NEW YORK: Gilani-Zardari government aides have got perturbed because of objective criticism, disclosures of corruption scandals, economic set backs, incompetence and government’s ignorance of public issues raised by the media, and have expanded their conspiracies against outstanding and bold journalists from Islamabad to Washington. Its obvious proof is a recent letter addressed after the assassination of Governor Salman Taseer to the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by the leading members of the anti-Pakistan lobby Congressmen Garry Ackerman, Peter King and their two colleagues support this impression. The signatories of the letter had asked for not granting American visa to media men not condemning the killing of Salman Taseer and political and religious leaders supporting the act of the assassin. No name of any Pakistani journalist, political and religious personality was mentioned in the letter. The letter was written by only four Congressmen out of 435 who are familiar with their anti-Pakistan stance. Secretary Clinton has so far not responded to the contents of the letter but indications are there that the US State Department had prepared a list of journalists and others on whom entry in the US may be denied by cancelling or denying visas. News published in this regard had also named persons who may face the curbs. When approached, an official of the US State Department told this correspondent that he was aware about the news, adding, the designated spokesperson was only competent to comment over the subject.
When insisted, the official sought anonymity and confirmed as backgrounder the communication by the four Congressmen. However, Secretary Clinton had so far not responded to the letter, he said. He set aside the news as baseless about curbs on Pakistani journalists, saying that freedom of press and expression was the cornerstone of the US democratic system and principles of democracy. He said that neither any list of Pakistani journalists had been prepared nor it was being contemplated. The congressmen had also not mentioned names of any Pakistani newsmen in their letter. Some elements cropped up when an effort was made to dig out facts with regard to the news. They are:
1. The letter of four congressmen came into limelight during the recent brief visit of President Asif Ali Zardari to Washington when the series of statements, editorials and condemnation of the killing of Salman Taseer was still on.
2. It is fact that Zardari during his stay in Washington and interactions with Americans and Pakistani diplomats had referred negatively about Pakistani media especially the Jang/Geo Group. He had tried to convince certain US officials that reports in the Pakistani media about his government were at the core of de-stabilisation of his government. In spite of will and commitments Pakistani media is the main hurdle in fulfilling the obligations of safeguarding American interests in Pakistan, he said.
3. It was in this scenario that the aides of the Zardari-Gilani government taking notice of the sentiments, perceptions and also complaints of their boss lobbied with the anti-Pakistan congressmen and made them to write a letter to Secretary Clinton. Without waiting a response or reaction from her, they also managed to get the news published about a long list of Pakistani newsmen and other leaders whose entry to the US was about to be restricted. It is interesting that the dateline of the news about the list being considered in Washington was Lahore. On the contrary the American Embassy in the country was also ignorant about any such under consideration list.
4. Informed circles are of the opinion that government aides frustrated with criticism had dispatched this story from Washington to build pressure on the media and appease President Zardari. It predominantly contained names of newsmen from the Jang Group.
No doubt the killing of Salman Taseer was a great tragedy but government aides are exploiting it for their interest and hatching conspiracies against the free media of the country and its chain has been extended up to Washington. It would have been better for them before going to such an extend that they had studied the US political system, democratic norms and informed sources of the US government. REFERENCE: Conspiracies against Pak media By Azim M Mian Sunday, January 23, 2011 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=3505&Cat=13&dt=1/23/2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011, Safar 18, 1432 A.H
http://jang.com.pk/jang/jan2011-daily/23-01-2011/main4.htm
How do we know these meetings didn’t include discussions of Jang Group followed by lobbying US Congressmen for a letter to be sent to Hillary Clinton? The letter to Hillary Clinton was written on 13 January 2011 – the day BEFORE the meetings. REFERENCE: First US Controls the Weather, Now Time Travel Also http://pakistanmediawatch.com/2011/01/24/first-us-controls-the-weather-now-time-travel-also/
Jang Group says anti-Pakistan lobby Congressmen Garry Ackerman but what's this?
As per a note blogger "Cafe Pyala"
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Guess who was spotted on November 9 in Washington D.C. at a reception for American and Pakistani media personnel thrown by US AfPak ambassador Richard Holbrooke's media assistant Ashley Bommer? Mir Ibrahim Rehman, scion of the house of Jang and CEO of the Geo TV Network. He walked in with The Friday Times editor and Dunya TV's Najam Sethi but stayed long after Sethi left the party.
Mir Ibrahim Rehman (c) at his master's convocation earlier this year
Mir Ibrahim (MIR) apparently jetted in for a mysterious three-day visit to the US, during which, our sources say, the main objective was to convince the US administration that Geo was neither anti-US nor anti-democracy, the line being peddled by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government. MIR also wished to gather official American support for the Jang Groupagainst the PPP boycott of the group as an instance of an assault on freedom of the media.
Our sources claim that MIR did not find too much traction among US officials against the idea of a media boycott, perhaps because the Obama administration itself has a similar boycott against Fox News (albeit without the shoe-throwing rent-a-demos and vile grafitti scrawlsagainst Fox News owners). However, what is particularly interesting about the Jang Group's attempts to woo the American establishment is the fact that there has been apparently a lot of discussion within the US government about whether it should support and even subsidize a media group that has no qualms about running shrill propaganda against the US, and sometimes even promoting a pro-Taliban line. In particular, Hamid Mir's contribution to whipping up Blackwater hysteria in Pakistan, Ansar Abbasi's rants about Western puppets, and the space given to nutjobs such as Zaid Hamid (Aag TV) and Ahmad Quraishi (Aag TV and The News) have apparently raised quite a few eyebrows in the US administration.
The Americans have reason to be upset with the Jang Group, and MIR has reasons to find their upset unsettling. The running of the banal American propaganda Voice of America (VoA) programme Khabron Se Aagay[Beyond the Headlines] as an 'advertorial' on Geo since 2005 has netted the Jang Group and its owners, by some accounts, millions of US taxpayer dollars. Although the exact 'compensation package' doled out to Geo by the US government is still secret, it should be noted that the deal between Geo and VoA was mediated during the Bush-Musharraf era by the then Information Secretary Anwar Mahmood and advertising whiz-kid Asif Salahuddin, the latter of whom is reputed not to touch 'small' deals. Apparently, part of MIR's discussions with the US administration included those on the future of the Geo-VoA deal.
Incidentally, while Najam Sethi was ostensibly in the US for medical check-ups and may have been present at the Bommer reception only coincidentally, as we have reported in the past, he too has been trying to persuade American-backed NGOs to fund a new 'liberal' channel to be headed by him.
