Letter Of The Day
From The News (courtesy Wasay).
I love that he gave his cell number. That killed me.
Anyway, this video is a dedication to Mr. Malik Munasib Khan.
It is indeed shocking to know through an article which appeared in your newspaper on Sept 27 titled "The Taliban and the Salarzais" by Farhat Taj that I am dead and that the ISI is responsible for my killing. It is to bring to the notice of all that I am very much alive and can be contacted on telephone no 0300-7044755. It is highly regrettable that the news of someone's death is published without verification. The writer must apologise for the trauma caused to my family and well-wishers.
Malik Munasib Khan
Spokesman, Salarzais Lashkar
Bajaur Agency
I love that he gave his cell number. That killed me.
Anyway, this video is a dedication to Mr. Malik Munasib Khan.
Labels:
Item of the day,
Pakistan
12 comments:
it's such a shame that Farhat Taj reported this guy's death without verifying it. It really takes away from the issue that she was discussing in her column of tribal laskhars receiving inadequate support from the army which is very true and needs discussing.
i agree with rabia taj is usually well informed..unfortunate error which distracts from an important article.
part of a larger societal problem of not double checking facts and when in doubt, simply blaming the 'security agencies' for it. as if the ISI has nothing better to do than to kill off tribal elders, many of whom are now more pro-government than ever before. the level of pakistani journalism, i'll tell ya.
@Rabia and takhalus
excuse me, how can you term this as just "unfortunate"?...it pretty much renders anything she writes as unreliable. It is a huge mistake - if you read the article it makes quite a few charges as well, where the hell was she getting her facts? Is she even on the ground there?
Incidentally, there is one other letter from the spokesman for the FC that challenges the factual content of this article
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=200572
Its bad enough we have journalists that can't do the basics, we don't need people defending huges mistakes as "unfortunate"!
holy cow.
It could be a baiting tactic. You know..Times of India was aggressive on China and was pissing off wussies in Indian establishment. So, they possibly poisoned the "sources" and TOI reported that "their sources" told them two ITBP jawans got hurt in Chinese firing. Then India Govt gets around to file an FIR against TOI for false reporting and "promoting enemity between countries".Now the whole credibility of the writer is lost.This is how you do it..simple isnt it.In this case ISI or IB might have contaminated sources with deliberately false info.
wow, Jayadev, that's an eerily similar incident to this column.
It's a bit ridiculous for anyone to be accusing Ms. Taj of being a typical conspiracy theory obsessed Pakistani journalist. For one thing, she's an academic, not a journalist, which is why I feel she should get a bit more slack for not verifying her sources. For another, she's been an outspoken critic of the Taliban since back when the Pakistani military and government were happily making the Swat peace deal. Her takedown of Shireen Mazari was a thing of beauty. And well, for *another* thing.. if it makes someone a loony conspiracy theorist to suggest that the ISI might possibly still be backing militants... then I guess Stanley McChrystal and Ahmed Rashid are nuts too.
jeez...what is this? the Farhat Taj Sifarshi Brigade? Since when does being a critic of some policies absolve you of the basic requirements of journalism?
It is a shame for the reporter as well as for the newspaper. Sometimes media gets so irresponsible that they do not even care for anyone's emotions and life.
I dont know who the hell Farhat Taj Sifarshi is? But I was merely suggesting some permutations and combinations of possibilities that has to be considered before jumping the gun.The columnist is also giving 3rd party account in the column itself.Don't know why this columnist should be picked on in particular(except that dead guy gave his phone number to newspaper;-)) since all the columns of Shireen Masari? and Ahmed Qureshi are trashy,bombastic and makes facts out of thin air...
These guys dont even use the phrase "from my sources.." they just go on and on with their thesis..
Anyways, using anonymous sources is like playing Russian roulette..this time there was a bullet in the chamber and columnist gotta suck up the splatter..so no excuses there..
I saw in some movies and all..when using anonymous sources they request a signed statement or something..Does anyone here with journalism experience throw light on what is the verification process in this type of cases?
Ahsan, you forgot to add 'Reader' in front of Wasay.
On a related note, Reader Wasay is scrumptious.
jayadev.. investigative journalists may have taj is an opinion writer and the news doesnt have the most rigorous editing process
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