A grim reminder
People often ask me if it is too risky to be a reporter. “Not really”, I tell them, “but if you try to be too adventurous, you can get killed.” I didn’t think of reporting this way until I covered the massacre of May 12, 2007 — a day I will never forget for many reasons: bodies lying in pools of blood, ambulances transporting the wounded and dead, powerful display of firearms by political activists, no policemen for the rescue and escaping bullets. Had I not been adventurous, I would have missed out on what I now consider a lifetime ...
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The life of a business reporter
“Journalism is writing,” columnist Aakar Patel once told me, saying I should write more to justifiably be called a journalist. I was then a sub-editor on the Op-Ed desk of The News. After spending four years on that job, I knew I had become lazy, self-satisfied and highly opinionated – characteristics of a typical sub-editor. So I decided to become a business reporter after coming back from a one-year break that I took to do a Master’s degree in Journalism. If you think a business reporter’s job is a piece of cake, try having a direct conversation with a businessman. Ask him about his ...
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Nasreen’s dismembered body didn’t scare me
Female body parts were found from different parts of Karachi, including Soldier Bazaar and Guru Mandar. One of the victims, whose body parts were found in the Guru Mandar area, was identified as Nasreen. As I looked at Nasreen’s body chopped into pieces that lay on separate tables in a smelly morgue, I did not shudder. Any normal person would have trembled, I think. I spent 15 minutes in that very room where her skinned parts were being inspected by medico legal officers (MLO). I roamed around, looking at her body for details; if I had not seen the body, I ...
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My trip to Guantanamo Bay
A few nights ago, I had a dream where I had ended up in Guantanamo Bay again to cover a military commission hearing sans any luggage. It may sound like the stuff nightmares are made of, but in reality, going to Guantanamo Bay to cover military commission hearings of detainees has been a fascinating, if not surreal experience. From the moment the airhostess on the chartered flight announces, “Welcome to Guantanamo Bay”, to the realisation that you are on a tiny strip of land that has borne witness to some of the worst human rights abuses to have occurred on US ...
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A modest ‘proposal’
The reaction that one expects after having written an explosive story on the gay and lesbian community in Pakistan is threatening warnings and murderous calls. All I got however, apart from that usual list of fiery comments on the article, was a very interesting email suggesting a ‘match’ for me (replete with a bio-data and picture akin to a rishta service). I honestly don’t know what to make of it especially since the email that was sent to me with this ‘proposal’ of sorts several months after my story was published.The fact that it coincides with my recent change in ...
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Reader comments: Do not feed the trolls
Think of reporters as bards and warrior-journalists on an epic quest. The Kingdom demands new songs and tales so we are forced to enter the wilderness regularly. There are many hurdles along the way— harsh climbs, Aabpara Road, local fauna. A lucky few are allowed to pass unmolested by the indigenous population of internet trolls. Others come face to face with the terror of wet jaws and a big club ready to wham their journalism degrees to a thin paste. These cyber-beasts are active 24/7. When offended (their list of offences is exhaustive, tyrannical) they show no mercy on news ...
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TV coverage of PNS Mehran attack
The standoff at the naval base on Sunday night excited the electronic media so much that in a bid to give as complete and precise information to the viewers as possible our presenters forgot that the areas they were talking about were all sensitive military installations and as such classified for outsiders. Karachi’s citizens who were obviously the affected population knew full well where exactly the base is located, and did not need to know what lies inside. All that was needed was information about the casualties, the number of people affected, hostages, the intensity of the fight, and the ...
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When swords and pens collide
Pakistan is the deadliest place in South Asia to pursue the profession of journalism. When one thinks of journalism as a profession, deadly is rarely the first word that comes to mind. Sadly, for 12 of our colleagues, that is exactly what 2010 proved to be. Suicide bombings, grenade attacks and indiscriminate fire by terrorists and anti-social elements took their lives, but there is a much more scary side to the story – one that every Pakistani needs to take note of. Two members of the fraternity were kidnapped and tortured, not by al Qaeda or the Taliban, but reportedly by ...
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In memoriam: Abdul Wahab
Peace jirgas are groups of local elders from different tribal agencies who have decided to say no to terrorism. Their cause is to give a normal life to their families and they have decided to side with the army and government of Pakistan in an attempt to get rid of the insurgency in their area. In pursuit of peace they have often come under attack from misguided people who have gone to the extent of taking precious human lives, just because they think they are right and everyone else is wrong. They killed more than 40 people in Mohmand Agency yesterday (Tuesday) ...
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When reporting falls short
Sometimes I wonder whether reporting an incident and having it published is enough. I began to ask myself that a lot more when recently I went to investigate a target killing case in a neighbourhood of Karachi. The story is of an 18-year-old girl, whose father was killed by unidentified gunmen with a single shot to his head one evening as he was returning home from work. He had no political or religious party leanings. He was just an average middle-class widower, who happened to live in a troubled neighbourhood and was making an honest living for his small family. As I ...
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