Coming back to MIR, it seems that more than American upset, a potential threat of withdrawal of lucrative financial support may be the trigger for a panic at the Jang Group. As they say, bullshit may walk but it's money that talks. I have a strong feeling that you may well see the (media) house line shifting very soon. If you suddenly begin to miss the casual anti-US vitriol in the group's publications and on Geo, you'll know why. REFERENCE: Money Talks TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2010 http://cafepyala.blogspot.com/2010/11/money-talks.html
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Washington, D.C. - The Voice of America (VOA) will launch Beyond the Headlines-its new television program in Urdu-on Monday, Nov. 14. The half-hour program will air on GEO TV in Pakistan at 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and on selected international satellites, including AsiaSat (Virtual Channel 409) and IOR (Virtual Channel 420). Beyond the Headlines (Khabron se Aage), a fast-paced, contemporary production designed with young and urban Pakistanis in mind, will continue VOA's 63-year tradition of broadcasting accurate and balanced information. Programs will examine international developments, technology, politics, social issues, education, religion, sports, and entertainment. "We look forward to opening this important new channel of communication between the American people and Pakistan," said Steven J. Simmons, a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees all United States international radio and television services. Simmons is chairman of the BBG's Voice of America Committee, and has played a key role in increasing radio and TV service to Pakistan, including Beyond the Headlines. "We're particularly delighted with our partnership with GEO TV, the leading cable/satellite broadcaster in the Urdu language," Simmons added. "This new program, together with our expanded radio service, demonstrates our growing commitment to reach the people of Pakistan with new, engaging programs on both radio and TV." "The links between Pakistan and the United States are strong and growing, and our new show is a reflection of that," said VOA Director David S. Jackson. "Beyond the Headlines will focus not only on the big issues of the day, but also on features, business, and culture stories that illuminate the world we live in. For example, we'll show how Pakistanis live and work and go to school in the U.S. We want to provide a unique mix of stories that viewers can't find anywhere else."
Farah Ispahani is the managing editor and executive producer for Beyond the Headlines. She joined VOA earlier this year, bringing more than 20 years of experience in print and television media at such news organizations as CNN, ABC, and NBC. Before she joined VOA, Ispahani, who is a fluent Urdu speaker, was instrumental in the launch of CNN's Paula Zahn Now and Anderson Cooper 360. Anchoring Beyond the Headlines will be Aneka Osman. A familiar face to Pakistanis, Osman worked as an English language news anchor on Pakistan Television. She has covered regional and national security issues, Pakistan-India relations, the conflict in the Middle East, and Pakistan's general elections. She has also worked on Prime Television, the UK-based Pakistani channel, and on the Business Plus Channel.
Ayaz Gul is VOA Urdu's Chief Reporter and Pakistan Coverage Coordinator for Radio Aap ki Dunyaa (Your World Radio), VOA's Urdu radio service, and Beyond the Headlines. Gul, who is based in Pakistan, has been filing on-the-scene reports in Urdu and English for VOA since 1996, and his reports are translated into numerous languages throughout VOA. Prior to joining VOA, he worked for the Japanese network NHK and for the German news agency DPA as a reporter specializing in Pakistan's foreign and domestic news. VOA's Urdu Service broadcasts 12 hours a day of news and information to millions of Pakistanis and other Urdu speakers on Radio Aap ki Dunyaa. The program is distributed by medium wave at 972 kHz, digital audio satellite, the Internet and a three-hour shortwave broadcast. The launch of Beyond the Headlines adds two-and-half hours of television to the Urdu Service's weekly broadcast schedule. The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 100 million people. Programs are produced in 44 languages. REFERENCE: PRESS RELEASES VOA Launches Urdu TV For Pakistan 11/13/2005 For more information, call VOA’s Office of Public Affairs at (202) 203-4959 or E-Mail publicaffairs@voa.gov http://islamabad.usembassy.gov/pakistan/h05111301.html
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Nayyar Zaidi aka Syed Haider Karar Zaidi [Nayyar Zaidi used to write for Jang/The News International and Akhbar-e-Jahan [Weekly Magazine] but look what is heppening right under the nose of the so-called Snow White and Beacon for Press Freedom i.e. GEO TV and Jang Group of Newspapers.If the Americans are killing Anti-Americans then why he has been living in the same USA AS AN AMERICAN NATIONAL where American National [Read Muslims]'s Tax Money is used against innocent human being in Iraq, Afghanistan and list goes on and on. Above all why the hell GEO TV and Jang Group of Newspapers dont take any notice??? Why the GEO TV segment Voice of America is silent on this blatant Human Rights Violation [if Mr Zaidi is detained illegally] by the USA??? What happened to the so-called Integration of Muslim in American Political System when their Justice System is so rotten and why should Muslim itegrate themselves in American Societies since day in day out at the drop of Hat Poet Iqbal's "Khudi" and "Shahin" are often quoted so where has gone all the "Khudi" and Shahin's Flight to the 7th heaven. If the American System is bad [as per Nayyar Zaidi's own article that USA interfere in Islamic Laws of Pakistan] then why the hell live in USA at all. Read a news item below filed by a friend of Nayyar Zaidi, Late. Khalid Hasan on his case..
Khalid Hasan (1937-2009)POSTCARD USA: The strange case of Nayyar Zaidi — Khalid Hasan Sunday, September 14, 2008
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C09%5C14%5Cstory_14-9-2008_pg3_3
Nayyar was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 23, 2008, but his court-appointed lawyer has refused to show him the complaint, advising him instead to cooperate with the FBI or “you will die here”
Nayyar Zaidi, who has lived in the United States for the last thirty-five years and who is one of the most prolific of our journalists, vanished around spring this year. None of the small band of those who write for Pakistani newspapers noticed his disappearance for some time, but since I was the one most in contact with him, I began to ask others if they had run into Nayyar.
Nobody had. Phone calls to his family produced vague answers. The embassy did not know either, including its cloak-and-dagger men, who tend to keep an eye on us rather than on the heavy presence of their counterparts from our great neighbour to the east.
About two months ago, Irshad Salim, who runs Des Pardes, an online paper from New Jersey, reported that Nayyar was in a US federal prison in Ohio, which is hundreds of miles from here. The news was so startling that we simply could not believe it.
Why was he there, was the first question that came to our lips. He was there, so the arresting authorities claimed, because he had crossed state lines with the intention of committing a felony, the felony being an attempt to obtain sex from a minor. The minor did not exist as it was a sting, a police trap laid through the Internet. All this has been very hard on his family and his friends, especially because this is the last thing anybody would have expected or anybody is willing to believe.
I have filed a few reports for this newspaper, based on what I was able to learn. However, I did not have a direct communication from Nayyar till last week, which provides me with Nayyar’s side of the story.
Before I write it down, the present position is that he has been refused bail twice and his request to represent himself has been made subject by the judge to his psychological ability to stand trial, an order that Nayyar finds “alarming” because he fears that it may be used to declare him of unsound mind, resulting in his being thrown into some hell-hole meant for the mentally deranged, a place from where he may never emerge alive. Nayyar has said that he went to Ohio as part of his research for a story on parental predators of minors.
Nayyar ardently believes that he has been targeted by the FBI for entirely different reasons.
In a letter to the US Attorney General, Nayyar writes that he has been a long-time victim of the FBI’s broad powers. “My medical records were altered and originals destroyed in 1995,” he recalls. When he sought legal redress, his attorney was told that it had been decided not to investigate the matter because the scarce federal resources available were required by the FBI to investigate major cases.
“Is equal protection under the law now contingent upon resources?” Nayyar has asked. He sued the FBI in 1997 under the Federal Tort Act. The FBI filed a motion for dismissal of the suit, to counter which Nayyar filed a motion for criminal contempt of court. The motion was dismissed by a judge “without prejudice” and Nayyar was told that he could re-file the case after 180 days.
