Two Pakistani Officials Fired For Promoting Indian Propaganda

You will not believe this. But this happened in Pakistan. And two junior government officials might lose their jobs over this. But with a pro-US government in power in Islamabad, and former employees of Voice of America allowed to steer the nation’s media policy, it shouldn’t be surprising to see a Pakistani mouthpiece promoting Indian spin.

India's Central Reserve Police Force, used by India's government to suppress the Kashmiri struggle for freedom, killed a 16-year-old Kashmiri boy the other day.

Nothing new in that. Indians have done worse, like mass graves and genocide. What was unusual here is that Makhdoom Babar Sultan woke up one morning this week in his home in Islamabad to read a clarification in a major Pakistani newspaper issued by the chief of the Indian CRPF assuring readers that Indian occupation police in Kashmir had nothing to do with murdering the 16-year-old, who was last seen throwing stones at Indian soldiers.

Mr. Babar scrathced his head.  He was shocked to see who hen he tried to see who wrote the story. It was APP, or the Associated Press of Pakistan, the official news agency.

'Wait a second', he said to himself, 'What is APP doing promoting the viewpoint of Indian occupation forces in Kashmir?'

Pakistanis already know that their government in Islamabad was basically tailored by the Americans and the Brits. No secret in that. The Am-Brits expect this government to push their agenda, which these days includes urgently patching up with India so that the Pakistani people and their military can be convinced to allow Indian soldiers into Afghanistan to help the Americans with their failed occupation there.

But peddling Indian propaganda? That’s going too far.

Unlike the rest of us, Makhdoom Babar is lucky to own a newspaper. So he rushed to his office in the morning to write a story on this, titled ‘APP Starts Promoting Indian Govt’s Kashmir Propaganda’.

Two APP journalists have been suspended and a probe is underway that might lead to some more job losses.

Earlier, two journalists from the state-run PTV were suspended for visiting the US embassy without permission.

When I contacted Makhdoom Babar to get his perspective, he replied with this E-mail note:

“Well, the Associated Press of Pakistan, the APP is the official news agency of the government of Pakistan. the aims and objectives behind running this State news agency is to project the Pakistan government's view point across the globe and throughout the country as well. The Tax Payers' money is spent on the functioning of this agency because it is supposed to promote and project national interests. Especially when it comes to the very sensitive issues like Occupation of Jammu and Kashmir by Indian Forces, the role of APP becomes very important and sensitive as well. it is supposed to confront the media propaganda of the Indian government that New Delhi continues to carry on with to cover up the gross Human Rights violations in the Occupied Kashmir by its brutal Forces. Now if APP releases a news item that actually contributes to the promotion of Indian view point over the Kashmir related matters, particularly the HR violations related matters, it is really alarming for every Pakistani and for me, as an Editor, it becomes even more worrying. That is why we published this as a major news so that such things should be taken care of in future and are not repeated. We have not been officially made known about any action taken by the APP over this issue however unofficial channels say that APP has suspended 2 of its workers over the matter and the Managing Director of APP is reported to have ordered a probe to dig out as to how it did happen. We appreciate the action taken by the the head of APP as a responsible head of an institution but at the same time we expect that no one should be made a scapegoat and only those should be warned or punished who were actually responsible for this blooper, deliberately or un-deliberately. It was very important for the head of the APP to have taken an action over the matter so that everyone stands warned and alarmed regarding such matters.”

At least two senior members of the incumbent Pakistani government are former VOA employees who served in Washington, D.C.  Both are directly involved in how Pakistan's official media outlets operate. Informally, Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington is also considered to have a say in the government’s media strategy, according government officials.

A Word On Bhutto Celebrations

As a Pakistani citizen, I find the exaggerated government attention to former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's death anniversary tasteless and disturbing. And I have a strong reason for this. Before explaining it, let me just say something about Mr. Bhutto. I respect Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto because he was the prime minister of my country. I disagree with most of his policies and political style. He supported Pakistan's strategic programs and he brought the Arab and Muslim countries together. For this I am grategul to his memory. At the same time, I cannot but regret that ZAB played a major role, along with Mujib Rehman and Gen. Yahya Khan, in paving the way for India to violate international norms and intervene in East Pakistan. His economic policies destroyed a rising Pakistan and we haven't been able to recover ever since. The manner of Mr. Bhutto's execution after a court found him guilty of ordering the murder of one of his political opponents was not right. I emphasize the manner and not the execution itself because, althoug I wish he was pardoned, I have not seen any evidence that suggests that the court did not conduct a fair trial. President Zia ul Haq should have been fairer than he was in treating a former prime minister. Not exercising his power to pardon Mr. Bhutto is debatable. But not letting his family meet him before the execution was unnecessary harshness and reprehensible. The murder case itself, however, has been politicized in the debate that resulted from the harsh manner of the execution. There is evidence that Mr. Bhutto did resort to unusual tactics to deal with his opponents toward the end of his rule when he had also become authoritarian. I have not read for any lawyer who presented any evidence that the trial itself wasn't fair. But overall, I am proud of Mr. Bhutto as I am of most of the men, and one woman, who came to lead Pakistan after Independence. They were all unique and strong personalities with a mixed record. While there is nothing wrong if the PPP government wants to mark the execution of its founder, the exaggerated manner in which this is being done in tasteless to say the least. I object to placing the pictures of Mr. Bhutto, or his daughter Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, or the party flag, at equal level with the portraits of the Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Only the Quaid's portrait and the flag of Pakistan should adorn the walls of the federal and provincial government offices. No political party should be permitted this violation that the PPP is committing. State-run PTV and almost all the private television channels have never celebrated the Quaid-e-Azam and his life the way they're doing now with Mr. Bhutto. Again, nothing's wrong if the PPP wants to mark this anniversary. But there should be a law that defines where a sitting government should put the memory of the Quaid-e-Azam and the other Founding Fathers and where it should place the memories of their party founders and heros. Party founders cannot be national heros. The Founding Fathers are, undisputably. I understand the tragic way in which Benazir Bhutto died. And I have no doubt that her brutal murder was part of a larger scheme to destabilize Pakistan, a scheme whose marks lead to 'non-state actors' in Washington and London. That's why I understand if the Information Ministry under Sherry Rehman arranged in 2008 for the PTV to produce an extravagant week-long event marking the life of the late Mrs. Bhutto-Zardari. This event was lavish and unprecedented. The PTV in its entire half a century never celebrated the life of the Quaid-e-Azam and the other Founding Fathers of Pakistan in the same way. Some PTV officials privately complained at the time that the extravagant celebration of a party leader was not the work of Ms. Rehman or the PPP itself but a desperate attempt by the director of PTV [Mr. Yousaf Baig Mirza, now the director of Dunya TV] to save his job. Needless to say, it didn't work and he was booted out. The point is this: All parties are free to eulogize their party heros the way they see fit. But a party in government cannot glorify a party leader in a way that overshadows the Quaid-e-Azam.