Thursday, April 24, 2014

Commission Must Investigate Hamid Mir's Ties to Spies & Militants

Attempt on Hamid Mir's life has rightly drawn widespread outrage in Pakistan and around the world. It has to be condemned without reservations. Hamid Mir is reported have suspected that he was on Pakistani intelligence agency ISI's "hit list".

Pakistani Journalist Hamid Mir
In addition to raising serious questions about the role of the media and the ISI, the assassination attempt has also refreshed memories of journalist Saleem Shahzad's murder in 2011 for which ISI was blamed. Here are some of the questions that I would like to explore:

Questions:

1. What is the relationship between Pakistani journalists and the various spy agencies, including the ISI, operating in Pakistan?

2. How do Pakistani journalists work with militants to cover multiple ongoing insurgencies in Pakistan?

3. Has Pakistani media played a responsible journalistic role in covering national security issues?

Saleem Shahzad's Murder:

To answer the above questions, let us look at the media coverage of Saleem Shahzad's murder in 2011.

World media widely reported the allegations made against the ISI by former US Chairman of Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen in a Senate committee hearing in Washington. Adm Mullen alleged that Pakistani government "sanctioned" Shahzad's murder.

What the media left out of their coverage of Shahzad's murder were internal emails of Stratfor analysts leaked by Wikileaks. Stratfor bills itself as a "global intelligence" company. It is widely believed to be a leading intelligence contractor for US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The leaked emails talked about the "Fine line between an investigative journalist and spy" and added that "The poor bastard went down the rabbit hole and was neutralized".

In another secret email, Stratfor Vice President Fred Burton wrote as follows:

"I'm sure the ISI extracted a confession of his CIA work before he died. There will be a leaked story about his double agent work and the Pakis rub the CIA's nose in it. Its what intel agencies do. Tit for tat. The world will soon forget him. Price one pays for playing the game."

Hamid Mir with TTP terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri. Mir said he also met TTP leaders
Hakimullah Mehsud and Mullah Fazlullah. 
Attempt on Hamid Mir:

Hamid Mir has built a successful career in journalism on close contacts with Al Qaeda and the Taliban. He is known to have had unusual access to Al Qaeda, Taliban and Baloch militants not granted to others. Mir is the only journalist with the distinction to have interviewed Osama Bin Laden three times, including the last interview that took place after Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. It has raised questions about his interlocutors, including the ISI and the Taliban.

A 13 minute taped audio conversation between Hamid Mir and a TTP militant (believed to be Usman Punjabi alias Mohammad Omar) was released in 2010 just after the double murder of former ISI agents Colonel Imam and Squadron Leader Khawaja Khalid by the Taliban.

Here are a few excerpts of Hamid Mir's alleged statements from the audio tape:

"... he (Khalid Khwaja) had done all this. After that Maulana Abdul Aziz was arrested and Mr Abdul Rashid Ghazi telephoned me and said, “Now, I don’t have any option. Now, my family and ulema have been defamed as my brother was arrested in a burqa and presented on Pakistan Television. This is a large stain which can only be removed with my blood.” So, he lived up to his words and sacrificed. So, Khalid Khawaja and his wife, anyone may know or not, they will have to answer before Allah Almighty."

"He (Khawaja) himself has confessed in front me that he had links with William Casey. Ok! Leave William, ask him about the Qadiyanis, because I personally believe that Qadiyanis are worse than infidels, what kind of links does he have with Qadiyanis? What relationship does he have with Mansoor Ijaz? Why does he use his money? Why does he go everywhere with him when he comes to Pakistan? Why does he bring him to the mujahideen?"

"He (Canady) was martyred in North Waziristan. He (Khawaja) came to me with Canady’s wife and a daughter, saying Canady’s son, Karim, is at Rawalpindi’s CMH and is injured and the army had arrested him. He asked me to arrange a meeting between the injured and his mother. I said this is very difficult for me and I can’t do this because already they are all against me. But, he said all that you need to do is to arrange a meeting between a mother and her son. So, I arranged it with a lot of difficulties and sent the woman to Rawalpindi CMH, but when she reached there she took a camera out of her burqa and asked her son to record a message that he is innocent, has no links with anyone and has been kept here illegally. She was arrested there because a nurse saw her and seized the camera from her. But I was held responsible for all of it as they told me that I had sent this woman. It was revealed after her arrest that the woman had a Canadian passport and had visited Canada two months ago. After that I faced a lot of difficulties. The Canadian government released the woman and her daughter and then she went back to Canada. In Toronto, she held a press conference and admitted that she worked for the CIA. Now Khalid Khawaja has a long beard and his wife wears a full veil so people like us, who are involved in worldly affairs and have committed sins, believe that if we will help them, we might be forgotten for our sins. When these kinds of people betray us, we lose confidence on the religion itself."

The Daily Times newspaper, which first reported on the tape, said at the time that the information passed on by Mir to the Taliban "could have led to the execution" of former ISI official Khalid Khwaja. Mir denied it was his voice but others authenticated it. Jang Group said it would investigate but nothing came out of it.

Summary:

It appears from the above mixture of allegations and facts that Hamid Mir is not just a journalist but a player in the ongoing militancy in Pakistan. He seems to have worked closely with both the spies and the militants in the past. It also appears that he has managed to alienate both over time and made himself their target. Any serious judicial commission investigation of what happened to Hamid Mir last week must take into account his dealings with the intelligence agencies and the militant outfits to reach any credible conclusion. It is necessary to protect journalists and restore Pakistanis' faith in the media.
 