Nayyar’s legal battles, which are too complicated for me to understand, included suits he filed against the chief justice of the United States in his “administrative capacity” as well as the US president and the US attorney general. He got nowhere in the courts and in the bargain he claims to have earned the FBI’s hostility.
Nayyar writes in his letter to US Attorney General Michael Mukasey that he had ended up on the wrong side of a “mafia” that included powerful judicial and political figures. He writes that on February 20, 2003, an attempt was made to jail him when three FBI special agents came to his home while he was away and questioned his 15-year-old son who was all by himself. The three agents came in without permission and looked around the place for 15 minutes, interrogating the boy who was a minor.
When Nayyar learnt of the visit, he rushed to the FBI field office to answer a “few questions”. The three agents who had gone to his house wanted him to divulge personal information about all his children, their ages, the cars they drove and even their cell phone numbers.
One agent said to Nayyar, “Mr Zaidi, I want you to answer ‘yes or no’”. The question he asked was, “Do you know anyone who is even this much of an extremist or fundamentalist Muslim?” (Here the agent indicated a space between his thumb and index finger).
Nayyar shot back, “What is ‘this much’?” adding, “If I say yes, then I would have admitted knowing extremists and fundamentalists. If I say no, you would produce evidence that I had known many Muslims who were regular practising Muslims. They had beards; they prayed five times a day, they fasted during Ramadan and they had performed the Haj pilgrimage.” The next they would tell him, Nayyar argued, was that he had lied during a federal investigation, which spells obstruction of justice.
The FBI agents demanded Nayyar’s phone records since 2000. The next day, one of the FBI agents spoke to Nayyar on the phone saying his assistance was being sought by the FBI. The agent wanted to check with Nayyar’s children 10 phone numbers that had allegedly been called from the Zaidi home. Of those 10 numbers, the agent gave Nayyar just one Karachi number and one in China. The Karachi number belonged to a bankrupt textile business and it had been disconnected in 2000. The other numbers that he wasn’t shown were said to be located in Malaysia, the Netherlands, Pakistan and India.
The agent also showed Nayyar a thick file with his picture, while accusing him of credit card fraud in six different states. The agent refused to show him the report on the basis of which it was being claimed that he had committed credit card fraud in six states.
Nayyar concludes his letter to the Attorney General thus, “If my life depended on it, I could tell a tale of federal crimes for 1001 nights to whoever is the godfather of this syndicate.”
Nayyar was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 23, 2008, but his court-appointed lawyer has refused to show him the complaint, advising him instead to cooperate with the FBI or “you will die here”.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C09%5C14%5Cstory_14-9-2008_pg3_3
Nayyar was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 23, 2008, but his court-appointed lawyer has refused to show him the complaint, advising him instead to cooperate with the FBI or “you will die here”
Nayyar Zaidi, who has lived in the United States for the last thirty-five years and who is one of the most prolific of our journalists, vanished around spring this year. None of the small band of those who write for Pakistani newspapers noticed his disappearance for some time, but since I was the one most in contact with him, I began to ask others if they had run into Nayyar.
Nobody had. Phone calls to his family produced vague answers. The embassy did not know either, including its cloak-and-dagger men, who tend to keep an eye on us rather than on the heavy presence of their counterparts from our great neighbour to the east.
About two months ago, Irshad Salim, who runs Des Pardes, an online paper from New Jersey, reported that Nayyar was in a US federal prison in Ohio, which is hundreds of miles from here. The news was so startling that we simply could not believe it.
Why was he there, was the first question that came to our lips. He was there, so the arresting authorities claimed, because he had crossed state lines with the intention of committing a felony, the felony being an attempt to obtain sex from a minor. The minor did not exist as it was a sting, a police trap laid through the Internet. All this has been very hard on his family and his friends, especially because this is the last thing anybody would have expected or anybody is willing to believe.
I have filed a few reports for this newspaper, based on what I was able to learn. However, I did not have a direct communication from Nayyar till last week, which provides me with Nayyar’s side of the story.
Before I write it down, the present position is that he has been refused bail twice and his request to represent himself has been made subject by the judge to his psychological ability to stand trial, an order that Nayyar finds “alarming” because he fears that it may be used to declare him of unsound mind, resulting in his being thrown into some hell-hole meant for the mentally deranged, a place from where he may never emerge alive. Nayyar has said that he went to Ohio as part of his research for a story on parental predators of minors.
Nayyar ardently believes that he has been targeted by the FBI for entirely different reasons.
In a letter to the US Attorney General, Nayyar writes that he has been a long-time victim of the FBI’s broad powers. “My medical records were altered and originals destroyed in 1995,” he recalls. When he sought legal redress, his attorney was told that it had been decided not to investigate the matter because the scarce federal resources available were required by the FBI to investigate major cases.
“Is equal protection under the law now contingent upon resources?” Nayyar has asked. He sued the FBI in 1997 under the Federal Tort Act. The FBI filed a motion for dismissal of the suit, to counter which Nayyar filed a motion for criminal contempt of court. The motion was dismissed by a judge “without prejudice” and Nayyar was told that he could re-file the case after 180 days.
Nayyar’s legal battles, which are too complicated for me to understand, included suits he filed against the chief justice of the United States in his “administrative capacity” as well as the US president and the US attorney general. He got nowhere in the courts and in the bargain he claims to have earned the FBI’s hostility.
Nayyar writes in his letter to US Attorney General Michael Mukasey that he had ended up on the wrong side of a “mafia” that included powerful judicial and political figures. He writes that on February 20, 2003, an attempt was made to jail him when three FBI special agents came to his home while he was away and questioned his 15-year-old son who was all by himself. The three agents came in without permission and looked around the place for 15 minutes, interrogating the boy who was a minor.
When Nayyar learnt of the visit, he rushed to the FBI field office to answer a “few questions”. The three agents who had gone to his house wanted him to divulge personal information about all his children, their ages, the cars they drove and even their cell phone numbers.
One agent said to Nayyar, “Mr Zaidi, I want you to answer ‘yes or no’”. The question he asked was, “Do you know anyone who is even this much of an extremist or fundamentalist Muslim?” (Here the agent indicated a space between his thumb and index finger).
Nayyar shot back, “What is ‘this much’?” adding, “If I say yes, then I would have admitted knowing extremists and fundamentalists. If I say no, you would produce evidence that I had known many Muslims who were regular practising Muslims. They had beards; they prayed five times a day, they fasted during Ramadan and they had performed the Haj pilgrimage.” The next they would tell him, Nayyar argued, was that he had lied during a federal investigation, which spells obstruction of justice.
The FBI agents demanded Nayyar’s phone records since 2000. The next day, one of the FBI agents spoke to Nayyar on the phone saying his assistance was being sought by the FBI. The agent wanted to check with Nayyar’s children 10 phone numbers that had allegedly been called from the Zaidi home. Of those 10 numbers, the agent gave Nayyar just one Karachi number and one in China. The Karachi number belonged to a bankrupt textile business and it had been disconnected in 2000. The other numbers that he wasn’t shown were said to be located in Malaysia, the Netherlands, Pakistan and India.
