Pakistani Diplomats
by Syed Adeeb -- Source: www.InformationTimes.com Pakistani Diplomats Commit Crimes Against Journalists
Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, Mohammad Sadiq, Farukh Amil and a few other vicious bureaucrats at the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC have launched a malicious campaign against all those veteran Pakistani-American journalists who have persistently exposed the corruption, incompetency, misconduct and gangsterism of corrupt and incompetent Pakistani diplomats.
Khalid Hasan, a senior journalist and Washington Correspondent of the Lahore, Pakistan-based Daily Times newspaper, is the latest victim of the defamatory campaign led by Qazi, Sadiq and Amil who have acted like gangsters of an evil, Tyrannical Mafia which has raped, looted and plundered Pakistan during the last 56 years of its independence from British and Hindu imperialists.
Here is the true story of how Khalid Hasan is being maligned, harassed and threatened by the Bureaucratic Mafia at the Pakistan Embassy in Washington DC:
(1) Recently, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, Mohammad Sadiq, Farukh Amil and some other bureaucrats arbitrarily changed the official name of the "Islamic Republic of Pakistan" to the "Dominion of Pakistan" to cunningly fool the American and European people that Pakistan -- a theocratic military-police tyranny -- is a modern, democratic, progressive state.
(2) On Wednesday, September 10, 2003, at 1:44 p.m., Mohammad Sadiq, the Deputy Chief of Mission who "assists the Ambassador in the overall functioning of the Embassy," e-mailed an invitation to Khalid Hasan through his official e-mail address: dcmsadiq@embassyofpakistan.org. The Pakistan Embassy invitation partly reads:
"Subject: Invitation to President's UN visit. Mr. Khalid Hasan. Serial No. 141. In Honour of the President of the DOMINION OF PAKISTAN General Pervez Musharraf, Ambassador & Mrs. Ashraf Jehangir Qazi cordially invite you to President's address on Sunday, September 21, 2003 at 6:00 pm at Hilton Hotel; 1335 6th Avenue New York, NY."
(3) After receiving the official invitation, Khalid Hasan wrote in the Daily Times (Pakistan No Longer an Islamic Republic, September 13, 2003):
"Washington, DC -- Pakistan, it seems, is no longer an Islamic Republic but a Dominion, according to the Embassy of Pakistan, Washington."
"The invitation issued by the Ambassador of Pakistan and Mrs. Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, to 'President' Pervez Musharraf's dinner for the Pakistani-American community in New York on 21 September at the Hilton Hotel describes him as 'the President of the Dominion of Pakistan'."
"The invitation, which Daily Times received by e-mail, was posted to several Pakistani-Americans but after someone asked the Embassy if the State of Pakistan had indeed changed its name, a fresh invitation card was printed and sent out, reinstating the Islamic Republic to its constitutionally assigned place."
"However, there was no explanation of the curious 'Dominion invitation' from the Embassy, nor has Daily Times been sent the reprinted invitation."
"It is not clear if this correspondent will be admitted to the dinner in New York since he would be carrying an invitation which describes Gen. Pervez Musharraf as the 'President of the Dominion of Pakistan'."
(4) The above Daily Times news report also contains the original electronic version of the Pakistan Embassy's official invitation which proves that Mohammad Sadiq definitely did e-mail the printed "Dominion of Pakistan" invitation to Khalid Hasan.
(5) In its editorial ("Dominion of Pakistan" - Shameful Criminal Act, September 14, 2003), the Pakistani Urdu daily Nawa-i-Waqt has demanded that Pakistan Army dictator and self-appointed 'President' General Pervez Musharraf must apologize to the Pakistani nation for using the derogatory "Dominion of Pakistan" name for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The Lahore, Pakistan-based newspaper has also urged the ruling military dictatorship to recall its incompetent Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi for negligence of official duty and ask him that why he violated the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan by changing the constitutional name of Pakistan to "Dominion of Pakistan" and that who is really behind this criminal conspiracy.
