Hamid Mir's Injuries

 The recent nonlethal light pistol assault on the vehicle carrying senior journalist and TV interviewer Hamid Mir near Karachi airport seems to have raised a storm in a teacup. Thank God he suffered minor bullet wounds and is fast recovering, but it is not yet established whether Mr. Mir was the intended victim or it was a case of mistaken identity. The car in which he was travelling is a common model and color. The choice of weapon was definitely unprofessional if the intention was to kill someone in a moving vehicle. Yet there was an instant outrageous allegation suggesting that the ISI chief had attempted to have him murdered. This is bad journalism. It appears that the affairs of Geo TV are run entirely by young and impulsive announcers without any editorial review or management control. If they had suspicion of ISI men being involved in the case, Mr. Mir and Geo TV should have complained to the ISI chief and demanded action rather than committing an act that could be branded as unpatriotic.  The owners of Geo TV should start paying also attention to matters other than ad revenues.

 As for the public response to the case, it shows that the people of Pakistan are sick and tired of ‘spyocracy’ – an affliction also suffered by other democracies such as India, USA, Britain, Israel etc. due to exaggerated threat perception. The political leaders of these countries need to join heads to find ways to reduce the threat perceptions hence interference by spy agencies.