The agent also showed Nayyar a thick file with his picture, while accusing him of credit card fraud in six different states. The agent refused to show him the report on the basis of which it was being claimed that he had committed credit card fraud in six states.
Nayyar concludes his letter to the Attorney General thus, “If my life depended on it, I could tell a tale of federal crimes for 1001 nights to whoever is the godfather of this syndicate.”
Nayyar was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 23, 2008, but his court-appointed lawyer has refused to show him the complaint, advising him instead to cooperate with the FBI or “you will die here”.
Nayyar Zaidi aka Syed Haider Karar Zaidi [Nayyar Zaidi used to write for Jang/The News International and Akhbar-e-Jahan [Weekly Magazine] but look what is heppening right under the nose of the so-called Snow White and Beacon for Press Freedom i.e. GEO TV and Jang Group of Newspapers.Just solve this riddle of integration of Muslims in American Society by explaining the views of Mr Nayyar Zaidi's story on Adultery Law in Pakistan??? If Mr Zaidi is so fond of 'UNADULTERED ISLAMIC LAW' then why don't he comes back [with his family too] to be settled permanently in SWAT, NWFP under Mullah Sufi Mohammad, to enjoy the Barakah [Blessings] of Islamic Shariah. What was the need of Kinky Sex in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave i.e. USA.
New Hudood laws at US behest by Nayyar ZaidiSaturday, September 16, 2006
http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=3070
WASHINGTON: The State Department’s report on “International Religious Freedom” during 2006 appears to provide a unique insight into the Pakistani government’s efforts to produce a “reformed” version of the 1984 Hudood Ordinance by last Monday. The report informs that “(US) Embassy officials pressed members of parliament and the government to revise blasphemy laws and the Hudood Ordinances to minimise abuses”.
On the other hand, it perhaps also provides an equally unique insight into why something that appeared to be a “done deal” last Friday disintegrated by not only the efforts of the Muttahida Majlis-Amal (MMA) but also such “yours truly” type liberals as the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) and a modern equivalent of “you, too, Brutus”, ie the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, an ally of the government.
The report minces no words when it says: “The government failed to protect the rights of religious minorities. Discriminatory legislation and the government’s failure to take action against societal forces hostile to those who practice a different faith fostered religious intolerance and acts of violence and intimidation against religious minorities.” Add this to the long list of government’s “failures” to reign in the al-Qaeda and Taliban and you can guess the temperatures inside the Oval Office September 22 when George W Bush meets General Pervez Musharraf.
But there were silver linings as well and both the government and the Muttahida Majlis Amal (MMA) are given some credit for efforts to reduce religious tensions and create religious harmony in Pakistan. According to the report, “(T)he government maintained its public calls for religious tolerance, worked with moderate religious leaders to organise programmes on sectarian harmony and interfaith understanding, maintained its ban on and actively attempted to curb the activities of sectarian and terrorist organisations, implemented a registration scheme for Islamic religious schools known as madrassahs, and proceeded with reform of the public education curriculum designed to end the teaching of religious intolerance.”
Although not all but “some members of the MMA made efforts to eliminate their rhetoric against Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists and Parsis. Under government pressure, many of its leaders joined various interfaith efforts to promote religious tolerance. Religious leaders, representing the country’s six major Shia and Sunni groups, issued a religious injunction in May 2005 banning sectarian violence and the killing of non-Muslims”.
But in spite of these efforts, the report noted, “relations between religious communities were tense. Societal discrimination against religious minorities was widespread and societal violence against such groups occurred. Societal actors, including terrorist and extremist groups and individuals, targeted religious congregations. More than 110 deaths accrued from sectarian violence... large numbers of victims came from both Sunni and Shi’a sects”.
It is duly noted that the followers of Aga Khan and the “Zikirs” are off the hook and religious rhetoric against them is “eliminated”. Christians have no complaints about the government policy. Their fears are based on “societal pressures” that may force them into “self censorship”.
The report highlights alleged discrimination and mistreatment of the Ahmadiyya sect. “The embassy carefully monitored treatment of the Ahmadiyya community. During discussions with Islamic religious leaders, embassy officials urged reconciliation with the Ahmadiyya community and an end to persecution of this minority group. Embassy officials also raised and discussed treatment of the Ahmadis with members of parliament, encouraging an eventual repeal of anti-Ahmadi laws and a less severe application in the interim”.
Some examples of discrimination against the Ahmadis included: “While the constitution guarantees the right to establish places of worship and train clergy, in practice, Ahmadis suffered from restrictions on this right. According to press reports, the authorities continued to conduct surveillance on the Ahmadis and their institutions. Several Ahmadis’ places of worship reportedly have been closed; others reportedly have been desecrated or had their construction stopped. For example, on June 18, 2005, police ordered the Ahmadiyya community in Pindi, Bhatian, Hafizabad, Punjab, to stop construction on a worship place at a site acquired for the purpose some 20 years before then. Police were reportedly acting on the request of the local Islamic cleric.” Contrary to this, “state funding was provided for construction and maintenance of mosques and for Islamic clergy”.
While Christians seem to have no complaints about importing and locally printing books on their faith, the same right was allegedly denied to the Ahmadis who could not distribute their religious literature openly in public. However, there were no restrictions on doing so within their own community. But the most serious accusation is that the permission to hold a conference on the finality of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) was a “tacit endorsement” by the government of the campaign against the Ahmadis. Also, those applying for Hajj have to sign an affidavit declaring Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as an “imposter” which is calculated to discourage and identify Ahmadi applicants.
However, there is relative improvement even on this front. “In 2005, the government enacted a law that requires senior police officials to investigate any blasphemy charges before a complaint is filed....There were only 24 blasphemy cases filed during the reporting period, a decline from 54 during the previous years’ reporting period. According to figures compiled by local NGOs, between 1986 and April 2006, 695 persons were accused of blasphemy: 362 Muslims, 239 Ahmadis, 86 Christians, and 10 Hindus. In many cases filed during the year, the accused were either released on bail or charges were dropped. Of the 695 individuals accused of blasphemy at the end of the reporting period, 22 remained in detention awaiting trial on blasphemy charges, and 9 were in prison following conviction.”
Another plus: “The government did not impose onerous financial penalties due to religion....The government did not abuse converts to minority religious groups. Converts to the Ahmadiyya community were often accused of blasphemy, violations of the anti-Ahmadi laws, or other crimes.” But there were complaints that religious zealots continued to force people to convert against their wills.
The government also “took steps to bolster religious freedom during the period covered by this report” and there was “a significant decline in new blasphemy and Hudood cases, approximately 44 per cent and 164 per cent from the previous reporting period, respectively. It appears that this decline could be due to the implementation of the 2005 revision to the procedures for the implementation of both the blasphemy laws and the Hudood Ordinances. Under the new procedures, senior police officials must investigate all blasphemy cases before charges are filed, and a court order must precede women’s detention under the extramarital sex provisions of the Hudood Ordinances.
But who knows? By the time President Musharraf takes his seat at the breakfast table with President Bush on September 22, news of a reformed Hudood bill could be in has hands. Now that would be “timing”.