Here's a video discussion on the subject:

https://vimeo.com/93123441


GeoTV's Hamid Mir Survives Murder Attempt, Blames ISI & Triggers Media Wars from WBT TV on Vimeo.

 Here are the tapes of Hamid Mir's alleged conversation with Usman Punjabi:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdfu70

21 comments:

Mayraj said...

In 2012, the Pakistani Taliban tried to kill Mir by planting half a kilogram of explosives under his car outside his home in the capital, Islamabad. But the remote-controlled bomb failed to go off.

http://www.indiatvnews.com/crime/news/latest-know-why-taliban-wanted-to-kill-pakistan-s-famous-journa-5912.html

Know why Taliban wanted to kill Pakistan’s famous journalist Hamid Mir

Nisar said...

Riaz Sahib:

There should be NO room for anyone blaming anyone let alone
country's prime institutions without any proof. These are baseless
accusations should not be done by anyone let alone a TV channel…

This is very irresponsible…

Riaz Haq said...

From The Economist Magazine:

THERE was a time when Hamid Mir, Pakistan’s most famous journalist, had little reason to fear his work might put his life in danger. In a country where his trade has long been a dangerous game, he kept on the right side of the media’s two deadliest foes: Pakistan’s militants and its security establishment. He had good contacts with both after making a name for himself as a chronicler of the state-backed jihad in Afghanistan and Kashmir in the 1980s and 1990s. He is perhaps best known for interviewing Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, just weeks after the attacks on America on September 11th 2001.

But on April 19th gunmen pulled up alongside Mr Mir’s car as he drove into Karachi from the airport, peppering the celebrity journalist with bullets. The attempt to kill Mr Mir, who survived the assault, came three weeks after a similar attack in Lahore on the car of Raza Rumi, a print and television journalist known for his liberal views. More than a dozen other media personalities have been warned their names are on a kill list. Less well-known journalists die all the time: more than 50 have been killed since 2001.

This was not the first attempt on Mr Mir’s life. A bomb was found under his car at his home in Islamabad in 2012, showing that Mr Mir, now the host of a popular political chat show, had made some powerful enemies. Over the years he had become more critical of militants, condemning suicide-bombers and the sectarian murder of Shias. He staunchly supported Malala Yousafzai, a schoolgirl activist who survived being shot by the Taliban for advocating the education of girls.

Mr Mir also criticised extra-judicial killings by security forces engaged in a dirty counterinsurgency in Balochistan, a southern province. Most recently, he insisted that Pervez Musharraf, a former military dictator, should not be allowed to dodge his trial for high treason.

Most journalists in Pakistan instinctively treat discussion of the army and militancy with great caution. Najam Sethi, the country’s most high-profile liberal commentator (and a former contributor to this newspaper), has taken to travelling in an armoured vehicle. In recent weeks at least two outspoken journalists, including Mr Rumi, have fled abroad for safety. There are now barely a handful of journalists prepared to challenge publicly the ideas of the radical religious right.
-------------
While Mr Mir was undergoing emergency surgery, his brother, another journalist, alleged the attack had been planned by the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI), the powerful spy agency of the armed forces. Mr Mir’s family are suspicious, because they think only Pakistan’s spooks could have known about his relatively last-minute trip to Karachi. Geo News, the popular station where Mr Mir works, reported the claims with gusto. Pakistan’s armed forces issued a statement denying any ISI role. Other media outlets did not follow Geo’s lead.

The owner of the Express Tribune ordered his staff to print a front-page story denouncing its media rival, which it said had “undermined the safety and security of Pakistan”. The defence ministry, meanwhile, lodged an official request for Geo’s broadcasting licence to be revoked.


http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21601311-shooting-famous-journalist-exposes-worrying-trend-silencing-liberals

Rana said...

many of the international jourlist has interview mass of Talaban, they all are traitor in your eye. Jourlist has been doing it since a long.

Riaz Haq said...

Rana: "many of the international jourlist has interview mass of Talaban, they all are traitor in your eye. Jourlist has been doing it since a long."

No one has had the kind of access to terrorists and militants that Hamid Mir enjoyed. He has interviewed Osama Bin Laden 3 times...the last time was after 911. He has built his career on it. How many have had long conversations in which they passed information to Taliban terrorists leading to the murder of ISI agents? It raises serious questions about who is helping him? Was it the ISI before he turned on them? Or supporters of the terrorists in Pakistan?

Riaz Haq said...

Here's an interesting Op Ed on Pakistani media:

Media in Pakistan was fettered by successive repressive regimes but in 1989, Benazir Bhutto freed the Print media while in 2002, ironically a military dictator General Pervez Musharraf provided relief by permitting the establishment of private TV and FM Radio channels. In the past twelve years the electronic media has grown at an exponential rate unfortunately, it has become unbridled and like a genie let out of the bottle, it has tended to become a conglomerate and media houses indulge in imperialism and manipulation of public opinion.
----------------
A R Khalid, Professor, Department of Journalism, University of Punjab, in his book “Communication Today” writes, “The fact is the Pakistani journalists are anything but human. Most of them are the worst breed of parasites. Instead of helping the nation they seem hell-bent to suck its blood, to strip it to last drop and even to bargain national interests for the sake of personal aggrandizement. Their slogan about freedom is only a camouflage to squeeze personal benefits out of the state officials who spare no effort either to out-clever the journalists. Thus the media men in Pakistan should realize their responsibilities and try to discharge their duties to the satisfaction of the people and not to wangle the hypocritical favours of the rulers to secure lucrative advantages for themselves”.

