Mazhar Abbas

Mazhar Abbas is a Pakistani journalist. He is deputy director of ARY News Television, the second 24-hour after geo, bilingual news channel in Pakistan, and the secretary general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists. He is also brother of DG ISPR Major General Ather Abbas.^[1]

Abbas, who has worked as a journalist for nearly thirty years, has received multiple threats as a result of his work. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Mohajir Rabita Council, a political group in the southern Sindh province allied with the MQM, put Abbas on its “hit list”. After protesting the closing of three independent TV channels for their reporting on demonstrations against President Musharraf, Abbas was charged by police in early 2007. In May 2007, he and two other journalists found white envelopes containing bullets placed on their cars.^[1]

 

Working as an Agence France Presse correspondent, Abbas covered the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl, South Asia Bureau Chief for the Wall Street Journal.^[1]

In 2007, he won an International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists. The award is given for journalists who show courage in defending press freedom in the face of attacks, threats or imprisonment.^[2] He also won the 2009 Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism.^[3]

Kamran Khan

Kamran Khan (Urdu: کامران خان‎) is a an investigative journalist as well as an espionage and intelligence commentator.^[1] Currently, he is the director of the News Intelligence Unit (NIU), where he manages and publishes investigative reports for News International. He is the Geo TV‘s lead anchor during special news and landmark events. His first stint on television as an anchor was on Geo’s programme, “Frontline.” ^[1][2]

Kamran Khan is also special correspondent for the Washington Post. His reports and covered work on current events have appeared in the leading international news correspondents including, Washington Post‘, Herald Tribune, and Sunday Times.^[3]

Career in journalism

Daniel Pearl

In early 2000s, he became publicly known for his coverage and investigative reports on the Daniel Pearl, an American Jew who was kidnapped and killed by al-Qaeda operatives.^[3] He was the first journalist to publish his report on ISI intelligence efforts to link India to the kidnapping by raising the possibility that Asra Nomani was in fact a “spy for India“, claiming that she was Daniel Pearl’s “full-time assistant,” identifying her as an “Indian journalist”.^[3] According to his report, Nomani was an NRI, having born in India and was raised as a Muslim in the United States since the age of 4.^[3] Nomani was an American Muslim who holds the U.S. passport and also noted that it was Daniel Pearl who brought her to Karachi to work with him.^[3]

He also raised questions about Daniel Pearl’s suspicious travel to Karachi from Mumbai, where he was originally based, saying “ISI officials were so intrigued as to why an American newspaper reporter based in Bombay would also establish a full-time residence in Karachi.”^[3] Writing an opinion in the story, he wrote that “anyone familiar with the fractured relations between Pakistan and India can understand how this sort of characterization could tarnish Daniel Pearl’s reputation in Pakistan and weaken public outrage about his brutal killing, a goal some ISI officials might have wanted.^[4]

The widow of kidnapped and murdered journalist Daniel Pearl, Mariane Pearl, wrote in in her memoir A Mighty Heart, and singled out Kamran Khan for first writing the story that identified Daniel Pearl as a Jewish reporter.^[3] Revealing this information was equivalent to a “death sentence” in Pakistan, according to the memoir.^[3] Khan told the Washington Post that he was simply pursuing the story aggressively and didn’t mean any harm.^[3][4]

Geo Television

Khan’s first stint on television as an anchor was on Geo’s program, “Frontline.” He has now a new show on Geo, “ Aaj Kamran Khan Ke Saath”, this show is a late edition for political enthusiasts, offering them a daily news round-up.^[1] On Pakistan TV, Khan who is “critical of the Pakistan government”, blasted it for incompetence on the capture and killing of Osama Bin Ladan. He said, “We had belief that our defenses were impenetrable, but look what has happened. Such a massive intrusion and it went undetected.”