On the other hand, it perhaps also provides an equally unique insight into why something that appeared to be a “done deal” last Friday disintegrated by not only the efforts of the Muttahida Majlis-Amal (MMA) but also such “yours truly” type liberals as the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) and a modern equivalent of “you, too, Brutus”, ie the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, an ally of the government.
The report minces no words when it says: “The government failed to protect the rights of religious minorities. Discriminatory legislation and the government’s failure to take action against societal forces hostile to those who practice a different faith fostered religious intolerance and acts of violence and intimidation against religious minorities.” Add this to the long list of government’s “failures” to reign in the al-Qaeda and Taliban and you can guess the temperatures inside the Oval Office September 22 when George W Bush meets General Pervez Musharraf.
But there were silver linings as well and both the government and the Muttahida Majlis Amal (MMA) are given some credit for efforts to reduce religious tensions and create religious harmony in Pakistan. According to the report, “(T)he government maintained its public calls for religious tolerance, worked with moderate religious leaders to organise programmes on sectarian harmony and interfaith understanding, maintained its ban on and actively attempted to curb the activities of sectarian and terrorist organisations, implemented a registration scheme for Islamic religious schools known as madrassahs, and proceeded with reform of the public education curriculum designed to end the teaching of religious intolerance.”
Although not all but “some members of the MMA made efforts to eliminate their rhetoric against Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists and Parsis. Under government pressure, many of its leaders joined various interfaith efforts to promote religious tolerance. Religious leaders, representing the country’s six major Shia and Sunni groups, issued a religious injunction in May 2005 banning sectarian violence and the killing of non-Muslims”.
But in spite of these efforts, the report noted, “relations between religious communities were tense. Societal discrimination against religious minorities was widespread and societal violence against such groups occurred. Societal actors, including terrorist and extremist groups and individuals, targeted religious congregations. More than 110 deaths accrued from sectarian violence... large numbers of victims came from both Sunni and Shi’a sects”.
It is duly noted that the followers of Aga Khan and the “Zikirs” are off the hook and religious rhetoric against them is “eliminated”. Christians have no complaints about the government policy. Their fears are based on “societal pressures” that may force them into “self censorship”.
The report highlights alleged discrimination and mistreatment of the Ahmadiyya sect. “The embassy carefully monitored treatment of the Ahmadiyya community. During discussions with Islamic religious leaders, embassy officials urged reconciliation with the Ahmadiyya community and an end to persecution of this minority group. Embassy officials also raised and discussed treatment of the Ahmadis with members of parliament, encouraging an eventual repeal of anti-Ahmadi laws and a less severe application in the interim”.
Some examples of discrimination against the Ahmadis included: “While the constitution guarantees the right to establish places of worship and train clergy, in practice, Ahmadis suffered from restrictions on this right. According to press reports, the authorities continued to conduct surveillance on the Ahmadis and their institutions. Several Ahmadis’ places of worship reportedly have been closed; others reportedly have been desecrated or had their construction stopped. For example, on June 18, 2005, police ordered the Ahmadiyya community in Pindi, Bhatian, Hafizabad, Punjab, to stop construction on a worship place at a site acquired for the purpose some 20 years before then. Police were reportedly acting on the request of the local Islamic cleric.” Contrary to this, “state funding was provided for construction and maintenance of mosques and for Islamic clergy”.
While Christians seem to have no complaints about importing and locally printing books on their faith, the same right was allegedly denied to the Ahmadis who could not distribute their religious literature openly in public. However, there were no restrictions on doing so within their own community. But the most serious accusation is that the permission to hold a conference on the finality of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) was a “tacit endorsement” by the government of the campaign against the Ahmadis. Also, those applying for Hajj have to sign an affidavit declaring Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as an “imposter” which is calculated to discourage and identify Ahmadi applicants.
However, there is relative improvement even on this front. “In 2005, the government enacted a law that requires senior police officials to investigate any blasphemy charges before a complaint is filed....There were only 24 blasphemy cases filed during the reporting period, a decline from 54 during the previous years’ reporting period. According to figures compiled by local NGOs, between 1986 and April 2006, 695 persons were accused of blasphemy: 362 Muslims, 239 Ahmadis, 86 Christians, and 10 Hindus. In many cases filed during the year, the accused were either released on bail or charges were dropped. Of the 695 individuals accused of blasphemy at the end of the reporting period, 22 remained in detention awaiting trial on blasphemy charges, and 9 were in prison following conviction.”
Another plus: “The government did not impose onerous financial penalties due to religion....The government did not abuse converts to minority religious groups. Converts to the Ahmadiyya community were often accused of blasphemy, violations of the anti-Ahmadi laws, or other crimes.” But there were complaints that religious zealots continued to force people to convert against their wills.
The government also “took steps to bolster religious freedom during the period covered by this report” and there was “a significant decline in new blasphemy and Hudood cases, approximately 44 per cent and 164 per cent from the previous reporting period, respectively. It appears that this decline could be due to the implementation of the 2005 revision to the procedures for the implementation of both the blasphemy laws and the Hudood Ordinances. Under the new procedures, senior police officials must investigate all blasphemy cases before charges are filed, and a court order must precede women’s detention under the extramarital sex provisions of the Hudood Ordinances.
But who knows? By the time President Musharraf takes his seat at the breakfast table with President Bush on September 22, news of a reformed Hudood bill could be in has hands. Now that would be “timing”.
Credibility of Azim M Mian?
You would have noticed that subject of the post is "GEO TV's" Correspondent and if the above news about Nayyar Zaidi [GEO's Correspondent for the US] is a 'slander' then what about this slander which is carried by the US Correspondent of Jang/GEO TV/The News International which they filed (March 18, 2009) and their GEO TV is denying it. No doubt Freedom of Expression must be protected at any cost but when one start singling out an entity to gain some political score then there are no rules for the opponents as well. Read two stories of the same Jang Group of Newspapers with the difference of just 8/9 hour. You are far elder and experinced than me and should have remembered that during the Ethnic Riots of 70s and 80s biased reporting of this Jang Group of Newspapers played havoc with the lives of innocent people... A latest example of this slanderous campaign is as under:
President of Pakistan Asif Zardari with Late. Benazir Bhutto and Children.
Another bombshell in store for Zardari By Azim M Mian Wednesday, March 18, 2009
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=20992
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=20992
NEW YORK: Restoration of the chief justice and other judges may be the end of a political crisis that has caused a rebellion in the PPP and brought down its popularity graph, but President Asif Zardari is about to face another crisis of credibility from his own family members, sources close to the Bhutto family told this correspondent.
Even the Chairman of PPP, Bilawal Zardari, at this young age, may have to come in public and support his beloved Aunt Sanam Bhutto against his father’s claims of material and political inheritance of his Shaheed mother Benazir Bhutto.
A source close to an international interviewer Daphne Barak has confirmed to this correspondent that Sanam Bhutto has already spoken loud and clear about her brother-in-law, President Asif Zardari during the last weekend. Though the contents of this interview have not been revealed, sources close to Daphne Barak told The News that “Zardari, who was elected, using his late wife’s legacy and the Bhutto family would be embarrassed by Sanam Bhutto’s cold and determined disclosures.” The time and location of the release of this Interview is not known as yet.