A considerable portion of the Pakistani press is thriving on sensationalism. These newspapers and magazines often resort to defamation of prestigious institutions. The modus operandi of these sensationalists is that they pick any small incident, often at the behest of some vested interest and blow it out of proportions in order to create sensation. Prof. Khalid’s book quoted above was published in 1991 but his comments are valid even today.

Media has been an effective tool for propaganda, which is an intricate science and a planned exercise to undermine the will of the people. Hitler had entrusted an entire ministry to Goebbles to achieve his ends. The Jews and Hindus are past masters at it. Machiavelli and Chanakya devoted volumes to the art of statecraft and deceit through propaganda.
-----------
Recently, a TV anchor of this group was attacked by an unknown group in Karachi. The anchor person survived but at the drop of a hat, blamed the ISI for the attempt on his life. Every journalist, institution and human rights practitioner condemned the attack and wanted the assailants to be brought to justice. The media group however went berserk in its campaign and continuously portrayed the ISI as villainous and demanded the resignation of the DG of this prestigious institution, which has been a thorn in the side of the Indians, thwarting conspiracies and assaults on Pakistan.

This is not only contrary to all forms of decorum but tantamount to conspiring with the enemy to weaken a state institution. If the media group had evidence of the involvement of the ISI, it could have presented before the free and fair judicial system and seek reparation. PEMRA would be well advised to ensure media freedom but discourage its imperialism and misuse to further vested interests.


http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=240489

Arif Ali said...

Khalid khawaja was my business partner for almost 9 yaers. I was with him when he was negociating with Lal Masjid, s Rasheed Ghazi. Khalid khawaja was good muslim and had no link with any qadiani accept Mansoor Ejaz. I have also some differences but I tell you Hamid mir is lier and murderer of Khalid Khawaja.

Riaz Haq said...

Here's NY Times' Declan Walsh on the Hamid Mir Affair:

...The vituperative exchanges have exposed troubling aspects of Pakistan’s oft-lauded media revolution: Along with the military’s concerted campaign to muzzle the press is the heavy hand of querulous media barons who, driven by commercial concerns and personal grudges, may be endangering the sector they helped create.

“The way this has played out is extremely disturbing,” said Zaffar Abbas, editor of Dawn newspaper, one of the few media outlets that have stayed out of the dispute. “I’ve never seen the media like this, really going after one other. If better sense doesn’t prevail, whatever we have earned in press freedom will be lost.”

The stakes are high on all sides. Since 2007, when television coverage played a key role in fanning the street protests that led to the ouster of General Musharraf, the news media has grown into a powerful factor in Pakistani society. Television news has widened public debate and exposed abuses, but it has faced sharp criticism for shoddy reporting and for giving a platform to Islamist extremists.

The exploding market has also turned prime-time talk show hosts like Mr. Mir into powerful figures, and made fortunes for a handful of newly minted media tycoons.

------

“It is supremely dangerous to be a reporter in Pakistan,” he said.

The military, in particular, has squirmed under the media’s relentless scrutiny. Tensions have been bubbling for some time between the Jang Group, the country’s largest media conglomerate, and the ISI. Jang is owned by Mir Shakil ur-Rehman, a reclusive editor who lives with his two wives in Dubai, where he keeps a tight grip on a media empire that includes Geo News, several sports and entertainment channels, and a stable of newspapers in Urdu and English.

Last fall, Mr. Rehman came to believe that the ISI was sponsoring a new television station, Bol, to dilute his commercial and political clout. His newspapers ran hostile reports about Bol, prompting competing media organizations to hit back with stories that painted Geo as sympathetic to Pakistan’s old rival, India.
---------
Unlike in the Musharraf era, when journalists united against military attempts to muzzle them, virulent rivalries between the businessmen who own the major stations have pulled the news media apart.

Mr. Rehman of the Jang group has a rancorous relationship with Sultan Lakhani, who owns the smaller Express media group, which includes a television station and several newspapers. (One of those papers, the English-language Express Tribune, prints The International New York Times in Pakistan.) A third station, ARY, is owned by a family of gold dealers that has little love for Mr. Rehman.

“The control of the owners and their say in what happens has increased tremendously,” said one editor, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “No editor or journalist can take a stand against them.”

The turmoil has partly obscured the plight of Mr. Mir, who has an ambiguous history with the ISI. He shot to prominence after interviewing Osama bin Laden in 1998, and was initially seen as sympathetic to the pro-jihadi agenda of the Pakistani military and the ISI. But in recent years he has championed the cause of Baluch nationalists, angering the army, and highlighted human rights abuses during military operations.

He is now under close protection at a Karachi hospital, where flowers are piled outside his door and doctors report a steady recovery. In a statement issued through his brother, Mr. Mir vowed to “continue the fight for the rights of people till my last breath and last drop of blood.”....


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/world/asia/attack-on-journalist-starts-battle-in-pakistani-press.html

Riaz Haq said...

Here's Wall Street Journal on Geo-Jang Group Media Mogul vs Military:

Media mogul Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman has played an outsized role in shaping Pakistan's politics in recent years. Now, his empire is struggling for survival after colliding with the country's most powerful institution: the military establishment.

The clash was sparked by the shooting last month of Hamid Mir, the star journalist of Mr. Rahman's Geo TV channel. Geo reporters alleged on broadcasts that the military's main spy agency was behind the attack. The military angrily denied the claim, and is now pushing to shut the network.

On Tuesday, Pakistan's media regulator will begin hearings on whether to close the channel.

The controversy is reversing fragile gains made by increasingly assertive Pakistani media over the past decade, analysts and media professionals say.

