Judicial Pudding with Political Garnishing

Lately, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has been able to recuperate much of its credibility, it lost over the last couple of years. Thanks to the PM Contempt Case, BahriaGate, Ephedrine and other corruption cases against the government. Many have welcomed the stance of apex court and its recent judgements of removing the premier, making the son of Chief Justice stand before the ‘Justice’ and above all accounting the civil establishment of Pakistan i.e. Malik Riaz aka Thekedar (contractor).

These decisions from the Supreme Court of Pakistan have been taken as a sweet pudding by media as well as people of Pakistan. However, many see that the garnishing on the pudding i.e. the almonds, peanuts, cherry and the wafers etc have been brought from Raiwind, Naudero, Rawalpindi or the Judges Colony itself. Origin of the garnishing depends on case to case basis.

Read more on Saach.TV

Journalism and Audacity to Speak Up

There has been a lot fuss over the recent Family Gate. All sorts of theories and allegations have arisen ever since this whole scandal came up. People are even arguing over whether it should be called Family Gate or Trap Gate. I do not know what ‘gate’ to call it but one thing is for sure that ‘fates’ of many are attached to it.

I understand that Malik Riaz has committed a whole host of objectionable; in fact, punishable actions and he should be brought to justice. Whenever, the word of establishment in Pakistan came to my mind, I always thought (in a Hollywood movies style) that surely establishment has much more than the armed forces. And now I have my answer. Malik Riaz was just not a pawn of establishment; he was much more than that.

Read further on Saach.tv by clicking here

Talat Hussain and Stratfor

Well, what I am about to write right now is something I have never ever done in my life. I have never defended anyone in my blogs. I have always written against politicians, leaders and journalists. But this time I am going to defend someone and something for which I do not have any solid information. This blog of mine is based on the information and the news I have gathered in my 5 year long news business.

To start with, Najam Sethi, the chirya wala in his program on 6th June 2012 on Geo TV implied that Talat Hussain used to work with Stratfor (a CIA shadow). This accusation of his came after Talat Hussain in his program on the very same day meant that Najam Sethi has a very cordial relationship with Malik Riaz and actually Malik Riaz is the chirya of Najam Sethi (Link to Talat's show http://saach.tv/2012/06/07/news-night-with-talat-06-6-12/).

Many of us are aware of the credibility of Najam Sethi and his propaganda against various sectors of Pakistan. I guess that is enough to refute his accusation but just to satisfy his mind, I will state some facts. Before I present the facts, I want to make one thing very clear that I am writing all this on my behest and there is no one pulling my strings. All the information I am going to present is my mere analysis and could be wrong. So please cut me some slack if I deviate from actuality.

Towards the accusation of Najam Sethi about alleged working of Talat Hussain with CIA (Stratfor). To understand this, we first have to understand the reality. The document, Najam Sethi is referring to states that Talat Hussain (the then Executive Director of Aaj News) and Ahmad A. Zubairi, the Managing Director of Aaj TV were the contacts for Stratfor. Apparently, to me it seems that this connection was not between Talat Hussain and Stratfor or between Ahamd Zubairi and Stratfor, it was more of a relationship between Aaj TV and Stratfor because both Talat and Ahmad were in the administration of Aaj TV. The excel sheet also states clearly that the agreement was signed with the Managing Director i.e. Ahmad Zubairi. So, the suggestion of Talat working for Stratfor becomes doubtful here as the institution was involved.

For a second, if we consider that Talat was working or having a partnership with Stratfor, then we have to understand the reputation of Stratfor at that time. CIA backs Stratfor, well that is not yet established and all that came after the wikileaks revelations last year. Before that and still it is one of the best news intelligence source for any news hungry person. I personally have been subscribed to Stratfor's newsletter for the last 4 or 5 years.

I have to admit, much of my information about international events come from Stratfor and couple of other organizations. The point being that whatever Stratfor reveals is almost close to reality and much of their analysis are spot on and for that they use many sources like journalists from all across globe. Now, if a person shares the information with a news analysis think tank then what is the problem with that and what could Talat Hussain share with them. Because almost every thing is disclosed through his journalism and TV programs, so what else remains. And what damaging to Pakistan he can disclose? Is he a government servant who can disclose government secrets?

Stratfor (Strategy Forecast) is a global intelligence organization and a think-tank which provides policy proposals and insights into various incidents all across the world. If I am a journalist or an analyst, I would love to get my hands on the information they have.

This is what I actually feel about alleged role of Talat Hussain with Stratfor. I don't know whether it is wrong or right but I personally believe that having a relationship with a foreign news service has no issues. Journalists always have connections. This is their bread and butter. You have to have relations with all sort of persons to gather news. Else working for New York Times, Washington Post, Time and many other foreign papers is wrong. In fact, the person who was working for The Sun or News of the World is also wrong then because that news agency eventually turned out to be tapping and hacking phones of others, even though he was never aware of their activities.

Mr. Najam Sethi instead of giving answers about your own actions, you did the act of attacking others and that too without any base. Majority knows about your deeds and I do not need to budge on that.

The curious case of 'Benami Transaction'

Lately, I have been getting a lot of stick for writing against Imran Khan and his policies. Allow me to justify myself because what I am going to present further is another one of my ‘Imran Khan bashing’ stuff.

There is no denying the fact that Imran Khan has seen an unprecedented surge in his approval rating and his following has increasing manifold. The tag of Imran Khan carries the slogan of change and hope for people. We all know about the performance of Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari, so there is no point in discussing that they have nothing in store left for us. So that leaves Imran Khan, never tried and tested, in the fray. That makes it imperative for us to scrutinize Imran Khan with all our eyes and dissect all his actions. He is in the spotlight and intense scrutiny is a part and parcel of being in the spotlight.

Click here to read further on Saach.TV