The bold and sometimes angry remarks of Sanam Bhutto may create such controversy that Bilawal Bhutto, at this young age, may have to take his own stand in this dispute. Very likely, he will support his favorite aunt Sanam Bhutto against his father, with whom he is already at odds on certain issues after her mother’s death.
Sanam Bhutto does not want to see Bilawal’s studies disturbed, but she also does not want to see the welfare of three young children of her sister being compromised. She has spoken as time is running out. Moreover, Sanam has been very upset with Asif Zardari’s handling of the PPP that is the most precious political legacy of her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and her sister Benazir Bhutto. He betrayed her sister’s promises to the nation about restoration of judges, caused political friction to the point that led Pakistan to the brink of civil war and caused historic damage to the popular Pakistan People’s Party to the maximum extent. Reportedly Sanam Bhutto has said, “My father, my brothers, my mother all of us suffered and made sacrifices for PPP and Asif Zardari has usurped it. He has made this party unpopular by his acts, purging of loyalists and politically seasoned elements, betraying the pledges and goals defined by Benazir Bhutto.”
In addition to political legacy of Benazir Bhutto, some issues of properties and financial fortunes are also cause of friction. Sanam Bhutto is acting as the watchdog of Bilawal, Bakhtawar and Assefa’s interests and is concerned that other members of Zardari family are working to derive benefits.
This correspondent attempted to contact the well-recognized interviewer Daphne Barak, but she was not available due to her travel plans. However a source close to her confirmed that Sanam Bhutto had a long conversation with some determined and cold remarks on certain issues about Asif Zardari.
Daphne Barak and Benazir Bhutto have been friends for over 15 years and had very close relationship. She has insight into Benazir-Zardari relationship during the last 12 years. She is an insider of Bhutto family on many issues.
Ms Barak is going to be one of the first witnesses before the UN Commission to investigate the murder of Benazir Bhutto. She has already been invited by the UN officials for help and Daphane Barak has provided all her record, notes and recordings of Benazir Bhutto to the Chairperson of this Commission.
The UN secretary-general has yet not announced the name of the third member of this UN Commission while Chile’s ambassador to UN has been designated as the chairman.
Even the Chairman of PPP, Bilawal Zardari, at this young age, may have to come in public and support his beloved Aunt Sanam Bhutto against his father’s claims of material and political inheritance of his Shaheed mother Benazir Bhutto.
A source close to an international interviewer Daphne Barak has confirmed to this correspondent that Sanam Bhutto has already spoken loud and clear about her brother-in-law, President Asif Zardari during the last weekend. Though the contents of this interview have not been revealed, sources close to Daphne Barak told The News that “Zardari, who was elected, using his late wife’s legacy and the Bhutto family would be embarrassed by Sanam Bhutto’s cold and determined disclosures.” The time and location of the release of this Interview is not known as yet.
The bold and sometimes angry remarks of Sanam Bhutto may create such controversy that Bilawal Bhutto, at this young age, may have to take his own stand in this dispute. Very likely, he will support his favorite aunt Sanam Bhutto against his father, with whom he is already at odds on certain issues after her mother’s death.
Sanam Bhutto does not want to see Bilawal’s studies disturbed, but she also does not want to see the welfare of three young children of her sister being compromised. She has spoken as time is running out. Moreover, Sanam has been very upset with Asif Zardari’s handling of the PPP that is the most precious political legacy of her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and her sister Benazir Bhutto. He betrayed her sister’s promises to the nation about restoration of judges, caused political friction to the point that led Pakistan to the brink of civil war and caused historic damage to the popular Pakistan People’s Party to the maximum extent. Reportedly Sanam Bhutto has said, “My father, my brothers, my mother all of us suffered and made sacrifices for PPP and Asif Zardari has usurped it. He has made this party unpopular by his acts, purging of loyalists and politically seasoned elements, betraying the pledges and goals defined by Benazir Bhutto.”
In addition to political legacy of Benazir Bhutto, some issues of properties and financial fortunes are also cause of friction. Sanam Bhutto is acting as the watchdog of Bilawal, Bakhtawar and Assefa’s interests and is concerned that other members of Zardari family are working to derive benefits.
This correspondent attempted to contact the well-recognized interviewer Daphne Barak, but she was not available due to her travel plans. However a source close to her confirmed that Sanam Bhutto had a long conversation with some determined and cold remarks on certain issues about Asif Zardari.
Daphne Barak and Benazir Bhutto have been friends for over 15 years and had very close relationship. She has insight into Benazir-Zardari relationship during the last 12 years. She is an insider of Bhutto family on many issues.
Ms Barak is going to be one of the first witnesses before the UN Commission to investigate the murder of Benazir Bhutto. She has already been invited by the UN officials for help and Daphane Barak has provided all her record, notes and recordings of Benazir Bhutto to the Chairperson of this Commission.
The UN secretary-general has yet not announced the name of the third member of this UN Commission while Chile’s ambassador to UN has been designated as the chairman.
Sanam Bhutto, sister of slain PPP leader Benazir Bhutto.
Sanam denies any differences with Zardari
Updated at: 2208 PST, Wednesday, March 18, 2009
http://www.geo.tv/3-18-2009/37683.htm
Updated at: 2208 PST, Wednesday, March 18, 2009
http://www.geo.tv/3-18-2009/37683.htm
KARACHI: Sanam Bhutto, sister of slain PPP leader Benazir Bhutto, denied on Wednesday reports of differences in Bhutto family. According to sources, Sanam Bhutto said that she had cordial relations with President Asif Ali Zardari. She clarified that there was no property dispute between Bhutto family and President Zardari. “Bhutto family stands by President Zardari to resolve the challenges facing the country,” she added.
Nayyar Zaidi aka Syed Haider Karar Zaidi [Nayyar Zaidi used to write for Jang/The News International and Akhbar-e-Jahan [Weekly Magazine] but look what is heppening right under the nose of the so-called Snow White and Beacon for Press Freedom i.e. GEO TV and Jang Group of Newspapers.
Man arrested for trying to meet teen By Staff reports The Independent Posted Mar 20, 2008 @ 10:16 PM http://www.indeonline.com/crime/x1012430497?view=print
JACKSON TWP, OH — Authorities arrested a Virginia man Thursday accused of traveling to Jackson Township to have sex with a 13-year-old girl.
Syed Haider Kar Zaidi, 64, of 12776 Captains Cove, Woodbridge, Va., was taken into custody at 3 p.m. in a parking lot at 4220 Belden Village St. N.W., according to jail records. The arrest culminated a two month investigation by local police and the FBI’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Jail records show Zaidi developed an online relationship with the girl and arranged to meet her for sex in the Belden Village area. The girl Zaidi was communicating with actually was an undercover officer.
Zaidi faces felony charges of attempted unlawful sex with a minor, attempted child endangering, attempted illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance and importuning. Zaidi was the task force’s 98th arrest.
