Entire filth of the fifth column and treacherous media is now out !

Entire filth of the fifth column and treacherous media is now out!! But even the SC has named the small fish but have protected the alligators who earned haram bribes despite being paid regular salaries from their institutions. The huge names are being protected even by the SC.

This is the dirty, filthy reality of Azaad media and the "sacred" profession of journalism !! They are not different from pimps, peddlers and are literal presstitutes except a very rare few !!

Astaghfurullah !! What have they been doing with these funds ??? These are only from one source -- Ministry of Information. How much more they have been taking from India, RAW, CIA and private gangsters ???? Media is the filthiest business on earth where everything is for sale under the facade of journalism. A most harsh accountability is long over due !!

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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Millions paid from secret fund but billions not revealed

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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has released the list of journalists, media houses and the staff of the ministry of information who benefited from the secret fund of the information ministry. The list includes a top media house, which has been paid Rs35 million and the towering figures of the media industry directly paid by the government since 2011. The secret fund runs into billions but the Supreme Court has only been told about the details of Rs177.98 million of which a major chunk has been paid to the Institute of Regional Studies. Questions are being raised where those billions were spent and why the details of the entire fund have not been released. The initial reaction in the media circles was one of extreme displeasure as the lists were called eyewash and a fraud as no big names were disclosed and over 90 per cent of the funds were kept secret. The list shows a sorry tale of what our governments do with the national heroes as singer Reshman was paid Rs25,000 only while the so-called journalists who are a black spot on the face of journalism have been paid millions by the PPP government to manipulate the media. A quick reading of the list also shows how low can a few journalists stoop to get benefits from the government as quite a few fell for air tickets, boarding and lodging, dinners etc. According to the list released by the Supreme Court, on 30-09-2011 a channel CNBC was paid Rs35 million from the secret fund for a show “Pakistan This Week” and this was approved by the prime minister. On 01-02-2012 a payment of Rs37 million was made to Midas Pvt Ltd for media campaign titled ‘Benazir Bhutto Song’. The president of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Pervez Shaukat, was facilitated by the information ministry’s secret fund on various occasions under the head of boarding and lodging in different hotels. Columnist Nazir Naji has been found taking benefits from the fund of the ministry on many occasions for boarding and lodging and getting cars on rent. The president of Multan Press Club, Shakeel Anjum, a known friend of former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, has been found getting the maximum benefits for boarding and lodging. His namesake and one of the most credible journalists of the country and senior Crime Correspondent of The News Islamabad, Shakeel Anjum, has clarified that he has earned respect and credibility in his 35 years of journalism but his namesake is getting benefits from the government and is defaming him. The list includes the names of Raza Rumi, Sohail Warriach, Amir Mir, Ali Ahmad Dihlon and Mr and Mrs Adeeb Jawadani who were facilitated in boarding and lodging in Islamabad Hotel on 06-08-2011. It is pertinent to mention here that whenever the journalists or analysts are invited to Islamabad or any other city to attend any seminar, convention, programme, workshop etc arranged by any government department/ministry, the budget of such programme is always approved and is never secret. However when any influential journalist has to visit any of these cities for his personal engagements, such money is issued from the secret fund of the information ministry and is shown as boarding/lodging in this list. Similarly all foreign visits of the prime ministers are approved and total expenses are meted out from the sanctioned budget. However, the journalists who are included in the list of those who would accompany the PM at the last stage, their expenses are meted out from the secret fund of the information ministry. The list further reveals that a sum of Rs239,755 was spent on air tickets for Abbas Ather of Express and Iftikhar Ahmad plus lunches for 90 people. A so-called journalist Shoaib Bhutta has been paid Rs107,143 as financial assistant but ironically ten widows of late journalists were only paid Rs6500 each. The loot and plunder of the secret fund can be judged from the fact that widows of late journalists are paid a small amount but those who have no credentials but are close to the rulers have been paid a huge amount. Bhutta has also been found getting benefits of boarding/lodging on a few occasions including Rs100,000 for a ‘special assignment’. Muhammad Saleh Zaafir has been paid more than half a million for ‘special assignments’, which he has been doing for the government of the day. One wonders what a special assignment means. A sum of Rs2.4 million has been spent on dinners hosted by the minister and Eid cakes to the journalists on at least nine occasions. The incumbent information minister once came to meet the prime minister and his ticket was paid from the secret fund. A news agency has been paid Rs600,000 as financial support by the government form the fund. The media commission of Supreme Court has also been paid Rs4 million from the same fund. Jasmine Manzoor, Ejaz Khokhar and Asadullah Ghalib also did not stay behind in grabbing whatever they could get from the secret fund. Many journalists of Multan Press Club and others across the country have also been given financial assistance ranging from Rs20,000 to Rs50,000. Meanwhile, Sohail Warraich, Amir Mir, Iftikhar Ahmad and Nazir Naji have expressed their surprise at appearance of their names in the Information Ministry list. They said it is an established practice that the government invites journalists and pay for their travel, lodging and boarding expenses. They said the government often invites journalists in groups and sometime individually. They said many respectable editors were also off and on invited by the government. They said all government ministries have officially sanctioned funds to bear expenses of such nature. They said it happens all over the world that the governments pay for journalists expenses when they invite them. They said the Information Ministry spending on such visits is borne out from sanctioned funds. They said the payment shown by the Information Ministry from secret fund has made the whole matter suspicious. They said it is possible that such payments were also made from officially sanctioned funds besides being shown as made from secret funds. They said the possibility of misappropriation by the Information Ministry officials warrants that the Supreme Court should order probe into this issue. Clarifying his position Pervez Shaukat, President Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, said he along with other journalists made Lahore visits to appear before Salim Shehzad Commission. Justice Saqib Nisar, who was the chairman of the commission, is witness to this fact. The commission used to meet in Lahore. He deplored the fact that his name was mentioned in the list although he was not alone to visit Lahore. He demanded probe into the matter that why names of others have been omitted and why this expenditure was made from secret fund. He said only Rs10,000 were shown to be spent for his lodging and boarding in two years. Taking exception to appearance of his name in the list, Saleh Zaafir said it is not based on truth. He said he would challenge the mentioning of his name in the list in the Supreme Court. He said how he could be paid by the government that did not like him.