Monday, March 29, 2010

Hamidsummer Night's Mir


Lifetime achievement awards are usually meant to acknowledge a lifetime of achievements. It usually means either the achievements are coming to an end or the person being honoured is about to kick the bucket. Sometimes it can be a not so subtle hint that says, here, take your award and die.

The good people of SAARC who last week gave Hamid Mir a lifetime achievement award probably didn't mean any of the above. In fact nobody knows what the hell they meant. Ms Ajit Kaur who announced the award on behalf of the delightfully titled Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSAWL) said:

“Mir...spoke against the genocide of Bangladeshis by the Pakistan Army in 1971. She said only two people were happy with the creation of Bangladesh - General JS Arora in India and Hamid Mir in Pakistan.”


The Daily Times’ Iftikhar Gillani, who reported the story, goes on to point out:

“Kaur failed to realise that Mir was only a six-year-old when East Pakistan separated, so how could a minor boy be happy over his country’s disintegration.”


Well Mr. Gillani obviously doesn't know Hamid Mir well. I am sure even at the age of six he could have declared the creation of Bangladesh a vindication of the Two Nation Theory and yet another humiliation for the Hindu army.


A more likely explanation, however, is that Ms. Kaur probably mistook him for his dad, the late Waris Mir, who we hear was a decent journalist in the '70s (though he spent most of his life as a Jamaati before becoming a ‘progressive’).


The citation also goes on to say that Hamid Mir is the only journalist who has covered wars in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Bosnia and Chechnya. It doesn't mention Hamid Mir's role as a one-man peacekeeping force in Lal Masjid and later in Swat. And of course we don't expect FOSAWL to know what Mr Mir was doing in Jamia Naeemia only a few days ago.


But the even more curious thing is that in his column in today's Jang (must confess, it's our Monday morning fix), Hamid Mir mentions his trip to India for the FOSAWL event (the column basically says India sucks more than Pakistan sucks) but there is no mention of the award or any attempt to clarify the contents of the citation. Geo has also reported the story but obviously it hasn't brought up the angle that Hamid Mir as a six-year-old was Pakistan's answer to India’s General Arora.


Here's a part of Mr Mir's speech:


Either it's Amn Ki Asha gone senile or perhaps the US$5000 cheque that Mir received with his award has turned him into a softie.

16 comments:

bilal said...

i will save my breath over hamid mir, saarc award, etc, but ref: amn, i will tell you this: i have always noted and appreciated the correct transliteration of urdu deployed on your blog. in this day and age when the television anchors routinely make you cringe with their carelessness with urdu, you write with responsibility and caution. three cheers for you!

Ahsan said...

Haha I read that story a couple days ago and immediately thought "Man, the Pyalaites will love this."

Alpha Za said...

Wow, Go Hamid Mir, you are truly bad ass, a bastion of virtue and a truly principled child, even at the age of 6 he was so far developed that was able to already show a mastery of his craft.

He's Pakistan's own Mozart, we should applaud him for being so utterly awesome.

Maybe gift him a nuclear bomb and rename NWFP to Hamid Mirkhwa. It's the least we can do.

PS: Idiots of Saarc; Thank you for making us all feel just a little bit smarter.

Tazeen said...

his Jang column should have been titled "How to pat your own back while bitching about your neighbours"

Marvi Sirmed said...

Goodness sake! This amn ki asha business can steep just this low or are there any more fathoms to it? For heaven's sake guys at AkA, get life. This man talking on stage in above video needs to be broadcast in Pakistan. Good lord, I cant believe my ears when he says "people in Pakistan think that India should immediately leave Afghanistan - India should get out of it. But I think differently" . . . Did he consult his bosses back home before speaking brainlessly (as usual) to this clueless Indian audience?

Munir Solangi said...

I am astonished to read baseless criticism on Hamid Mir.Some people raised amazing questions and exposed their ignorance.What he was doing in Jmia Naeemia few days ago?He was there to pay tributes to Dr.Sarfraz Naeemi who was killed by Taliban in a suicide attack last year because he issued a fatwa against the suicide bombings.Hamid Mir invited Dr.Naeemi many times on his show and this brave scholar challenged Taliban.Finally he was killed.I think We must appreciate Hamid Mir who is standing with those who are giving their blood against extremism.

Secondly a story published in Daily Times by Iftikhar Gilani is the base of criticism on Hamid Mir.First of all this paper is owned by Salman Taseer and Taseer is an enemy of Hamid Mir.Secondly Iftikhar Gillani is son-in-law of extremist Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Gilani.He is an ISI operative working in India.He tried to undermine Hamid Mir.Thirdly anbody want to know about Hamid Mir should go to google or yahoo or wikipedia and you will come to know that this 44 years old Pakistani is everywhere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamid_Mir

Read articles in Washington Post to the Independent London.From CNN to Sky News.He have lectured from Yale to Harvard.Yes he is controversial but his struggle against Musharraf regime is known to everyone.He became editor of a national daily at the age of 30,got the most prestigious journalist award at the age of 32 and became a role model for young journalists today.

I have a question for Marvi Sarmad.Why she participated in the road shows of Hamid Mir when he was banned by Musharraf?

