by admin | May 25, 2021 | Media, Muslim World
Zeenat Shahzadi (file photo)
Islamabad : Human rights activists and media persons have welcomed the return of Zeenat Shahzadi, a Pakistani woman journalist who went missing two years ago while following the case of the alleged enforced disappearance of an Indian national, Hamid Ansari, in Lahore.
Retired Justice Javed Iqbal, head of the missing persons commission, confirmed Shahzadi’s return while speaking to BBC Urdu. She was recovered on Wednesday night from near the Pakistan-Afghan border, Iqbal said.
Well-known Pakistani journalist and rights activist Beena Sarwar tweeted about Shahzadi being found: “Thrilled that the disappeared activist-journalist Zeenat Shehzadi is home safe.”
Journalist Raza Ahmad Rumi tweeted: “Best news today. Young Pakistani journalist Zeenat Shahzadi ‘missing’ for 2 years, is back. God knows what she went through. Accountability?”
Human rights advocate Mustafa Qadri posted: “Great, journalist Zeenat Shahzadi, first woman journalist I’m aware of who may have been subjected to enforced disappearance, has been released.”
In Toronto, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) expressed happiness at Shahzadi’s safe release.
The CJFE had held a rally on August 19 on the second anniversary of her kidnapping to bring attention to her case and call on the Canadian government to intervene with the Pakistani government for her release.
According to a Dawn report, the National Accountability Bureau chief said some “non-state actors and enemy agencies” had kidnapped Shahzadi and she was recovered from them and that some tribal elders in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa played an important role in her recovery.
Shahzadi’s family has yet to issue a statement.
Shahzadi was reported to have been abducted by Pakistani agencies. She had filed an application with the Supreme Court’s Human Rights Cell on behalf of Fauzia Ansari, Hamid Ansari’s mother.
According to Zeenat’s family, she had been receiving threatening phone calls asking her not to pursue Ansari’s case before her alleged enforced disappearance.
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) had mentioned Shahzadi’s case in its report on August 30, 2017 titled – “No more ‘missing persons’: the criminalization of enforced disappearance in South Asia”.
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) said that the “brazen, daylight kidnapping of a young female journalist was the first of its kind in Pakistan. Zeenat’s family and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan believe Pakistan’s Special Forces are responsible, because she fearlessly pursued an explosive story the spy agencies didn’t want told.
“At the time of her disappearance, Shahzadi was working to find Nehal Hamid Ansari, an Indian citizen who disappeared in Pakistan in 2012. Sources suggest that Ansari, a 28-year-old engineer, was in the country for love. He formed a relationship with a Pakistani woman over Facebook, and panicked when she told him that her parents were pushing her to marry someone else. Deciding that he had to see her, Ansari reportedly entered Pakistan illegally via Afghanistan, failing to obtain a visa. By November 15, 2015, Ansari had vanished, leaving his frantic family desperately searching for information.
“Shahzadi had approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Peshawar High Court and the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances on behalf of Ansari’s mother, who had granted Power of Attorney to Shahzadi for the search. The Commission of Inquiry ordered the registration of a First Information Report (FIR), a missing person’s petition, for Ansari in 2014.
“In January 2016, thanks to the efforts of Shahzadi, the Deputy Attorney General of Pakistan finally admitted that the Ministry of Defense had detained Ansari pending his trial in a military court. It was later reported that the court sentenced him to three years in prison on the charges of espionage and illegally entering Pakistan.
“According to Shahzadi’s brother Latif, Shahzadi was repeatedly interrogated and threatened by security forces pressuring her to withdraw from Hamid Ansari’s case, but remained steadfast in her commitment to help the family. Shahzadi was due to appear before the Commission on Enforced Disappearances just days after she disappeared.
“Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has been known to target journalists. Law enforcement agencies exercise unrestricted powers under the Pakistan Protection Act of 2014. Those powers were further strengthened in 2015 by the Pakistan Protection Ordinance (PPO) which offers greater power and the opportunity for impunity to the police, intelligence, law enforcement authorities and military for acts like forced kidnapping, torture and extrajudicial killings.”