"Media has become a power center in Pakistan," said Absar Alam, an anchor at Aaj News, a competing news channel. "That has triggered alarm among traditional power players who think that they should have the exclusive right to shape opinion."

Central to the drama is Dubai-based Mr. Rahman, who owns Pakistan's biggest-selling newspaper, the Urdu-language Jang, in addition to Geo, the leading TV news channel.

According to employees, Mr. Rahman is intimately involved with editorial decisions at both outlets, which have pushed for the prosecution of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, campaigned for peace with archenemy India, and highlighted the abduction of suspected militants by security forces. Geo was also instrumental in bringing to an end Mr. Musharraf's regime in 2008 with heavy coverage of an opposition movement led by lawyers that made a hero out of Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

The political sway of his media empire has alarmed some Pakistanis, including rival media organizations, the military and some politicians.

"If one person has the power to set the political agenda, that is frightening," said Moeed Pirzada,an anchor at the competing Express News, which has echoed military criticism of Geo. "He is running a monopoly."

The boldness of Mr. Rahman's media group mirrors the larger struggle between civilian and military forces for power as a country ruled by the army for half its history tries to develop democratically. Mr. Rahman's publications were critical of the previous civilian government of Pakistan Peoples Party, which barred its members from appearing on Geo for more than a year in protest. They offered friendlier coverage of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, elected a year ago. Mr. Sharif, in turn, is widely seen as supporting Mr. Rahman in his confrontation with the military. Mr. Sharif visited Mr. Mir after the assassination attempt but denied he was taking sides. The government established a judicial commission to investigate the shooting and denied any conflict of interests.

"Geo was somewhat softer on this government," said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a security analyst. "There is a feeling in military circles that after the shooting, Geo reacted this way because they had some kind of government support."
-----------
Some Pakistani media industry leaders say that Mr. Rahman may have miscalculated with his decision to run the accusations against the ISI in such a stark way. This overreach, they say, is allowing the military to respond by taming all coverage of its activities and to divide civilian forces.

"The space for the military establishment was shrinking," said an executive at another television channel. "He has given the game back to the military."



http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702303417104579543910736702046-lMyQjAxMTA0MDAwNjEwNDYyWj

Riaz Haq said...

Here's Wall Street Journal on Geo-Jang Group Media Mogul vs Military:

Media mogul Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman has played an outsized role in shaping Pakistan's politics in recent years. Now, his empire is struggling for survival after colliding with the country's most powerful institution: the military establishment.

The clash was sparked by the shooting last month of Hamid Mir, the star journalist of Mr. Rahman's Geo TV channel. Geo reporters alleged on broadcasts that the military's main spy agency was behind the attack. The military angrily denied the claim, and is now pushing to shut the network.

On Tuesday, Pakistan's media regulator will begin hearings on whether to close the channel.

The controversy is reversing fragile gains made by increasingly assertive Pakistani media over the past decade, analysts and media professionals say.

"Media has become a power center in Pakistan," said Absar Alam, an anchor at Aaj News, a competing news channel. "That has triggered alarm among traditional power players who think that they should have the exclusive right to shape opinion."

Central to the drama is Dubai-based Mr. Rahman, who owns Pakistan's biggest-selling newspaper, the Urdu-language Jang, in addition to Geo, the leading TV news channel.

According to employees, Mr. Rahman is intimately involved with editorial decisions at both outlets, which have pushed for the prosecution of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, campaigned for peace with archenemy India, and highlighted the abduction of suspected militants by security forces. Geo was also instrumental in bringing to an end Mr. Musharraf's regime in 2008 with heavy coverage of an opposition movement led by lawyers that made a hero out of Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

The political sway of his media empire has alarmed some Pakistanis, including rival media organizations, the military and some politicians.

"If one person has the power to set the political agenda, that is frightening," said Moeed Pirzada,an anchor at the competing Express News, which has echoed military criticism of Geo. "He is running a monopoly."

The boldness of Mr. Rahman's media group mirrors the larger struggle between civilian and military forces for power as a country ruled by the army for half its history tries to develop democratically. Mr. Rahman's publications were critical of the previous civilian government of Pakistan Peoples Party, which barred its members from appearing on Geo for more than a year in protest. They offered friendlier coverage of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, elected a year ago. Mr. Sharif, in turn, is widely seen as supporting Mr. Rahman in his confrontation with the military. Mr. Sharif visited Mr. Mir after the assassination attempt but denied he was taking sides. The government established a judicial commission to investigate the shooting and denied any conflict of interests.

"Geo was somewhat softer on this government," said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a security analyst. "There is a feeling in military circles that after the shooting, Geo reacted this way because they had some kind of government support."
-----------
Some Pakistani media industry leaders say that Mr. Rahman may have miscalculated with his decision to run the accusations against the ISI in such a stark way. This overreach, they say, is allowing the military to respond by taming all coverage of its activities and to divide civilian forces.

"The space for the military establishment was shrinking," said an executive at another television channel. "He has given the game back to the military."



http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702303417104579543910736702046-lMyQjAxMTA0MDAwNjEwNDYyWj

Riaz Haq said...

From Newsweek by Julian Assange of Wikileaks:

It was at this point that I realized Eric Schmidt might not have been an emissary of Google alone. Whether officially or not, he had been keeping some company that placed him very close to Washington, D.C., including a well-documented relationship with President Obama. Not only had Hillary Clinton’s people known that Eric Schmidt’s partner had visited me, but they had also elected to use her as a back channel.

While WikiLeaks had been deeply involved in publishing the inner archive of the U.S. State Department, the U.S. State Department had, in effect, snuck into the WikiLeaks command center and hit me up for a free lunch. Two years later, in the wake of his early 2013 visits to China, North Korea and Burma, it would come to be appreciated that the chairman of Google might be conducting, in one way or another, “back-channel diplomacy” for Washington. But at the time it was a novel thought.

