Samaa TV terminates Maya Khan show, she refused to apologize unconditionally
In response to citizen’ letter to Zafar Siddiqi, CEO Samaa TV yesterday, he has written back to the group with good news that the Maya Khan & her team will recieving termiantion notices as of Monday.
The letter by Zafar Siddiqi is quoted below, we all applaud this responsible approach by Samaa TV
On Sat, Jan 28, 2012 at 12:28 PM, “Zafar Siddiqi” wrote:
Dear AllYour feedback is appreciated.As a responsible corporate citizen, Samaa TV did what was required under the circumstances. We do not and have not in the past or intend to in the future to take our viewership or reporting requirements without the seriousness that they deserve.
You would appreciate that as an organisation with a functioning management team, we had to conduct certain legal requirements over the past week and internal review processes (which are operational in nature) before procedding further.
As a result of which I can inform you:
- We asked Maya to apologise unconditionally which she did not.
- The CEO asked her to do that on friday which she refused.
As a result of which the following will be put in place on Monday,Jan 30th.
- Maya and her team will receive termination notices.
- Her show is being stopped from Monday morning.
Our deeds and actions taken since this episode occured are there for the record and hope this will settle issues as far as the station is concerned.
A lot has been written about the race for ratings. Well, we do absolve such behaviour irrespective of ratings that the show was getting.
With best regards and thank you for your understanding.
Zafar Siddiqi
Chairman CNBC Arabiya
Chairman CNBC Africa
President CNBC Pakistan
Citizens’ response to Zafar Siddiqi, CEO Samaa TV on Maya Khan Issue
In continuation with the lobbying efforts of the civil society to curtail journalistic Vigilantism as witnessed in the Maya Khan issue, a number of people have sent a follow up letter to Mr. Zafar Siddiqi, President CNBC Pakistan & CEO Samaa TV, in response to his earlier response to the group (below)
Dear Mr. Siddiqi,
We deeply appreciate your prompt reply and assurance that the kind of show broadcast on Jan 17, 2012, Subh Sawerey Maya ke Saath on Samaa TV will not take place again.
We also appreciate your moral courage in ensuring that Samaa TV made a public, unconditional apology broadcast on Jan 24, 2012. However, we cannot accept Ms. Maya Khan’s words broadcast that morning as an apology. She said she was sorry ‘if’ she had hurt anyone’s feelings without any acknowledgement that what she and her team did was wrong, like lying to people, filming them without consent, making fun of aggrieved couples after chasing them, and demanding their nikahnamas. In fact, her nonchalant attitude and words only compounded social and emotional wounds of the aggrieved citizens as she clearly lacked seriousness and genuine concern for the people and families she has caused harm through her deceitful, defamatory, intrusive and invasive programming, a value which is in complete contrast to your assertion that Samaa TV is a channel with progressive values.
MUSIC VIDEO: Waiting for the End
An amazing Video by Faraz Ahmed Yar Khan
Dont just support the Change – Be the Change
Maya Khan Aunty Brigade – Stay out of our parks
Subah Saveera with Maya Khan on Samaa TV actually chases people sitting in a park and asks them why are they sitting there. Firstly I believe it is NOT illegal for two people to sit [date] in a park, and secondly it was shocking to see the host and other women running and chasing after individuals sitting in the park to an extent of trying to trap them.
In my opinion they exhibited highly intrusive, invasive and potentially irresponsible behavior – it is the kind of vigilantism which no different than the mob that cornered the two brothers in Sialkot and enforced their own reaction for the benefit of society, Maya Khan may have initiated a precedence today and may potentially open the door for chase and capture vigilantism – Irresponsibility of the highest degree
Liberal Fascist writes: Going through the horrid clip above, you see two dozen women running through a park, shouting “wo hijab waali”, “dekho uss nai hijab pehna huwa hai”, escorted by men with name tags and uniformed men, obviously employed by one or the other private security company. If you had this great “hoard” of judgement come charging at you, anyone would feel intimidated, harassed and threatened. The last time I checked, and I may be completely ignorant about this, when I go to a public space, that is not what I expect, nor is such behaviour condoned by any legal authority.
Shamsul Anwar, Hoax? Whodunnit – My Analysis
As you all may have heard about 3 days back Pakistan was abuzz with the abduction of a 14 yr old girl Madinah Anwar, well as the story played out it turns out that it might have been a con job by the father. Details can be read in the Express Tribune Article “Conman Shamsul Anwar Busted“.