Pro-Jihad Pakistan journalist arrested for child sex, porn By Ahmar Mustikhan
Man allegedly traveled hundreds of miles to meet 13-year-old girl who turned out to be FBI agents and police
For_Immediate_Release:
Pakistan, Islamic Republic of (Press Release) July 28, 2008 -- A well-known Pakistani journalist was allegedly engaged in child sex and arrested in an FBI sting operation March 20, Pakistan community members released the news to coincide with arrival of a high-ranking delegation from Pakistan led by Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani.
Nayyar Zaidi, whose real name is Syed Haider K. Zaidi, a reporter of Geo TV, Jang, The News was arrested on March 20 after the 64-year-old pro-jihad journalist allegedly traveled all the way from his home in Woolbridge, Virginia, to a remote town in Ohio to have sex with a 13-year-old girl.
After the alleged two-month long affair with the 13-year-old the journalist covered a distance of more than 400 miles, that lasts nearly eight hours, for the rendezvous with what turned out to be FBI agents and police.
One of Zaidi's compatriots Syed Adeeb, also from Virginia and editor of a blog named reportpress.com, announced Zaidi's arrest Sunday--the day Gilani's team arrived in the U.S.-- and asked readers to read Zaidi's views about his arrest, detention and prosecution.
The Independent in Massillon, Ohio, reported that authorities arrested a Virginia man accused of traveling to Jackson Township to have sex with a 13-year-old girl.
The newspaper said, "Syed Haider Kar Zaidi, 64, of 12776 Captains Cove, Woodbridge, Va., was taken into custody at 3 p.m. in a parking lot at 4220 Belden Village St. N.W., according to jail records. The arrest culminated a two month investigation by local police and the FBI's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force."
The newspaper reported, "Jail records show Zaidi developed an online relationship with the girl and arranged to meet her for sex in the Belden Village area. The girl Zaidi was communicating with actually was an undercover officer."
source: FPR
Zaidi, who has always been a staunch advocate of jihad, now faces felony charges of attempted unlawful sex with a minor, attempted child endangering, attempted illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance and importuning. Zaidi was the task force's 98th arrest.
The GateHouse News Service said Zaidi was the 98th arrest by FBI task force and his bond was set at $ 200,000. Zaidi was defiant and asked his family not to post the bond.
Many Muslims believe a girl reaches adulthood after the first menses. Quite a few aged men go for very young girls as they think this will make them younger and increase their sexual prowess.
In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, FBI agents questioned Zaidi for allegedly dialing from his home phone numbers linked to the terrorists.
Members of the Pakistani community, who spoke on condition of anonymity, defended their compatriot and said they believed Zaidi was targeted by the FBI just because of his pro-jihad views.
However, the Baluch who are at war with Pakistan in the troubled Baluchistan state commended the FBI for its sting operation. "All this is extremely sick and disgusting," said Dr. Wahid Baloch, president of the Baloch Society of North America. "Pakistanis should not mix child sex crime with politics."
Nayyar Zaidi behind bars in USA!
A few days back, wife of renowned Washington-based Pakistani journalist, Mr. Nayyar Zaidi, called me up and informed me that her spouse was in detention in Ohio since March 2008 and that she would like to send me some documents for review and publication on DesPardes.com. I therefore gave her my address and my Ferderal Express account number. The next day, I received a package which contained copies of correspondents Mr Zaidi had to the Depertment of Justice, FBI, etc., along with copies of his handwritten notes, observations and latest rejoinder to the Federal court judge.
Mr Zaidi has been living in Virginia, USA, for the last twenty odd years. He is a well renowned columnist of JANG Urdu and a political analyst/commentator for GEO TV, CNN, BBC Urdu and several other world media.
Mr. Zaidi called me up today from the Northeast Correctional Center in Youngstown, Ohio. Since our conversation was basically relevant to his detention and the papers he had arranged to send me through his wife Shaheen, I did not bother that our phone talk was being "recorded and monitored". It was a no-holds-barred-conversation but he took pain not to break rules.
Our conversation was obviously intense. This was the third time in my life that I had received a phone call from a person I knew who was behind bars and who wanted to reach out to someone outside for help. And, of all the people, when a respected Pakistani journalist-cum-columnist with a vast readership in Pakistan and elsewhere happened to be on the other end of the phone, things became different. Naturally, I offered my moral support and promised to break the news to the public on his behalf.
Without discussing with him the merits of the case and his detention, I showed my concern and promised to review the papers he had sent me.
Mr Zaidi said he had gone to Ohio to pursue his journalistic "obstruction of justice" research against those individuals who are being detained there from "all over the world". Unfortunately, he ended up being detained himself in the same facility, he said. He is awaiting trial now in which he is the defendent.
Mr Zaidi has claimed that he has been "targeted" by the FBI/DOJ and the "story" goes back to 1995 when he worked for the Pakistan Television. He was approcahed to work for the U.S. government, he said.
According to Mr Zaidi, he was visited by the Feds (FBI) sometime in 2003, and was asked, he claims, to "become an informant". But he refused.
He says he has a case against FBI/DOJ for "obstruction of justice" and wants only "due process of law" to happen.
I have asked him to writeup a synopsis of the events leading to his arrest. He promised he will send.
I then called the Press Attache of the Pakistan embassy in Washington. Mr Kiani, who happens to be the press attache, told me that he found out about Mr Zaidi's detention today only from the ambasaddor Mr. Hussain Haqaani who found out from Pakistan, he claimed.
According to Kiani, Mr. Haqqani is "concerned" about Mr. Zaidi's welfare.
Both, according to Kiani, were unaware that Mr Zaidi was in detention since the last three months.
Mr Kiani said he had been calling Mr Zaidi's residence but his wife would say that he was either overseas on an assignment or would give him "some kind of answer". Interesting!
Meanwhile, Mr Zaidi remains in detention on "national security matters".
Geo TV Reporter Approaches a 13-Year for Sex?
A Pakistani American Journalist Mr. Syed Haider K. Zaidi (pen name: Nayyar Zaidi), Washington correspondent or Washington Bureau Chief of Pakistan’s Geo News TV, The News International (English newspaper) and Daily Jang (Urdu newspaper) was arrested by the US FBI and the Police on March 20/ 2008 in Ohio, USA, on sex crimes charges.
He is still locked up in an Ohio jail since March 2008. Read the following American media-press news reports about Pakistani American journalist Nayyar Zaidi who lives in Woodbridge, Virginia, USA.
Publisher: THE INDEPENDENT - Massillon, Ohio, USA
Man Arrested for Trying to Meet Teen
JACKSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio, USA, March 20/ 2008 - Authorities arrested a Virginia man Thursday accused of traveling to Jackson Township to have sex with a 13-year-old girl.
Syed Haider Kar Zaidi, 64, of 12776 Captains Cove, Woodbridge, Va., was taken into custody at 3 p.m. in a parking lot at 4220 Belden Village St. N.W., according to jail records. The arrest culminated a two month investigation by local police and the FBI’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Jail records show Zaidi developed an online relationship with the girl and arranged to meet her for sex in the Belden Village area. The girl Zaidi was communicating with actually was an undercover officer. Zaidi faces felony charges of attempted unlawful sex with a minor, attempted child endangering, attempted illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance and importuning. Zaidi was the task force’s 98th arrest.
Feds Eyeing Internet ‘Predator’
Virginia man is 98th arrest by FBI task force; bond set at $ 200,000
MASSILLON, Ohio, USA, March 24/ 2008 - Federal charges are likely for a Virginia man who allegedly arranged to have sex with a 13-year-old girl in Jackson Township.
Jeffrey Haupt, attorney for Syed Haider Kar Zaidi, 64, said Monday it appears his client’s case will be sent to U.S. District Court in Youngstown. Haupt said Zaidi could appear before a magistrate or judge later this week. “I have been in discussion with local and federal authorities about this case,” he said.
Zaidi was arrested Thursday night in a parking lot at 4220 Belden Village St. N.W. following a two month investigation by local police and the FBI’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Zaidi was the task force’s 98th arrest.
According to jail records, Zaidi developed an online relationship with the girl and planned to meet her for sex in the Belden Village area. An undercover officer assumed the girl’s identity in an Internet chat room. Zaidi reportedly drove to the area from his home in Woodbridge, Va.
The case could be moved to federal court for several reasons, Haupt said, including the fact that Zaidi crossed state lines, the nature of the material involved in the case and the age of the purported victim. Local charges filed against Zaidi would be dropped if the case is transferred to the federal level, according to Haupt. “He would remain in the custody of the federal government pending an indictment or the filing of a bill of information,” Haupt said. Zaidi was arraigned Monday in Massillon Municipal Court on felony charges of attempted unlawful sex with a minor, attempted child endangering, attempted illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance and importuning.
He remains in the Stark County Jail in lieu of $ 200,000 bond. Haupt said he has advised family members not to post bond.
“I’m very confident if he does (post bond) that he will be taken into federal custody,” Haupt said.
Sources:
Where is Nayyar Zaidi and What He Has Really Done? August 5th, 2008 by Kashif Aziz
As reported earlier, according to local and US sources, Journalist Syed Haider Karar Zaidi aka Nayyar Zaidi was detained by FBI in United States. At the time of writing of previous post, reasons for his detention were unknown. Irshad Salim of DesPardes.com wrote in his blog (which was later used as primary source by Pakistani media) that he has talked with Nayyar Zaidi and even received relevant documentation from his wife. According to that, Mr. Zaidi visited Ohio for his journalistic research and was held by FBI for obstruction of justice.
According to a news report of March 24, 2008, Syed Haider Karar Zaidi (Nayyar Zaidi), 64, was arrested in Belden Village, Stark County, Ohio by FBI’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Nayyar Zaidi was initially arraigned in Massillon Municipal Court on felony charges of attempted unlawful sex with a minor, attempted child endangering, attempted illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance and importuning.
His lawyer Jeffrey Haupt saw strong possibilities of case moving to federal court mainly because Zaidi crossed state lines, the nature of the material involved in the case and the age of the purported victim.
He, therefore, advised Zaidi’s family not to post $200,000 bond as required by the Municipal Court. In absence of which, Nayyar Zaidi has to spend some time in Stark County Jail and was later released to federal authorities.
Stark County, Ohio, maintain online case dockets for all cases in its municipal courts, and this made it easier to extract details of Nayyar Zaidi’s case proceedings. Nayyar Zaidi’s case number is 2008CRA00614 and it was presented at Massillon Municipal Court (excellent investigative work by Cemend Taur).
According to case docket, Nayyar Zaidi was arrested on March 23, 2008 and sent to Stark County Jaily, in lieu of $200,000 bond (which was not submitted by him). He was released to federal authorities on March 26, 2008.
Where is Nayyar Zaidi now? Has he been prosecuted/detained by federal authorities on charges of unlawful sex with minor? There is no clue as yet and most unfortunately, Pakistani Media and Government are playing numb on this.
IS THIS A CONSPIRACY AGAINST JANG GROUP OF NEWSPAPERS.
Friendly journalists - Mr Zardari's supporters believe that cancelling the trip would not have helped him. "He would have been remembered and criticised even if there were no floods in the country," said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday. And indeed, the current anti-Zardari campaign in the media started before the floods hit the headlines. The criticism began after British Prime Minister David Cameron made remarks in India on 28 July where he accused some in Pakistan of "looking both ways", exporting terror to neighbouring countries. On 31 July, Pakistan's Geo TV reported that the chief of the ISI intelligence service, Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, had cancelled a scheduled trip to the UK because of Mr Cameron's remarks, but Mr Zardari was continuing with his planned trip. Pakistan's ubiquitous TV news presenters began questioning President Zardari's patriotism and personal integrity. The print media was not far behind. While President Zardari's European tour had been "reduced to a pleasure trip" after Mr Cameron's remarks, "the army reacted in a timely and dignified manner" by cancelling the ISI chief's UK visit, an editorial comment in the Pakistan Observer newspaper said. The News newspaper called Mr Zardari's visit a "pursuit of his own dynastic aggrandizement". The floods only intensified this initial criticism. Two significant developments took place on Thursday. Firstly, Bilawal Bhutto denied he was planning to address the Pakistan Peoples' Party rally in Birmingham, one of the main reasons for Mr Zardari's trip. Secondly, Prime Minister Gilani informed journalists that the ISI chief had not, in fact, scheduled a visit to the UK in the first place. Many quarters insist Bilawal Bhutto's "cancellation" of an appearance at the Birmingham show may be the result of a rethink on the part of Mr Zardari's advisers to minimise political damage. But what about the confusion over the story about the ISI chief's visit to the UK? The initial report on Geo TV had come from mysterious, unnamed sources. And even more mysteriously, the army's media wing - which normally keeps a hawkish eye on the news, correcting reports at the first possible stage - had not stepped in to clarify the report. The ties between the military and the media are strong. The military often use the media to protect its hold on the giant corporate empire which it has built. In the 1980s the military did this through open censorship. Since the 1990s it has evolved subtler ways. It controls almost all access to big stories, and has therefore been able to raise a corps of "friendly" journalists who now control most key jobs in Pakistani media due to their "contacts". President Zardari's supporters suggest the media could have made up the story of the ISI cancelling its trip to the UK in order to spark an anti-Zardari campaign, which intensified as the scale of the flood damage became clear. REFERENCE: Criticism of Zardari in Pakistan hides a political game By M Ilyas Khan BBC News, Islamabad 7 August 2010 Last updated at 15:10 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10901583
No journalist, in recent past, has ever said there should be control over media, nor can they say so. May be, some journalists might have expressed dissentions on the fictional news like “Zardari is sacrificing a goat each day to shun evils” or “Zardari is shivering in President’s house” while he remains silent. While Pakistan is faced with host of problems the media, instead of addressing those crucial issues, is wasting prime time on such flimsy fictional issues. I am not a fan of Zaradari, but even to me the above Meerasi-ism by some of the media men looks so cheap. Media is running like wild horse without any reins since 2008 election and government’s policy is clear “let it be”. I do not know the basis of the authoress perception that caused her this fear and cry. It is a matter of great concern that the impact of the media in our society is not positive and satisfactory. Over a period of time, the ingredient of responsibility has gone missing from our media activists. Television programmes need to be handled with more care to ensure a stable mindset and promote a healthy thinking pattern amongst the more impressionable in society.
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