I put it aside until February 2012, when WikiLeaks—along with over thirty of our international media partners—began publishing the Global Intelligence Files: the internal email spool from the Texas-based private intelligence firm Stratfor. One of our stronger investigative partners—the Beirut-based newspaper Al Akhbar— scoured the emails for intelligence on Jared Cohen.

The people at Stratfor, who liked to think of themselves as a sort of corporate CIA, were acutely conscious of other ventures that they perceived as making inroads into their sector. Google had turned up on their radar. In a series of colorful emails they discussed a pattern of activity conducted by Cohen under the Google Ideas aegis, suggesting what the “do” in “think/do tank” actually means.

Cohen’s directorate appeared to cross over from public relations and “corporate responsibility” work into active corporate intervention in foreign affairs at a level that is normally reserved for states. Jared Cohen could be wryly named Google’s “director of regime change.”

According to the emails, he was trying to plant his fingerprints on some of the major historical events in the contemporary Middle East. He could be placed in Egypt during the revolution, meeting with Wael Ghonim, the Google employee whose arrest and imprisonment hours later would make him a PR-friendly symbol of the uprising in the Western press. Meetings had been planned in Palestine and Turkey, both of which—claimed Stratfor emails—were killed by the senior Google leadership as too risky.
---------

Looking for something more concrete, I began to search in WikiLeaks’ archive for information on Cohen. State Department cables released as part of Cablegate reveal that Cohen had been in Afghanistan in 2009, trying to convince the four major Afghan mobile phone companies to move their antennas onto U.S. military bases. In Lebanon, he quietly worked to establish an intellectual and clerical rival to Hezbollah, the “Higher Shia League.” And in London he offered Bollywood movie executives funds to insert anti-extremist content into their films, and promised to connect them to related networks in Hollywood.

---------

If the future of the Internet is to be Google, that should be of serious concern to people all over the world—in Latin America, East and Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, the former Soviet Union and even in Europe—for whom the Internet embodies the promise of an alternative to U.S. cultural, economic, and strategic hegemony.

A “don’t be evil” empire is still an empire.

Extracted from When Google Met Wikileaks by Julian Assange published by OR Books. Newsweek readers can obtain a 20 percent discount on the cover price when ordering from the OR Books website and including the offer code word NEWSWEEK.

http://www.newsweek.com/assange-google-not-what-it-seems-279447

Riaz Haq said...

Never before in its media history has Pakistan experienced such a large scale of resignations from top journalists based on the investigations of a foreign newspaper. Some jaded skeptical citizens are complaining why their own secret services and the media organizations are unable to dig out stories as big as the one reported by the NYT. Journalists can be blamed for their inefficiencies but they must be commended for this stance they have taken in the wake of the scandal surrounding BOL. This was probably the most highly paid job these journalists had ever held in their careers. Many of them had worked hard for decades to rise on the top and they had reached here in spite of encountering peer jealousies and frequent criticism. They had already been labeled as greedy and selfish. It must have been a tough decision for many of them but they have surely made the journalism community very proud and instilled a new spirit of hope that journalism is not for sale.

These journalists have set a new precedence for their country's media. They have acted as bravely as the lawyers did in 2007 by standing up against General Musharraf when the former dictator deposed the country's Chief Justice. Many lawyers lost income and missed opportunities to be promoted as judges because of their commitment to the country's constitution. They struggled for two daunting years before General Musharraf was compelled to reinstate the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Today, it was the journalists' turn to show that money did not solely define who they are and what they stand for. Many of them made a decision that they would perhaps never regret.

The resignation episode also comes as a reminder that the media in Pakistan is gradually changing for better. The recent years have seen more journalists coming out and refusing dictations from the military and other non-state actors and now they have said no to a business tycoon who believed he could buy the best of the country's journalists. So, what are the lessons learned from this episode? Husain Haqqani, a former journalist and Pakistan's ex-ambassador to the United States, summarized it this way on Twitter: "Lesson for journo friends from #Bol #Axact saga: When someone offers way more money than market rates, the money is often shady."

The NYT report has pushed the Pakistani media into a new age. One lesson that Pakistan's press corps should learn is that that foreign journalists who produce excellent journalism do not do so on the instructions of any foreign governments or intelligence agencies, as they accused journalist Declan Walsh. Quality journalism is extremely essential for a functioning democracy. Journalists should keep questioning everything and everyone, including themselves, so that a culture of accountably and transparency is developed and promoted.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/malik-siraj-akbar/how-the-axact-scandal-changed-pakistans-media_b_7428644.html

Riaz Haq said...

Until 2002, Pakistan’s broadcast media was a narrow field; it had one radio station, Radio Pakistan, started in 1947 and one state-owned television channel, Pakistan Television, started in 1964; both were mouthpieces for officially slanted information, alongside privately held print media dominated by three major consortiums: the liberal Jang Group, owned by the media magnate Shakeel ur-Rahman (this group now owns the broadcast and web outlet GEO); the Nawai Waqt Group, which treads a right-wing line, and the English-language Dawn Group, the most moderate of the three (the newspaper Dawn was founded in 1941 in Delhi, India, by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the leader of Pakistan’s independence movement, to promote the moderate ideals of his Muslim League).
---

Then, in 2002, Gen. Pervez Musharraf decided to open Pakistan to the global flow of information in order to reverse decades of isolation. He allowed private television channels and FM radio stations to obtain licenses, setting off a media boom. Their reporting during the conflicts that followed 9/11 and spilled over into Pakistan allowed these television channels to flourish, taking viewers away from state media in favor of more independent reporting.