The story of his daughter’s abduction was not newly minted, as Anwar has been portraying himself as a victim of terrorism since 2010. However, when his daughter Madina Anwar eloped to Swabi to marry her ex-fiancé, Anwar decided to take advantage of the situation. But for this purpose, he needed to gain people’s sympathies, for which he needed a story to hit the nail at the right place. Therefore he decided to present himself as a hero before the media, a hero who was being victimised for saving people’s lives. So he claimed his daughter had been kidnapped by the same terrorists who had earlier kidnapped his two sons and slaughtered one of them
In defense of the Social Media that rallied for this cause, I believe we relied upon the authenticity of The News seasoned Crime Investigative Reporter Shakeel Anjum who researched the story [It was also interesting to note that Shamsul Anwar did also convince Express Tribune reporter Sehrish Wasif of a similar story in Dec 2010 [without the Madinah Anwar kidnapping reference]
HELP Shamsul Anwar save the life of his 14-year old girl kidnapped by Terrorists
Today I am shocked at reading an article in The News titled Waiting to receive pieces of daughter’s dead body which narrates a shocking story of a Pakistan Army Lance Naik (r) Shamsul Anwar who is pleading for authorities to help save the life of his 14-year old daughter Madina Anwar, who was kidnapped in May 2011 and the captors have given him till the 12th of January to come forward with the ransom money of Rs. 1.8 Million.
WRITE TO AVAAZ: Write to Avaaz telling them to take this issue global – by literally copy pasting the text below Contact Avaaz
UGET GOVT OF PAKISTAN INVOLVED: Write to ALL government leaders in Pakistan
DONATE: A WORD OF CAUTION – Please hold back any planned account transactions, a group of citizens are setting up an escrow account to ensure the funds are judiciously transfered to the rightful people, more update as things materialize. People are working to responsibly handle this crisis ensuring the safety of the girl etc – just hold back for any details in the morning
This tragic kidnapping story comes in the shadow of two sons who were previously kidnapped in 2006 – Mohammad Yaseen, 16, a student of 10th class, and Faizullah, 14, a 9th class student of Noor School in Dhoke Gujran — on May 15, 2006. The ransom for the release of both his sons were slated at Rs. 1.4 Million but Mohammed Yaseen was later found mercilessly killed chopped up into pieces on a wood-cutting saw, the entire video recorded on a CD and placed along with his remains in a gunny bag. Fortunately for Shamsul Anwar he did recover his younger son but due to the medicines injected into his body during captivity, is suffering from blood cancer
The story of the should have been highly acclaimed hero, Shamsul Anwar starts in January 2001 where he single handedly save the lives of hundreds of people from a terrorist bomb in Rawalpindi
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Solidarity Day 2012 – Aman Ittehad Rallies in 140 locations across Pakistan
On 1st January 2012 Aman Ittehad will organize public rallies in 140 locations across Pakistan to mark Solidarity Day 2012. Thousands of citizens in villages, towns and cities will join the rallies. They will call upon all state institutions to play their due role within the parameters defined by the Constitution of Pakistan. They will also express their firm commitment to uninterrupted democracy and the supremacy of parliament, reiterating their belief that these are critical for stability and peace in the country.
On Solidarity Day 2012 citizens will express their contempt at the unabated torture and target killings, and kidnappings that continue to cause untold misery to the people across Pakistan, particularly Balochistan. Aman Ittehad demands urgent and exemplary action against all those who have failed to protect citizens’ lives. It urges immediate steps to reject any use of force or coercion and instead devise a political solution to redress long-standing grievances of the people of Balochistan.
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PTI National Unity Jalsa 25th Dec Instructions & Route Maps
Elaborate security arrangements are being made, to ensure a peaceful event, with a massive crowd expected, we together need to ensure discipline amongst ourselves
- Come early as the Jalsa is expected to start at 2pm
- Security check points will be to ensure safety of everyone, please corporate with the police and our volunteers
- Please pack WARM clothes as Karachi is experiencing a cold spell
- Please bring water and snacks
- It may be best to carry a darri so you can sit on the ground if there are not enough chairs
- There are 3 public entrance points for the Jalsa, please follow the
- Gate 1 = Ladies & Families
- Gate 2 & 3 = General
Imran Khan’s Telemarketing buzz for Karachi Jalsa
Over the last two days, people in Karachi were abuzz with a 30-second phone call from the famous politician Imran Khan inviting them to the National Unity Jalsa in Karachi on 25th Decemeber. Quite a large number of people narate funny stories as to how they were briefly fooled into believing that this was a real call. The project kicked off early in the morning of the 18th December unfortunately as early as 6:30am [we apologize to those who received this call so early on a Sunday morning] apart from that small gaff – the city was giggling with excitement to have “had a personal call” from the heart throb Imran Khan.
