situation or a conspiracy – so early to blame anyone in particular.

With demands of clear investigation for Hamir Mir Attack people also demand thorough investigation of Geo Network and its aides to fix the matter and save the country from their disastrous approach of creating hatred between the people and the armed forces.