Ironically, General Musharraf himself forced GEO off the air temporarily in 2007 when the channel criticized his suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. But today, out of office, the general once again flirts with the media as he tries to return to politics.

The media have grown to 40 news channels, 143 radio stations, and hundreds of national and regional newspapers. For that they are often called “vibrant.”

Another descriptor is “vulgar.” On prime-time television, news is sensationalized, with ratings the first consideration; alongside hysterical reporting are thrilling or tragic music and crude, insensitive graphics; virtually everything is “breaking news” in no hierarchy of importance. Meanwhile, large corporations like ARY and the Lakson Group have acquired media companies after discovering that controlling media can protect their corporate interests.

Advertisers get huge influence over what’s published or aired. Advertising breaks are frequent, and banners for commercial products run incessantly. Advertising also dominates front pages: one major newspaper group recently gave front-page ads prominence over headlines on all of its papers.

Meanwhile, the government still seeks to control the media; Pakistan’s Electronic Media Regulatory Authority wants an existing law amended to permit “de-linking” of television channels from their satellites if they broadcast “objectionable” or “unwanted” material.

While many in the media retain editorial integrity in the face of these pressures, Pakistani media houses have yet to come up with an industrywide code of conduct or self-regulatory body. Nor have they been able to stay unbiased. Often they blatantly take sides in political conflicts, even while describing themselves as protectors only of the public good.

So, what is the way forward? Ensuring the safety and security of Pakistani journalists is the best starting point; the industry’s foot soldiers need more training, as well as job tenure and pensions. Forming unions is another necessity, as well as creating a framework of regulation that offers protection against state and corporate pressure.

But what Pakistan’s media needs most is a unified sense of its own professional conscience, so that it can continue to thrive as it fulfills its ultimate duty to Pakistanis: to report the news free from bias and influence, while telling a good story that will catch citizens’ attention.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/26/opinion/bina-shah-journalism-in-pakistan-fear-and-favor.html?_r=0

Riaz Haq said...

#India among 3 most dangerous nations for #journalists. India more dangerous than #Pakistan & #Afghanistan @htTweets http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/110-journalists-killed-in-2015-india-deadliest-asian-country/story-7QLJwYGHQiq5EK8vdpPjQN.html …
India was among the three most dangerous countries for journalists in 2015, with nine reporters losing their lives during the year, according to the annual report of Reporters Without Borders released on Tuesday.
The media watchdog said these deaths confirmed “India’s position as Asia’s deadliest country for media personnel, ahead of both Pakistan and Afghanistan”.
Only war-torn Iraq and Syria recorded the deaths of more journalists than India. Four of the nine Indian journalists murdered in the past year were killed “for still undetermined reasons”, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said.
Besides India, the eight other countries where the most journalists were killed are Iraq (11), Syria (10), France (eight), Yemen (eight), Mexico (eight), South Sudan (seven), the Philippines (seven) and Honduras (seven).
A total of 110 journalists were killed in connection with their work or for unclear reasons in 2015, and at least 67 were killed while reporting or because of their work.
“These 67 deaths bring to 787 the total number of journalists killed in connection with their work since 2005,” RSF said in its report.
Indian journalists “daring to cover organised crime and its links with politicians have been exposed to a surge in violence, especially violence of criminal origin, since the start of 2015”, the report said.

Riaz Haq said...

#India among deadliest for journalists last year, No journalists killed in #Pakistan 2016: Report http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-among-deadliest-countries-for-journalists-last-year-report-murder-attacks-4436207/ … via @IndianExpress



India was one of the 10 deadliest countries in the world for journalists last year, and also since 1992.
A report by New York-based non-profit organisation Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) ranked India 10th, with two confirmed killings of journalists for doing their jobs in 2016.

The report ranked India as the 9th deadliest country since 1992 with 40 journalists being killed since then.
Rajdev Ranjan of Hindustan Times and Karun Misra of Jansandesh Times were murdered in 2016 for which, the CPJ said, the motive was confirmed to have been a “direct reprisal” for their work. The report said three other journalists in India were killed this year and the motive is still unconfirmed, “but it is possible” that they were killed for their work.
Since 1992, 40 journalists have been confirmed to have been killed for their work in India, while another 27 were killed but the motive is not certain, the report said.
Half of those murdered since 1992 covered politics or corruption, sometimes both. Nearly a quarter of them were reporting on business.
About half of the murders were committed by “political groups” and a fifth were killed by “criminal groups”, the report said.
About 96 per cent of the perpetrators of these crimes have enjoyed “compete impunity” in India, while in the rest of the cases only “partial justice” has been served.
Globally, too, justice has been served in only 4 per cent cases of journalist killings.
The worst year of journalists in India was 1997, with seven killings, for which motives were confirmed to have been related to their work. Internationally, 2012 saw the highest number of killings—74 deaths—with confirmed motives.

--------------

https://www.dawn.com/news/1303270/no-journalist-murdered-in-pakistan-in-2016-says-cpj-report

No journalist was murdered in Pakistan “in retaliation for their work” in 2016, a first since 2001, a recent study reported.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent organisation working to promote press freedom worldwide, in its special report launched on Monday said that it “did not identify anyone singled out for murder in Pakistan because of journalist work” — for the first time in 15 years.

The organisation classifies murder as “the targeted killing of a journalist, whether premeditated or spontaneous, in direct relation to the journalist's work”.

