TTP may declare war on media
PESHAWAR: Pakistani Taliban, headed by Maulana Fazlullah, on Friday took a strong exception to the recent statement of their spokesman Shahidullah Shahid regarding Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Pakistani cricket team skipper Misbah-ul-Haq released by media and convened an emergency meeting of the Shura to announce a war against the journalists.
“The Shura meeting was called in an emergency and the purpose was to seek its permission for announcing an open war on media men who don’t stop their anti-Taliban propaganda.
There was already a long list of complaints against the media people but the way the media treated recent statement of Shahidullah Shahid regarding the two cricket players, made everyone angry in the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan,” said a senior Taliban commander and member of the Shura.
He said the TTP Shura members were divided on the issue and could not develop consensus about targeting the journalist community. “Some were very much upset because of the media’s role and wanted the Shura to unanimously announce war against the journalists. But other members of the Shura explained that there were some responsible journalists as well. Therefore, only wrong ones should be punished,” the Taliban leader noted.
He said it was decided that the Shura members would meet on Monday to make a plan on how to treat the journalists.
Pleading anonymity, he said TTP Spokesman Shahidullah Shahid had not issued any statement in particular with the two cricket players, which the media highlighted in a way to presume that the Taliban spokesman threatened media not to eulogise Indian cricket player Tendulkar or that he preferred Pakistani player Misbah-ul-Haq over him.
He said the spokesman during an interview had discussed the two players in a different context. “Those who are opposing Jamaat-I-Islami Ameer Syed Munawar Hassan’s opinion are in fact opposing Islam, but rather opposing the real purpose of Pakistan. I am telling to the media people that those who are criticising Munawar Hasan for his statement, are similar to those who are praising the Indian cricket player, Tendulkar. Now Pakistani media is praising Tendulkar, even most of the Pakistanis also praised him while they criticised Misbah-ul-Haq. Now, if someone asks Pakistani media that Tendulkar is no doubt a very good player but don’t praise him as it is a matter of the country and nationalism, and do praise Misbah-ul-Haq, even if he is a bad player, because he is a Pakistani. So those who are saying that Pakistani troops, no matter if they are fighting the US war and fighting for the supremacy of English law and democracy are martyred,” the Taliban leader quoted Shahidullah Shahid as saying in the interview.
He said some media people had quoted the TTP out of context and gave an impression that Pakistani Taliban were now issuing statements about useless issues such as Cricket.
According to the Taliban leader, some journalists were intentionally misquoting the Taliban about the issues of serious nature and were thus putting the lives of several other media people in danger.“Now the crucial meeting of our Shura is going to be held on Monday, purely about media and their irresponsible behaviour,” he informed.
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