(6) Instead of apologizing to the Pakistani nation and the Pakistani-American community for their major crime and big fraud, Qazi, Sadiq and Amil are busy in pursuing their smear campaign against Khalid Hasan to destroy or damage his personal and professional reputation, and to punish him for exposing corruption and crimes of the Pakistani Diplomatic Mafia.
(7) For example, after ignoring all diplomatic norms of diplomacy, Qazi, Sadiq and Amil have issued, posted on the Pakistan Embassy Website and distributed their following press release which contains false, fabricated and malicious statements against Khalid Hasan:
"Embassy Contradicts Press Report on Alleged Invitation Error"
"Washington, DC, September 15, 2003: The Embassy of Pakistan strongly refutes a press report filed by a Washington DC based journalist, Mr. Khalid Hasan, claiming that the Embassy had sent an invitation to him for President Musharraf's community event which read, 'the Dominion of Pakistan' instead of 'the Islamic Republic of Pakistan'."
"The invitation for the community event in New York was sent to several hundred people electronically. It was generated, serialized and mass-mailed. The print out of every invitation that was e-mailed is on record. No other invitation received contains the alleged error. It is electronically impossible for the computer to generate a separate and erroneous invitation for any individual. Mr. Khalid Hasan's claim is technically impossible. He has been in the habit of filing malicious reports about this Embassy."
"The Embassy is, however, disappointed that a reputed Urdu newspaper such as Nawa-e-Waqt wrote an editorial based on Khalid Hasan's mischievous report without checking the facts with the Embassy or the Foreign Office."
(8) However, the Daily Times news story, (Pakistan No Longer an Islamic Republic, September 13, 2003 -- http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_13-9-2003_pg7_12), which contains an original imprint of the "Dominion of Pakistan" invitation of the Pakistan Embassy, clearly proves that Khalid Hasan, a credible journalist, reported the whole truth and that Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, Mohammad Sadiq and Farukh Amil, the three anti-press freedom stooges, are big liars. Mr. Hasan has also challenged these three government servants to prove all the libelous allegations contained in the Pakistan Embassy news release of September 15, 2003.
(Read: Embassy in U.S. Challenged to Prove Allegation -- http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_18-9-2003_pg7_1)(9) Khalid Hasan is not the only victim of Qazi, Sadiq and Amil. When Ashraf Jehangir Qazi was the Pakistani envoy to India, he wrote a fictitious, fabricated and fraudulent report against Najam A. Sethi -- Chief Editor of the Daily Times and The Friday Times based in Lahore, Pakistan -- and sent it to the regime of former Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif. Because of Qazi's vicious, wanton and malicious complaint, Mr. Sethi was arrested on May 8, 1999, illegally detained and tortured by the Sharif police and intelligence thugs. Qazi continues to victimize Mr. Sethi like a tribal warlord. In his 'interview' of September 14, 2003 with NNI -- a Pakistani government-controlled and subsidized 'news' planting agency -- Sadiq, a glorified lackey of Qazi, has wrongly and maliciously accused Mr. Sethi of "undermining the Embassy efficiency by publishing such fake reports." It seems that the evil mission of the so-called Deputy Chief of Mission is to harass, defame and harm independent journalists who perform their journalistic duties in accordance with the moral, ethical and professional standards of journalism.
The South Asia Tribune (SAT), a Fairfax, Virginia-based newsweekly, has pointed out how Ashraf Jehangir Qazi recently victimized two veteran journalists, Shaheen Sehbai, Editor of SAT, and Manzur Ejaz, former columnist for The News International daily newspaper of Pakistan (US-based Pakistani Journalists Decide to Expose Arrogant Diplomats, July 20-26, 2003):
"The Ambassador, [Ashraf Jehangir Qazi], openly told the [Association of Washington-based Pakistani Journalists] Convenor, Dr. Manzur Ejaz, that he could not risk his job by inviting at least one journalist [Shaheen Sehbai] to the [Pakistan] Embassy, the Editor of South Asia Tribune. He gave no reasons but he was scared that if he invited the SAT Editor, General Musharraf would be angry and he could lose his job. But instead of keeping the issue cold, the Ambassador reported to the army media bosses, at that time Major-General Rashid Qureshi of ISPR, that he had been approached by Dr. Ejaz to allow access to the SAT Editor. Qureshi immediately took up the matter with owner-editor of daily 'The News' and demanded that the regular weekly column of Dr. Ejaz, published in 'The News' should be stopped. Dr. Ejaz lost his column, just because he wanted free access to the Embassy for everybody. He was simply told that his column had been 'barred'."