At least 33 journalists have been targeted and killed “in retaliation for their work” since 1992, CPJ further said in its press statement.

However, many Pakistani journalists have resorted to self-censorship or have abandoned the profession altogether to avoid “grave risks”, CPJ added.

Riaz Haq said...

This #Pakistan Spy Ring Exclusively Recruits #Hindu Boys With Saffron Links. #BJP #India #ISI

http://www.news18.com/news/india/this-pakistan-spy-ring-exclusively-recruits-hindu-boys-with-saffron-links-1352821.html

On November 12 last year, Jammu and Kashmir police nabbed two people — Dadu and Satvinder Singh — in RS Pura for allegedly spying on military installations. There seemed to be nothing extraordinary about it. After all, 22 other Pakistani spies had been caught in 2016.
But as intelligence agencies began looking at the source of their funds, they stumbled upon a unique, self-sustaining model of finance, based on a telecom fraud, the likes of which they had not encountered in any spy case earlier.
The extent of the fraud that fuelled ISI’s spy network, and possibly its terror cells in India, has been calculated to be over Rs 30,000 crore.
This model, unlike direct hawala routes that spies and terrorist organisations were known to thrive on earlier, generates money from Indian victims who are conned by ISI’s Indian recruits, using Indian telecom services and Indian banks.

Investigators looking into the Pakistani spy ring case have unearthed the involvement of people with remarkably different backgrounds.
From Gulshan Kumar, who worked with the NATO on complex military technology in Afghanistan, to Balram Singh, a young boy from a far flung village in Madhya Pradesh who flaunted his association with the Bajrang Dal did not even complete his matriculation.
But there is one thing that has surprised intelligence officers.
Though the involvement of Hindus working for Pakistani spies or working as their facilitators has been established before, intelligence officers have never found a network of financers to foreign intelligence comprising almost exclusively of Hindus.

Some of them, who’ve been identified and arrested in this case, were card-carrying members of BJP and RSS affiliates like the Bajrang Dal. Many others didn’t hold official memberships but were closely associated with mainstream and fringe Hindu groups.
These were the people who worked directly with Pakistani handlers to fund ISI spies and possibly sleeper cells of terror groups.
And that is not all. Anti-terrorist squads of more than one state are also probing links of the arrested people to Naxals extremists from Bihar and Chhattisgarh. A secret note prepared exclusively by the ATS for the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh has highlighted the background of Manoj Mandal, the latest one arrest in the case from the ‘Naxal-affected’ region of Jamui in Bihar.
A senior ATS officer in Madhya Pradesh, who was part of the team that monitored and carried out most of the arrests made in this case, says investigations have unearthed a network which is way greater than anything they’ve ever seen or handled.

Riaz Haq said...

#Pakistan's Media: #GEO TV and #ARY News face off @AJEnglish

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2017/03/pakistan-geo-tv-ary-news-face-170318120831422.html

Munizae Jahangir: " The Geo-ARY debacle was perceived to be a proxy war between the establishment and the government of Pakistan."

The case failed to draw that much attention but, as 2016 drew to a close, a court in London convicted the owners of ARY News of slander and libel and awarded $3.7m in damages to the plaintiff, Geo TV.

What set this case apart was the fact that a British court was ruling on a squabble between two of the biggest media players in Pakistan.

The very public battle between Geo TV and ARY has been characterised as a low point for the Pakistani news media.

The TV news sector in Pakistan has exploded in size in the 15 years since the days of only one, state-owned domestic channel. But the quality of the journalism often gives way to sensationalism and irresponsible reporting, and, in this case, reckless accusations of blasphemy.

Some see the conflict between Geo and ARY as a kind proxy war for a larger struggle, involving the Pakistani powers that be - over who really controls the country.

The Listening Post's Meenakshi Ravi reports on a slightly complicated media story that reveals much about politics and power in Pakistan.

"The competition was rooted in how well the channels themselves were performing ... but over time, it morphed into something way more ugly, way more public," says Sadaf Khan, director of programmes, Media Matters for Democracy.

April 2014 marked a turning point in the competition between the two channels.

An attempt on the life of Geo News' most prominent anchor, Hamid Mir, put the journalist and his channel on a collision course with the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI. Mir had reported extensively on the agency and said he was convinced it was behind the attack.

This wasn't the first time the ISI was accused of targeting a journalist.

In 2011, investigative reporter Saleem Shahzad was kidnapped and then found dead in northeast Pakistan. Shahzad had documented three warnings from the ISI, letting him know his work had put him on their radar.

Now, three years later, the Mir case put the lingering issue of alleged rogue operations of the ISI back in the headlines, and ARY waded into the debate.

When ARY backed the ISI, it ostensibly aligned itself with the intelligence community and the military - the Pakistani establishment.

Geo, on the other hand, was seen to be allied with the elected government.

READ MORE: Pakistan's Geo News channel taken off air

"The Geo-ARY debacle was perceived to be a proxy war between the establishment and the government of Pakistan," explains Munizae Jahangir, senior anchor and executive producer, AAJ Television.

ARY News made it personal by accusing Geo TV owner Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman of taking money from Indian intelligence and using it to defame and discredit Pakistan.

Such accusations can get you killed in Pakistan.

"One of the main allegations was that we had run this campaign for peace between India and Pakistan, which was a media-led campaign - The Times of India, and The Jang Group had come together. This was completely an initiative that was funded entirely by ourselves - we had absolutely no funding from any international organisation, let alone intelligence agencies, and, and yet, continuously, documents were waved on the screen," says Geo TV president Imran Aslam.

