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Pakistan censoring Mohammed Hanif's NYT article criticising its army is a joke on freedom of press

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DailyBiteMay 08, 2017 | 18:10

Pakistan censoring Mohammed Hanif's NYT article criticising its army is a joke on freedom of press

Noted Pakistani writer and satirist Mohammed Hanif's latest critique of the "powerful Pakistani army" published in The New York Times (on May 4) was literally met with a blank look in Pakistan.

The New York Times opinion piece was censored by its local publisher and instead replaced by a "blank space" in Pakistan. While the consequences of speaking out against the military establishment in Pakistan is no longer a state secret, the online version of the piece by Hanif was already trending on Pakistani social media by Friday (May 5) afternoon.

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Much to the happiness of many in an equally belligerent India (where we now have single-man armies capable of giving migraine to the "enemy state"), Hanif's article - "Pakistan's triangle of hate" - ripped opened the military for parading a former Pakistani Taliban spokesman before TV cameras to claim that the militants are "bankrolled by Islamabad's arch-nemesis India".

"With his appearance, the Pakistani Army seemed to be sending this message: You can kill thousands of Pakistanis, but if you later testify that you hate India as much as we do, everything will be forgiven," Hanif wrote. "Do we really need to enlist our children's killers in our campaign against India?"

Interestingly, a note on the blank page clarified: "The article was removed by our publishing alliance in Pakistan, The New York Times and its editorial staff had no role in its removal."

"While we understand that our publishing partners are sometimes faced with local pressures, we regret and condemn any censorship of our journalism," a spokeswoman for The New York Times was quoted as saying by the news agency, AFP.

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But Indians ready to tear into Pakistan (for stifling freedom of press) may not appreciate that Hanif's article also said that "there is, it's true, evidence that India has funded groups to strike at Pakistan for interfering in Kashmir". "But do we really need to enlist our children's killers in our campaign against India?" he wrote.

The former Taliban spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, in 2012 claimed responsibility on behalf of the Taliban for shooting Malala Yousafzai (a schoolgirl back then, and now a Nobel laureate) in Swat Valley.

He had earlier also claimed responsibility (on behalf of Pakistan Taliban) for one of the deadliest ever extremist attack in Peshawar, when gunmen stormed a school and killed more than 150 people, most of them children.

The Pakistan army had last month announced that Ehsan had given himself up to the military. It, however, gave no details on the circumstances or timing of his surrender.

Later, a video was released which showed Ehsan stating the militants were given financial and logistical assistance by the intelligence agencies of India and Afghanistan.

While the AFP report said Hanif's "words echoed the feelings of many in Pakistan repulsed by the publicity surrounding Ehsan - though others have rejoiced at the accusations against India", in an uncannily similar situation in India, emotions (for/against the army and the government) are equally divided and fierce.

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Hypernationalists in India constantly asking "anti-nationalists", especially the "liberal presstitutes" to go to Pakistan, will be surprised know that there is no dearth of desh-bhakts like them on the other side of the border who think the press is misusing its freedom under a lenient regime.

The censorship in Pakistan though didn't draw much attention in India, except for a few occasional mentions, for obvious reasons. Other than the much-effected presstitutes in India, who couldn't laugh more at the irony, the nationalist cheerleaders at least found one more reason to pounce on Pakistan.

 

 

Last updated: May 08, 2017 | 18:45
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