It quoted the Asian Human Rights Commission as saying that “[Pakistan’s] higher judiciary, including the Supreme Court, has on many occasions found personnel from the Pakistan army and paramilitary to be involved in abductions, enforced detentions and later disappearances.”
“The Commission on Enforced Disappearances works under the jurisdictions of the federal government and has no authority over the country’s security agencies. 1,300 out of a total 3,000 missing people’s cases remain pending before the commission. In addition to the missing persons’ crisis, Pakistan ranks sixth in the Committee to Protect Journalists’ list of the 20 deadliest countries for journalists in the world, and as the ninth worst country in the world for impunity for crimes against journalists,” it said.
Shahzadi’s family suffered a tragedy in March 2016 when her teenaged brother, distraught over her kidnapping, hanged himself.—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Media, News, Politics
New Delhi : The Congress, CPI-M and the AAP on Sunday sought an inquiry into allegations by a news website that the turnover of a company linked to Jay Shah, son of BJP chief Amit Shah, increased 16,000 times after the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014.
The BJP rubbished the allegations and Jay Shah issued a statement saying the article carried by the website ‘The Wire’ had made “false, derogatory and defamatory imputations” against him.
Jay Shah said his businesses were fully legitimate and he had decided to “prosecute the author, editor and owner of the aforesaid news website for criminal defamation and sue them for an amount of Rs. 100 crore”.
He said the article creates an impression “that my business owes its success to my father Sri Amit Bhai Shah’s political position”.
Congress leader Kapil Sibal said at a press conference in the afternoon that information obtained from the Registrar of Companies had revealed that Temple Enterprises Pvt Ltd, a company in which Jay Shah was a Director and which had a turnover of just Rs 50,000 in 2014-15, suddenly saw a spike of 16,000 times in its turnover in a year.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashutosh also held a press conference and made similar allegations, saying the fortunes of Amit Shah’s son rose after the BJP came to power and he became the party chief. The AAP demanded a probe into the matter.
Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury said in a tweet: “Serious corruption charges against BJP President’s son need investigation. BJP Presidents eg Advani, Laxman had resigned on lesser charges.”
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi also hit out at the Modi government. “We finally found the only beneficiary of Demonetisation. It’s not the RBI, the poor or the farmers. It’s the Shah-in-Shah of Demo. Jai Amit,” he said in a tweet.
Sibal said at the media briefing that Temple Enterprises had recorded losses in 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 of Rs 6,230 and Rs 1,724, respectively, but showed a profit of about Rs 18,000 in 2014-15. The following year (2015-16), its turnover jumped to a whopping Rs 80 crore, he said.
The change in fortunes of the company came after it received an unsecured loan of Rs 15.78 crore from KIFS Financial Services owned by a relative of a BJP Rajya Sabha member, Sibal claimed.
The Congress leader also alleged that Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, a PSU under Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, had given a loan of Rs 10. 25 crore to Kusum Finserv, a limited liability partnership or LLP, in which Jay Shah had a 60 per cent stake, even though this company had no prior experience of operating in the power sector.
“We are only saying that pradhan sevak should probe because this is excellent example of crony capitalism.”
The BJP fielded Railway Minsiter Piyush Goyal to counter the allegations that he termed as “malicious and defamatory”.
“The article through malicious imputations is trying to damage the reputation of our leader Amit Shah ” he said.
He termed Congress’ allegations as “old Congress style”.
Clarifying about the dealings of Jay Shah’s companies, Goyal said Shah carries out “fully legitimate and lawful business”.
On the sudden spiking in Temple Enterprise’s turnover to Rs 80 crore, Goyal said that the firm was dealing in agri-commodities in which there is “high volume and high value but low profit margin”.
“So even if you do just a few transactions, the volume becomes very high. Rs 80 crore is not a large turnover in commodity business,” he said.
On loans taken from KIFS Financial Services owned by Rajesh Khandwala, Goyal said that normally banks do not extend loans to new and small companies and hence the loan was taken from registered NBFC KIFS on “commercial rates and commercial considerations” and has been repaid with interest.