"The editorial stance taken by our channels on various issues are different ... However, if you work on the behest of any government or you ally yourself with a government, then your journalism is flawed and the Jang and Geo group's output are perfect examples of this," says ARY News host Arshad Sharif.

Riaz Haq said...

Wikileaks: Pakistani journalists Ahmad Zuberi and Talat Husain work for Stratfor, a US CIA front.

https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/27/278464_re-news-services-.html

I'd like to send the signed pdf back to Mr Zuberi. Is that OK with you?
I'll cc you of course.

-----Original Message-----
From: Kamran Bokhari [mailto:bokhari@stratfor.com]
Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2009 3:33 PM
To: 'Meredith Friedman'
Subject: RE: News services

Hi Meredith,

Here is the revised draft of the MoU from Ahmad A. Zuberi, Managing
Director of Recorder Television Network. His email address is
ahmad@aaj.tv.

As indicated in the MoU, Syed Talat Hussain, Executive Director, News &
Current Affairs (my source) will be the PoC on behalf of AaJ TV. His email
address is syedtalathussain@gmail.com.

Once you have the final draft with George signature's ready, email it to
Mr.
Zuberi and cc Talat and myself. Asif A. Zuberi, CEO of Recorder Television
Network will sign it and send it back. Let me know if you have any
questions.

Cheers,

Kamran
________________________________________

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
________________________________________
From: "Meredith Friedman"
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:28:09 -0500
To:
Subject: RE: News services

Good news - will look for the adjusted version - pls cc me on your next
email to him so he knows who I am and I can get the agreement signed here.
I'm VP of Communications.

________________________________________
From: Kamran Bokhari [mailto:bokhari@stratfor.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 1:22 PM
To: Meredith Friedman
Subject: Re: News services
Meredith, Aaj TV's CEO, Ahmad Zuberi, has signed off on the agreement. He
has made some minor adjustments to the draft such as the deal will be with
Business Recorder Group (parent company of Aaj TV). Waiting on him to send
the adjusted version back to me. Will forward once I get it.
---

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
________________________________________
From: "Meredith Friedman"
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:17:49 -0500
To:
Subject: RE: News services

That's great Kamran.

________________________________________
From: Kamran Bokhari [mailto:bokhari@stratfor.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 12:11 PM
To: Meredith Friedman
Subject: Re: News services
Hi Meredith,

Sounds great but dtill waiting on the approval from the CEO of Aaj TV.
Will
let you know as soon as I hear from my contact.

Cheers,

Kamran
---

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
________________________________________

________________________________________
From: Kamran Bokhari [mailto:bokhari@stratfor.com]
Sent: Monday, October 19, 2009 3:29 AM
To: Meredith Friedman
Subject: Re: News services
Hi Meredith,

I just got out of a meeting with the top director dealing with news and
current affairs at Aaj TV and he at his level is extremely interested in
forming the relationship we are seeking. I shared with him a generic
version
of the sample MoU (minus the details of APA), which he has sent to his
principals at their corporate headquarters in Karachi. He expects them to
sign off on it. We will know in about 24 hours. If we can get this deal
with
them it will be perfect because Aaj has the best quality of information
when
it comes to geopolitical developments. They have a great source network in
the areas we are interested in: NWFP, FATA, Baluchistan, Kashmir, army,
intelligence, nuclear establishment, Afghanistan, and Iran. Aaj produces
the
best quality news and analyses. Will let you know as soon as I hear back
from my contact.

Best,

Kamran

Riaz Haq said...

#American #CIA Contractor #RaymondDavis Exposes Pimps, Prostitutes & #Politicians of #Pakistan http://thelondonpost.net/raymond-davis-exposed-pimps-prostitutes-politicians-pakistan/ … via @The London Post

By Shahid Qureshi –

Raymond Davis, a CIA asset in his book ‘The Contractor’ exposed the cancerous elements of the so-called elite of Pakistan and how they all prostituted in his release, used Sharia Law of ‘Diyat’ (paying blood money) to get his swift release from the jail. They were all in one cage, generals, civil servants, judges, lawyers and politicians. Those who were colluding with the US were the high and mighty of Pakistan from Asif Zardari to Shabaz Sharif, Nawaz Sharif and General Shuja Pasha. These people have disgraced the country for their interests. Interesting thing to ponder is how foreign agencies could cultivate its assets in Pakistan and nobody knew about it? Chinese experts says about Pakistani elite – “Fish start rotting from the Head”. This book is to undermine the confidence of the armed forces but at the same time armed forces need to keep its backyard clean. No?

“Do you know which organisations and groups are working against Pakistan here in UK”, a young and dynamic journalist asked me. I said, ‘No I don’t’. I told him that ‘Pakistan’s number one problem is treachery’ and I do know individuals and groups working against Pakistan for many years in Pakistan’. What about them?

Did you not see how politicians, military and civil servant all got together in the quick release of Raymond Davis a CIA killer and murderer? They all have Green Cards and kids in USA. This law and nationalism is only for up to grade 16 and below in Pakistan.

In the words of Indian politician Laluparsad Yadav: “You take the calf and cow will follow you”. Following that theme US, UK and other western countries offered scholarships and visas and green cards to the sons and daughters of high and mighty generals, civil servants and politicians. There is no such thing as free lunch and these people are not more than a prostitute who trade in national honour both in cash and kind.

And they glow and shine as moon in the night and sun in day nothing happens to them and all are living happily now and ever after’. I didn’t mean to dampen his nationalism and patriotism but the reality is those treacherous elements and who sold the national interests and harmed Pakistan being awarded and showered with wealth and honour. It is more about your weakness than smartness of your enemies. I said to him, ