In all the chaos surrounding the ISI-Geo controversy, everybody seems to have digressed from the real issue. Before the politicization of the dispute between a media house and intelligence services, Hamid Mir was attacked. He was shot six times and the attackers almost succeeded in silencing him. State and society stands polarized, and the debate poses two opposing moral high grounds against each other – the right to information and speech, versus patriotism and loving the country’s armed forces with unswerving loyalty. An attempt was made on the life of a fellow journalist, yet all media houses are focusing solely on whether Geo deserves to have its license revoked. What about justice for Hamid Mir? What steps are being taken to find his assailants? What progress, if any, has been made?
The question of justice for Hamid Mir still goes unanswered as the media discusses the finer points of Geo’s transgressions ad nauseam. Nobody is asking the right questions and we are no closer to finding the truth. Not many people are too concerned with this. Conspiracies veil facts as the people look to the judiciary and PEMRA for answers to the wrong questions. Justice will not be served through ascertaining whether Geo should be taken off air, but when those that pulled the trigger are put behind bars.
When the law succeeds in unearthing the facts and can point a finger towards the people that masterminded the attack, the entire mess can be put to rest. The media has neglected to point this out, even when Hamid Mir was one of them. It is imperative that we start asking for justice to be given to Hamid Mir; only through the arrest of the perpetrators can this extended debate about defamation and sacrosanct institutions be put to rest.