Hamid Mir is saying that Pakistan and India must not fight in Afghanistan.What is wrong in that?Raed his article in The News on March 28th on aman ki asha page.I like him because i am Sindhi and Hamid Mir is the voice of smaller province.

Manu Sharma said...

I Hamid Mir is pride of Pakistan.He played a vital role in removing misunderstandings about Pakistan from the minds of Bangladeshis.He apologized to Bangladeshis two years ago in Islamabad Press Club not in 1971.Read his article on oplogy issue

http://mukto-mona.com/wordpress/?p=825

I think he is the most popular journalist of Pakistan,India and Bangladesh and Foundation of Saarc Writers very rightly honored him with Life Achievement Award.

Just read this link.What brave person Hamid Mir is.He challenged Musharraf when the dictator was in uniform.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/nov/19hamidchat.htm

nayyares said...

@Munir Solangi, cool, you have lots of insight about Hamid Bhai, could you tell us about plot he owns near Imran Khan's house at Islamabad? can you dump us his net worth details too?

You still feel neglected, while Pakistan President is from same smaller province Sindh & he is Sindi and your Hamid Mir is against him? smell Contradiction?

i found "bin ladan" more on net then Hamid Mir, should i consider former bigger journalist?

@Manu Sharma, from your comment, it looks Musharaf left his seat because of Hamid Mir, and yeah you forgot to tell us that he even bought Musharaf's London tickets!

Anonymous said...

I am astonished to see Hamid Mir writing in... ;)

Bolshevik said...

Is it just me, or does "FOSAWL" sound suspiciously like "fuzool"? With a name like that, should we really be surprised at the moronity (is that a word? It should be!) that they've come up with re Hamid Mir?

Munir Solangi: People who use the interwebs, especially wikipedia, as their primary source of information know jack-all about journalism. No wonder you take Hamid Mir as a "role model". Also, re Hamid Mir as a role model for "young journalists": please speak for yourself, thankyouverymuch.

Conclusion: Hamid Mir is a hypocrite and a twat. 'nuff said.

Snowless Winter in Srinagar said...

There are two kinds of opinion leaders in Pakistan....those who are too far from reality and those who think they are the reality....Hamid Mir belongs to the latter category and the armchair liberals to the former...the reality (if there exists one) must be somewhere in between...BTW Iftikhar is Syed Ali Geelani's son-in-law but he does not subscribe to his politics...i know this for sure...

sahafi_braadri said...

There are certain instances that set the template of an individual's image in one's mind, an indelible one. If that impression is bad, it takes a lot to clean it up; if it is good, it takes a lot to mess it up.

A column of Mir's did that for me. Don't lynch me for this but I really like the guy.

http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/dec2009-daily/03-12-2009/col4.htm

I liked his pro-politician, anti-establishment approach. His column pretty much summed up how unreasonable our reactionary media is to our politicians. An extremely distressing problem of young democracies. I was genuinely moved, specially since I was deeply saddened by this ANP politician's death.

I'm sorry, guys, but I've found Hamid Mir to be surprisingly liberal as well. He isn't an Ansar Abbasi; links aside, he isn't a Taliban supporter. Some might mine his statements to produce something to this effect but I know he doesn't support the TTP and its brand of Islam in any part of Pakistan.

I know the Jamia Naeemia incident, I've seen his Sheikh Rasheed bashing, I know he's no angel. But just how angry can you be at a guy who Zaid Hamid called an agent of RAW and Mossad?


The '71 gaff aside, I think the Indians didn't make a dreadfully wrong choice.

Naseer Jami said...

Yar please don't make wrong allegations.Hamid Mir of Geo TV does not own any farm house in Chak Shehzad Islamabad.This farm house belong to a businessman Hamid Mir who have grey beared.He is famous for his wives.He have three wives and many gild freinds.He have business in Japan and Dubai.He was very close to Musharraf but now he is close to Nawaz Sharif.I think Hamid Mir of Geo TV must expose this pimp type Hamid Mir who is giving a bad name to him.

Bolshevik said...

Yaar Naseer Jami bhai, ek baat tou batao. How does having gild freinds or even girlfriends and wives make a person a pimp?

A pimp, according to dictionary.com, is "a person, esp. a man, who solicits customers for a prostitute or a brothel, usually in return for a share of the earnings."

I don't think everyone does that with a girlfriend.

Having multiple relationships at a time certainly makes a person, well, different; and if these relationships are not entirely consensual (that is, the partners don't know about or agree with the "multiplicity"), then it makes the man a jerk -- but how does it make him a pimp? Are you implying that a woman sleeping with a man who is not her husband, is, by definition, a prostitute?

PS: Farmhouse or no farmhouse, Hamid Mir is a twat.

Tazeen said...

Sheesh, who would have thought Hamid Mir would have so many fanboys

Dr.S.Ali said...

I have simply one title for our dear old Hamid Mir "Bi Jamalo"...it sad to see that journalism could stoop so low since the media went crazy a few years ago and every loser became a journalist (at least most of the ones on TV)... and then SAARC going all nuts and awarding him for something so subjectively...the national anthem issue or playing dirty on capital talk all seems to come naturally for this shameless man who masquerades as a journalist...God bless our nation....and help us claen upour mess plus da Hamid Mirs, Ansar Abbasis, Nusrat watevas etc