He said that the Kalupur Commercial Cooperative Bank did not give a loan of Rs 25 crore to Kusum Finserve but gave only a Letter of Credit (LC) on security.
“In addition, 10 per cent cash margin was given and apart from that property of Amit Shah and office premises of Kusum Finserve were also mortgaged for this LC facility,” Goyal said.
On the loan given by IREDA, he said it is engaged in commercial lending to promote renewable energy in the country” and has “already given more than 2,000 loans and sanctioned over Rs 50,000 crore.”
“This is malicious and deplorable effort to try and attribute motives. We thoroughly reject all these baseless allegations.”
Jay Shah in his statement said that the “highly slanted” article had damaged his reputation and law suits will be filed at Ahmedabad, where he stayed.
“My businesses are fully legitimate and conducted in a lawful manner on commercial lines which is reflected in my tax records and are through banking transactions. I had taken loans either from NBFC or Non Funded Credit Finance Facilities from Cooperative Banks on purely commercial terms strictly in accordance with the law.”
Sibal later countered Goyal and asked if it was right for him as a minister to defend Jay Shah.
“Why is Piyush Goyal, being a minister, defending Shah? He can defend the government. Does he (Goyal) keep talking to Jay Shah. Is there so much closeness?”
He also countered Goyal over his charges on the Dhingra commission report that probed land deals of Congress presdent Sonia Gandhis’s son-in-law and said it was BJP-ruled Haryana Government which did not want to put the report in the public domain.
Sibal said the party had not said anything malicious and was only seeking information on Jay Shah’s deals.
He also said that details should be given of goods and equipment “hypothecated against the loan”.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Media, Muslim World
Pakistan Supreme Court
Islamabad : In a massive setback to Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistan Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the review petitions filed by the deposed Prime Minister and his children against the July 28 Panama Papers judgment.
A five-judge SC bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa had taken up the petitions seeking review of the court’s ruling which disqualified Sharif and ordered the the filing of corruption cases against him and his children — Hussain, Hassan and Maryam Nawaz, son-in-law retired Captain Mohammad Safdar and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
“For the reasons (to be) recorded later, all these review petitions are dismissed,” Justice Khosa announced. The reasons will be revealed later in a detailed order, the Dawn online reported.
With the rejection of the review petitions, Sharif’s disqualification as a member of the Parliament remains valid. The Sharif family and Dar will now face corruption cases filed by the National Accountability Bureau in the accountability court.
Speaking to the media after the verdict, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Fawad Chaudhry said the court’s decision is a victory for the nation, Geo News reported.
The bench also comprised Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan — who along with the latter two headed the special implementation bench in the Panama case that oversaw the work of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that examined the references to the Sharifs and Dar in the Panama Papers.
On July 28, Sharif was dismissed by the apex court and stepped down after a probe into the Panama papers scandal revealed he had not declared income received from a firm owned by his son in Dubai.
The Panama Papers revealed in April 2016 that three of his four children had set up offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands through which they owned property in London, leading the top court to order an investigation after a year of protests by the opposition.
After Friday’s decision, the Sharif family and Dar will have to seek justice in the Islamabad Accountability Court, where three cases against the Sharif family and one against the Finance Minister have been filed.
The members of the Sharif family have been summoned by the accountability court on September 19 and Dar on September 20.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Media, News
P.S. Sharda, Supreme Court lawyer (speaing), Anil Chamadia, Hatosh Singh Bal, Prabhu Chawla, Mohammad Salim Engineer, Amrita Rai (Photo:Maeeshat)
By Mumtaz Alam,
New Delhi: Senior journalists have criticized attempts by some TV news channels and newspapers to standardize on thought on issues in the name of nationalism. While agreeing that there should a self-regulation in the media and nothing should be imposed from outside, they advocated that media should care about its social obligations also.
“On some issues, there are strong attempts to create one opinion. There are attempts to standardize one thought on issues like Pakistan and Kashmir,” said veteran journalist and Political Editor of Hindustan Times Vinod Sharma. He was speaking at a symposium on “Role of Media in Promoting Social Harmony” here at Constitution Club on Saturday.
