But he was messaging for another reason. He says he is concerned because he received a new round of threats and denunciations related to his plans to attend an upcoming conference in Bangladesh of journalists, hosted by the Bangladeshi newspaper Prothom Alo. Under discussion will be the incidents of 1971, when Bangladesh began its break away from Pakistan, leading to a vicious and bloody secessionist war.

Mir angered his own government when, on November 5 in the Urdu-language Daily Jang newspaper he encouraged Pakistan to issue an official apology to Bangladesh over atrocities of 1971. That re-opened a wound from last year when, while in Bangladesh, he identified the “main culprits,” as he put it, of the bloodbath as a group of Pakistani army officers. “I never spoke against the Pakistan Army, I only mentioned the names of some books written by Pakistan Army officers who confessed atrocities,” Mir said in this weekend’s email message.

“A few hours after my visit to the Bangladesh High Commission some mysterious people dropped CDs containing hate material against me in offices of different newspapers. Many people started tweeting against me and saying ‘Hamid Mir is enemy of Pakistan and agent of Bangladesh,’” he wrote. The CDs contained archival footage of past programs in which he was critical of the government and the military’s policies in Bangladesh.

His concerns for his safety are not overwrought. Remember, this is a man who was targeted for death eight months ago because of his outspoken views. While Mir was still hospitalized, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif established a three-member judicial commission which was supposed to release its report on the murder attempt within three weeks. Six months have passed since that deadline, and there is no report.

The motive for the April shooting remains unclear, but it seems likely to have been linked to Mir’s criticism of Pakistani policy in Baluchistan province, the region bordering Iran and Afghanistan in the west. At the time, he had been critical of the disappearances of Baloch political activists, hitting the issue frequently on his TV programs. A battle between insurgents and counter-insurgents has been waging in Baluchistan for years, and it is playing out in ugly incidents perpetrated by many sides to the conflict.

The result of the April murder attempt: The very outspoken Mir admits to dialing back his on-air rhetorical tone: “I am very careful these days in TV shows, but even then I am getting threatening messages and facing another hate campaign.” For Mir, and his associates, there seems little recourse but to publicize this recent round of accusations in the hope that the publicity will head off another serious attack.

Committee to protect journalists

An application in this regard was filed on Tuesday by Tahir Naeem, Advocate, a resident of DHA Phase-V, under Article 199 of the Constitution. The applicant made the defence and interior ministries, Defence News Agency, and the FIA director general respondents in his application.

The applicant stated that he had been receiving daily Jang and The News International at his residence regularly till April 24, 2014. However, from April 24, the Defence News Agency started delivering another newspaper at his residence instead of daily Jang without any instructions from him.

The petitioner said that on his inquiry, he came to know that an intelligence agency, working under the defence and interior ministries, had banned the distribution of daily Jang in the Cantt and DHA areas.

The application said that the action by the news agency on orders from the defence and interior ministries violated his basic human rights. He stated that legally, he could not be barred from reading any legally-published newspaper and deprived of his rights.

The application seeks a court order to the FIA to investigate the incident of imposing restrictions on the distribution of daily Jang in the DHA area on April 25-26. It also seeks a court direction to the defence and interior ministries to direct its intelligence agency to deal with its legal matters in the courts and restrain from any illegal activities like imposition of a ban on the distribution of newspapers and forced disappearance of people.

The News

According to a press release the APNS president briefed members about discussions with the General Secretary of the Hawkers Federation and the agreement reached to try and resolve issues through dialogue by 5th January, 2013.

The representative of the Daily Jang apprised members of the ultimatum received, discussions held and the unilateral strike by the Multan Hawkers Union. He also gave a detailed presentation on the steps taken by the Jang Group to combat the situation and the success achieved so far.

Hameed Haroon, former President of APNS, also spoke at length about his discussions with the General Secretary of the Hawkers Federation, the Multan situation and how the APNS should collectively counter the situation in the short term as well as long term. After a great deal of discussion between all members, the following resolution was passed:

The Executive Committee of the APNS is unanimous in condemning the unilateral strike by the Multan Hawkers Union while negotiations were continuing with the Hawkers Federation. The APNS extends unreserved support to the Daily Jang and resolves to stand with it in this arbitrary and unjustified action of Multan Hawkers Union. It resolve that all negotiations with the Federation and individual unions be immediately suspended till the Akhbar Farosh Federation ensures that the Multan Hawkers Union calls off the strike and starts distributing copies of the Daily Jang. It underscores the need and necessity of resolving all matters through discussions and negotiations and to suspend negotiation with any union that resorts to threats or coercion. The members of the APNS resolved not to increase commission under threat by the Multan Hawkers Union. The member publications which, as per claims by the hawkers, had increased commission to 40%, announced that any suggestion that they had increased commission to 40% in Multan was incorrect. If their agents had agreed to pass on their commission to the hawkers, this did not enjoy the sanction of the management of these publications and they would ensure that their agents immediately withdrew this offer, if made.

The Executive Committee decided to invite Tikka Khan and Shaikh Umer Din, General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary of the Akhbar Farosh Federation respectively, to explain why the Multan Hawkers Union took a unilateral decision in defiance and contradiction of the Federation’s decision. The role of Umer Din, Deputy General Secretary of the federation, would also be reviewed in instigating and leading this rebellion against his own General Secretary. The Executive Committee decided to take a number of progressive steps relating to formulating its relationship with the Hawkers Federation, its various unions, information gathering and sharing. They also discussed the viability of offering associate membership to new publications, subject to certain pre-conditions. In the same context it was agreed to develop special code of conduct which will govern APNS institutional relationships with other stakeholders.

The APNS Executive Committee and members expressed their firm resolve to stand by the Jang Group in this unilateral action against it by Multan Hawkers Union.

The Executive Committee decided to form two sub-committees:

1- A committee to negotiate with the Hawkers Federation, subject to immediate withdrawal of the strike by the Multan Hawkers’ Union, the demands raised by it with regard to increase in commission and other matters.

2- The second committee will be charged with developing a long term alternate distribution system.

The meeting was attended by Sarmad Ali (President), Masood Hamid (Secretary General), Javed Mehr Shamsi (Finance Secretary), Hameed Haroon (Ex-Officio), Shahrukh Hassan (D/Jang), Minhaj Kazmi (D/Khabrain), Arshad A. Zuberi (D/Business Recorder), Abbas Abdul Latif (D/Nawa-i-Waqt), Najam-ud-din Sheikh (D/Deyanat), Mukhtar Aqil (D/Jurat, Khi), Aamir Mahmood (M/Kiran), Mushtaq Qureshi (M/Naye Ufaq), Salman Qureshi (M/Naya Rukh), Faisal Zahid Malik (D/Pakistan Observer), Ilyas Shakir (D/Qaumi Akhbar), Mehmood Sheikh (M/Roohani Digest), Riaz Ahmed Mansuri (M/The Cricketer), Niloufer Patel and Khawaja Kaleem (D/Dawn).

Pakistan Press Foundation