Et tu, Hassan Nisar? The Graft Money
From Malik Riaz, The Pakistan's Billionaire Property
Tycoon
30 June 2012
By Saeed Qureshi
If Hassan Nisar is also one of the recipients of the
graft money from Malik Riaz, the Pakistan's
billionaire property tycoon: then it definitely
betokens the demise of fair journalism in Pakistan.
His name is there in the list with the soul-dampening
information that, " he received 1 Crore and 10 Lakhs
Rupees: Money transferred from Account Title Bahria
Town (Pvt) Limited, Account Number42279-2 at Habib
Bank Limited, LDA Plaza Branch, Lahore, Code 1315,
SWIFT: HABBPKKAX315 10 Marla Plot in Bahria Town.In
the TV Talk appearances as a guest or as a host in his
own popular program "Choraha", or in his Jang columns,
he unleashes an avalanche of blistering censure
against the corrupt individuals and agencies in
Pakistan. He is adored and acknowledged as one among
the whole crowd of journalists for scathing views and
tongue lashing against a whole range of corruption,
greed, moral degeneration and a failed system of
governance. He is the most aggressive and unsparing
critic of the incumbent government and the power
wielders and their sleazy exploits in
self-aggrandizement and money grabbing.
His defiant rhetoric did not spare the army generals,
the bureaucrats, the highly placed government
functionaries and exploitative business magnates and
classes for plundering Pakistan at the cost of the
peoples' burgeoning woes. But all of a sudden , his
image looks so besmirched and hollow that one tends to
believe as if his assertion of moral principles and
manifestation of pious platitudes was a mere charade
that has been lifted in such a freakish fashion.
It's hard to believe that he has been erroneously
implicated in this scam as all the particulars are
self-explanatory. It appears utterly improbable for
him to get absolved from the calumny that has
demolished his thus far adorable public profile of all
these years. The building of a reputation comes in
stages, by hard work and over a prolonged period of
test and trials. But it can be washed off
instantaneously and one stands tarnished by the
surreptitious and sudden developments as the one we
are witnessing now. One stands exposed in a jiffy no
matter how cleverly he masks his real intentions or
covers up behind- the-door activities by thick
blankets of subterfuge and ruse.
The fundamental question stands out that why this
former Bahria Town boss was squandering big chunks of
money on a bunch of leading and most prominent
journalist whose programs are watched both in and
outside Pakistan by countless people. Understandably
it was to purchase their loyalties in favor of the
exploitative groups, lobbies and individuals whose
front man is Malik Riaz. The charge could be credible
that the perks and grafts given to Arsalan Iftikhar
was aimed at silencing or blackmailing the chief
justice for going soft on the gubernatorial cases
pending against the powerful persons.
This projection could be plausible when seen in the
light of a highly uncalled and offensive comment made
by Luqman Mubashar, a shrewish anchor of the Dunya TV
channel. In one of his programs in which a stalwart of
MQM and Fauzia Wahab were guests, he demanded in a
louder pitch to hang the chief justice. He was
egregiously disrespectful and it was evident that he
was communicating his odious marks to someone
somewhere. Otherwise a minimum modicum of decency and
decorum is normally observed in television programs,
all the more about the head of Supreme Court who
should command respect if not total support.
That was most distasteful demeanor of this anchor who
became boorish as to leave the basic norms of a normal
human being. Fauzia Wahab despite being a prominent
member of the PPP and averse to chief justice did not
agree with his vicious and scornful outburst. The
rabid nexus between Luqman, Mehar Bukhari, Malik Riaz
and prime minister's son Abdul Qadir Gilani was
established in full public glare on the TV screen when
they thought they were talking in camera. There is no
comparison between Luqman: a cheap and sold out media
person and Hassan Nisar to be sitting on a high moral
pedestal. Hassan's terse postures and uncharitable,
scathing and rather brutal critique of the stinking
political and socio-economic system, the rapacious
violation of the constitution and laws, the bad
governance and rampant plunder by powerful lobbies and
individuals, earned him the respect and aplomb of the
watchers of his TV program.
And now he seems to be half way through an abyss that
eliminates the infinite difference of between him and
the notorious lot of media in regard to an upright
conduct. It is a steep downfall that cannot be
rescaled upward by tons of explanations on the part of
him or his zealous fans.
Human suffer from temptations for worldly pleasures
and enticements and Hassan Nisar is no exception. But
what is intriguing or painful is that he was an icon
among the journalists for his fiery exhortations
against the evil forces. A drastic downgrading from
that sublime stature is not only mind boggling but
squarely distressing for his admirers. How is he going
to cope with this sordid turn of events is too hard a
feat to be conjectured correctly?
©
EsinIslam.Com
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