As polarization increases in the society angry voices are heard all the time.  The recent outburst has come from Punjab’s  Senior Minister Raja Riaz. His comments were interpreted as threat by Kamran Khan and his channel. I did watch yesterday’s episode of program Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Saath and let me share with you my observations. Let me put it here that on the matter of NRO I do not share Kamran Khan’s views and my tomorrow’s column on the very topic will elaborate my point of view. But unlike Dr Shahid Masood and Ansar Abbasi I do consider him a respectable and serious journalist. It was the inspiration from his work for the News Intelligence Unit which practically brought me into journalism and regardless of his initial fumbles in the shows I have always seen his programs with keen interest.
It is my humble view that any attempt to bracket him with people like Shahid Masood and Abbasi is quite unfair. And this unfairness is even bigger than any threatening remarks. We know he is not a Taliban apologist and whatever his political point of view he has invested considerable time in uncovering serious national issues. During the ban on his program and then Geo during Musharraf regime I vociferously supported his cause in both local and international media and have never regretted it.
While appreciating his media contributions I will not make bones that when at the very inception of the current political set up he assumed an aggressive posture I was more than a bit shocked. Mercifully he never allowed himself to be used by any government quite unlike Shahid Masood. But still I kept wondering why was he opening hostilities so early. I couldn’t find anything that is not apocryphal with the exception of his coverage of the corruption cases after the dismissal of PPP government in 1996. It can be rationalized both through conviction and psychological factor.Conviction says that he actually believed in the PPP leadership being guilty of corruption and hence opposed it. Psychological factor says that he had opposed the very leadership so much and had contributed to its fall that he expected nothing but vendetta. Both explanations are absolutely plausible and one can understand both on human level. However either of the two can be solved through the due process of law and democracy.
I am bothering to say all of this because I want democracy, independent judiciary and free media all to prevail at the same time. Unlike Dr Masood’s torturous program and Ansar Abbasi’s rants, Aaj Kamran Khan kay saath is highly watchable. I do want media to play the role of a watchdog. But simultaneously I want it to pay more attention to the issues of the present rather than dwelling only upon past, which Kamran Khan has done only until fairly recently. This can be done when you are not grouped with people like Dr Masood and Abbasi because they have publicly lost touch with objectivity. I am a journalist desperately in need of good examples. I can only hope that my own inspirations will remember to set good examples. All the same I do assure Kamran Khan that this country needs journalists like him and hence no one will allow his security to be compromised. And I regret the act of grouping him with the likes of the other two mentioned above. I will also urge him to be simultaneously be a custodian of democracy while exposing the government’s weaknesses. The fourth name being taken is of Shaheen Sehbai. I do consider him a serious journalist too. But my exposure to him is so little that I find myself not qualified enough to write a comment about him.