The Attack on Masud Azhar in Rawalpindi and The Media Blackout By Hafeez Hassanabadi
By Hafeez Hassanabadi
Translate By Archen Baloch
Pakistani media has always remained under the control of
Pakistan army and civil establishment. Every bit of news passes through the
bottleneck of censorship in Islamabad and only the luckiest news bits of
trivialities are the ones which can get quick coverage. But when it comes to
important news items that touchs the real faces of influential and powerful
elites then that will never make its way to open media. However, if the
reporter is adamant and insists to prove the truth of his report, then he will
be silenced for good. The Balochistan journalists have paid a heavy price for
insisting on truth.
Exactly, on the same pattern, a big event took place in Pak
Emirates Military Hospital Rawalpindi on 23rd June 2019 when an attack was
carried on the leader of Jaish e Mohammed, Masud Azhar. According to
eyewitnesses, the attack was so devastating that it shook the surrounding
buildings and high raising flames were seen following gunfire. How this blast
took place? Who did this? And who was the target? Who were being fired upon by
whom? Who were the casualties of this blast? How significantly the building was
damaged? Has the authorities investigated it? There are several such unanswered
questions.
However, the news that made some round, in the beginning, said
that the head of Jaish e Mohamed was attacked in the military hospital Pakistan
army had kept him as a guest in the name of treatment.
According to information, ISI has facilitated Masud Azhar his
other 10 accomplice in a military hospital some 636m away from their office
because India had threatened to carry surgical attacks against terror cells in
Pakistan after the Pulwama attack. India also ratcheted up the international
pressure on Pakistan for surrendering Masud Azhar because his terror group had
accepted the responsibility of the attack. Eventually, after two weeks of
intense pressure, Pakistan officially admitted in the March 2019 that Masud
Azhar was in Pakistan and being treated because of deteriorating health.
Pakistan authorities also said that if India presented concrete evidences
[against Masud Azhar], Pakistan will see them and decide whether to hand him
over to India or not.
It is worth mentioning here that China has always taken
Pakistan’s side and Pakistan was hoping that If the matter is referred to the
UN, China will support her as usual. But this time around things didn’t go the
way Pakistan had expected. A resolution was tabled in the UN declaring Masud
Azhar a global terrorist. China didn’t support Pakistan and hence the extremist
was declared as terrorist by UN on May 1st 2019. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/masood-azhar-declared-global-terrorist-by-un-everything-you-need-to-know/videoshow/69134425.cms
The UN decision increased Pakistan’s troubles, on the one hand,
international community knew that JeM headquarters are located in Pakistan, on
the other, its external affairs minister confessed that JeM head is in Pakistan
and he is not well. After the UN resolution, Pakistan had no justification of
keeping him in Pakistan and still has no justification for that.
In Pakistani media, even a single news item of no significance
values makes round of breaking news all day, but here in close vicinity of ISI
headquarters, in one of the most important hospitals, a bomb blast takes place
and goes unheard. They don’t allow media houses to report it despite the fact
the flames and smokes of the bomb blast touch the sky.
It means that something significant has happened here which
could expose the real face of the powerful section of the Pakistan. They’re the
one who forced the media to remain silent on such events otherwise they will be
thrown in the inferno for breaking such news.
In a nutshell, two question need to be asked; first, will the
Americans and other international institutions force Pakistan to allow this
global terrorist be tried at international court after Pakistan’s foreign
minister’s admission that Masud Azhar is in Pakistan or America and global
powers continue to remain silent in the hope that talks with Taliban will
succeed in the face of Pakistani fake drama of peace talks and Pakistan will be
exonerated from the crime of hiding him like Osama bin Laden and Mullah
Mansoor?
Second, given the fact that Pakistan has put this mysterious
bomb-blast in media blackout for reasons that hiding this terrorist along with
his other crime partners in Pakistan will disgrace Pakistan and the sword of
FATF is hanging overhead; will the world powers hold Pakistan accountable for
this heinous crime or continue to remain silent as usual?
We can get the answer of these two questions to some extent when
Pakistan presents Masud before international criminal court in shackles or
present concrete evidence that Masud Azhar has died in the Emirate Military
Hospital on 23rd June 2019. However, silence isn’t the answer of these
questions that rose after Shah Mohmood Qureshi’s admission and the
bomb blast about which ISPR has forced a situation of calm by threat.
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