"Ambassador [Ashraf Jehangir Qazi] has a history of betraying journalists and press freedom by acting as a person more loyal to the king than the king himself. And for him the king is the king, no matter whether it was Nawaz Sharif or General Musharraf or anyone. When he was Pakistan Ambassador to India during the last days of Nawaz Sharif, Ambassador Qazi played the key dirty role in reporting a speech made by Najam Sethi, the well known Editor of 'The Friday Times'. It was on the basis of his reports that Sethi was arrested by the Nawaz Government, accused of anti-state activities and mishandled by the agencies. Worldwide protests got him released."
"Once again, true to his reputation, Ambassador Qazi again acted against [Manzur Ejaz] a journalist in Washington and reported something, which was a routine matter, in a way that Gen. Rashid Qureshi ordered 'The News' to stop a regular column from Washington. 'The News' acted as a timid obedient servant of the ISPR by doing what the army wanted."
"But now the Washington-based correspondents, who were almost insulted and sidetracked during the Musharraf visit, have decided to take up the issue with the Embassy and the Pakistan Government. At a recent meeting they adopted a tough resolution which reflects their resolve to go for a fight and not to care if some diplomats are embarrassed or exposed in the process. The ethnic media, which also feels the same way, is fully behind these journalists."
(10) Farukh Amil, a mobster of the Bureaucratic Mafia who is disguised as a Political Counselor, is another victimizer of journalists who works under Qazi and Sadiq. Some time ago, in an insulting manner, Amil told Khalid Hasan to "get lost." South Asia Tribune reported in its June 22-28, 2003 edition that Amil told a U.S. State Department official that "All these Pakistani journalists are blackmailers and cheats or they are incompetent."
(11) The U.S. State Department should declare Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, Mohammad Sadiq, Farukh Amil and all other diplomatic gangsters as persona-non-gratas and kick them out of the United States, because they have committed high crimes against Pakistani and Pakistani-American journalists. These bullies and con-artists, who are masquerading as diplomats, are ugly stigmas on the face of decent diplomacy.
(12) In its recent special report, headlined "US-based Pakistani Journalists Decide to Expose Arrogant Diplomats," the South Asia Tribune has rightly reported: "The Washington-based Pakistani journalists, after years of getting neglected and undermined by Pakistani diplomats and representatives of the military regime in the U.S. capital, have finally decided to stand up to protest and warn that things could get ugly for the diplomats if they did not change their ways."
Indeed, all journalists, writers and human rights defenders will have to speak out every day to oppose harassment, threats, intimidation, conspiracies, victimization, defamation, discrimination and other crimes against KHALID HASAN; NAJAM SETHI; SHAHEEN SEHBAI; MANZUR EJAZ; AHMED SHAKIL MIAN, (Washington Correspondent of New York-based weekly Urdu Times and Pakistani weekly Urdu magazine, Takbeer); KHAWAJA ASHRAF, (Editor-in-Chief of the Pakistan Weekly based in Berkeley, California); ASIM MUGHAL, (Editor-in-Chief of the Sunnyvale, California-based Pakistan News Service); ZAHID HAMEEDI, (Producer-Editor of the Fairfax, Virginia-based Pakistan Hour TV); SYED ADEEB, Chief Editor of the Information Times; and all other journalists who are working daily to serve humanity.
[Syed Adeeb is a professional American journalist based in the Washington DC area. He is Chief Editor of the Information Times, InfoTimes Network and Free Press Network. He is also Washington Bureau Chief/Consulting Editor of the Pakistan News Service. Biography of Syed Adeeb: http://www.InformationTimes.com/syedadeeb]