The recording in Imran Khan’s voice says
Assalam-o-Alaikum. This is Imran Khan speaking. How are you?
I am coming to your city to bring everyone together on December 25 at Mazar-e-Quaid for a peace rally. I hope that you can break all the shackles and take part because at this rally we need to make the beginnings of a new Pakistan. I will be waiting. Thank you.
Only recently a post appeared on Pro-Pakistani titled “PTI is Spam Calling in Karachi to Market its Jalsa” where they ask a valid question, but I believe labeling this audio message as “spam” is unfair and instead it should have aptly been coined “Telemarketing”
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Jemima Khan responds to Smear Campaign on Imran Khan
As Imran Khan declares his assets political opponents question his explanation to which Jemima Khan responds to allegation on twitter
Imran Khan takes the game of Asset declaration to Raiwind & beyond
With Imran Khan declaring his assets today, the challenge moves onto Raiwind & other political mafias
Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf [Offical page] has indeed started to change the political ground rules in Pakistan, the status quo parties have a lot to hide and they will run for cover and deflect attention from their own financial issues or produce fake returns to share with the public – they have looted and plundered and when caught the best form of defense is ignore and deflect the questions.
Notice how Ch Nisar focused on the minute details of IK’s assets, but refused to comment on the bank vaults of Raiwind. You will ALSO notice the Sharif’s will not come publicly themselves because if they are caught then its embarrassing, if someone else falters they can send other cronies to clean up the mess, Hanif Abbasi is leading the pack, what an amazing line of defense they have in Raiwind.
It is now public pressure that can differentiate the crooks from credible Pakistanis. Keep asking them the hard questions and dont let them off the hook, let the onus to ask the hard questions NOT be on PTI, but instead the PUBLIC must take these crooks to task
PTI and the Establishment Ghost
Im getting tired of hearing people accusing PTI of being supported by the “Establishment”.
In my opinion the word Establishment supported party is a word used to stigmatize any rising popular party, for lack of a better explanation as to why it has suddenly become popular, like PTI. People also can’t be blamed since in our past, history has repeatedly shown that popular leaders have had an establishment shadow overlooking their rise to power. But today here, we must understand that there is a genuine wave of frustration that has expressed itself into across the country support for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Imran Khan
In our unfortunate country, which is inherently run by crooks from the likes of Asif Zardari Peoples Party and the “waiting-for-his-turn-to-loot-the-country” Nawaz Sharif, people are not stupid to let this country continue into their hands again
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Memogate Mystery
If you have been living under a rock for the past few days, then Memogate might be a strange word, much has been written about this online, and it seems to be the mother of all wikileaks which might see some heads roll. The battle is on between Mansoor Ijaz & the US Ambassador Husain Haqqani, and each trying their damnedest to crucify the other.
Despite my political difference with the US Ambassador Husain Haqqani, who I have been interacting on twitter for the past 2 years, I must accept he has served the interset of Pakistani nation in the US which is undoubtedly a very sensitive diplomatic hotspot. At the same time no diplomacy is achieved without adequate off-the-record diplomacy, so im not surprised that this was a secret and private memo.
At the same time there is overall consensus from many people I talk to that Mansoor Ijaz is a blackmailing opportunist, and it might possibly be that Husain Haqqani was caught smack in the middle of one of his games. The contents of the Memo are dangerous, Zardari the mastermind of the game is sadly our President and should be hanged for this Treason, but since the entire focus is on the two Haqqani & Mansoor, two questions need to be answered before we character assissnate anyone
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- Dissecting a ‘leak’ – Mansoor Ijaz vs Pakistan:→ Brig (r) Shuakat Qadir does a hack job on Mansoor Ijaz going all out in defending the Army, Haqqani & also Zardari. With so much already being piled up against Mansoor Ijaz [Text of Mansoor Ijaz rejoinder] I’m glad this mud-slinging fest has emerged, thats the beauty of media, it exposes liars and lottas Something smells funny, I’d just like to know the exact text of Zardari’s memo to Adm Mullen & US…. im ready to bet Zardari would have have easily rattled against the Army to save his own ass LINK → [Discuss]
Meeting Under Secretary Maria Otero at the US Consulate in Karachi
On 3rd November a small group of social & print media bloggers were invited to the US Consul General’s Residence in Karachi for a small luncheon discussion with the visiting US Under Secretary Maria Otero.
Maria Otero, is a well spoken representative of the US, coordinating U.S. foreign relations on a variety of global issues, including democracy, human rights, and labor; environment, oceans, health and science; population, refugees, and migration; and monitoring and combating trafficking in persons.
The discussion was interesting, everyone had a chance to put their point of view across, My issues were focused on
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