“Media persons handling real-time information are not trained to deal with such situation. Real-time information has to be treated with utmost care. There is a need for a certain degree of debate within the media about its role vis a vis society,” said Sharma.
He was also critical of the media for relying on police version during communal violence.
“During communal riots, media generally relies on police version which is not always 24-carat gold. It is a mixed item. Media should be true to its responsibilities, should care about its language and social obligations,” he said.
Hartosh Singh Bal, Political Editor of Caravan magazine, said a section of media is dividing the society, rather than uniting it.
“Of late, a section of media has started dividing the society, rather than uniting it. We have seen it in JNU case, Pakistan issue and during communal riots. It provoked people and riot. Media should speak truth howsoever hard it is,” said Hartosh.
Speaking at the program organized by Jamaat-e-Islami Hind at the conclusion of its 15-day “Peace & Humanity Campaign,” Rajya Sabha TV Anchor Amrita Rai said media is not giving much space to the deprived classes.
“Media does not give space to depressed classes. Media is suffering with ideological lobbying. People of the other lobby are projected as ones against development and nationalism,” she said.
However, she praised media for its positive role in the Kairana and Una cases.
“Media played positive role in the Kairana case when news flashed on social media about alleged migration of Hindus from the Muslim-dominated district of Uttar Pradesh. Media went there on the ground and exposed the lies. It played a positive role in Una case also,” she said.
“But when it comes to Muslim youths, Kashmir or triple talaq, media has not played positive role. In cases of Kashmir or Muslim youths, we get swayed with nationalism and patriotism,” she said.
Representing the Urdu press, SQR Ilyas, Editor, Afkar-e Milli Urdu monthly stressed defining the role of media. He said a section of media is promoting hate speakers.
“Some forces want to promote division in the society on the basis of religion, language and caste. Some political parties also want polarization and they don’t care for the loss of the society. A section of media is also promoting such forces that want to demolish peace and communal harmony. Sensational things and clashes are being given much space in the media,” said Ilyas.
“There is a need to define the role of media; in fact, media should set its own role and responsibility for the society,” he added.
Other eminent journalists who spoke included Prabhu Chawla, Editorial Director of The New Indian Express and Anil Chamadia, Editor of Mass Media and Jan Media journals.
In his presidential remarks, Mohammad Salim Engineer, Secretary General of Jamaat said that readers of newspapers and viewers of TV channels also have a role and responsibility to keep the media on track.
“Our role is to keep media on track. We should provide correct information to the media, we should develop relations with them. Many wrong reporting are due to wrong information but we assume such things are being deliberately propagated,” he said.
“There are indeed good people in the media and we have to reach out to them. To promote social harmony, there could be important role of media and we should execute our duties vis a vis media. We can improve the situation with the support of media. We should also make correct use of social media,” he said.
Courtesy: IndiaTomorrow.net
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, News
Mumbai : (IANS) The media and entertainment industry will grow at 14.3 percent annually to touch earnings of Rs.2.26 trillion ($33 billion) by 2020 led by a fast growth in advertising revenues, a study released here on Wednesday said.
The report prepared by Ficci and KPMG says advertising revenue is expected to grow by a 15.9 percent annually to Rs.994 billion ($14.8 billion), with digital advertising expected to retain its strong run, having grown by 38.2 percent in 2015 over the previous year.
“We are going through a phase of rapid, sustained technological innovation that will permanently change the way consumers will access and consume content,” said Ficci director general A. Didar Singh, releasing the report at the Ficci-Frames conclave on media and entertainment here.
“Changing user habits will disrupt existing business models as content providers and brands will need to match consumer expectations. While this will pose multiple challenges, we believe there are significant opportunities for media, entertainment firms to leverage the digital ecosystem.”
Jehil Thakkar, partner and head of media and entertainment with KPMG India, said the films sector also returned to growth in 2015 led by Hollywood and regional cinema, rather than Bollywood.
“Print saw a slower growth in the past year but TV and digital advertising have exceeded expectations.”
Thakkar said with the wide rollout of 4G finally underway, coupled with the “Digital India” initiative, the future of digital advertising is very bright.
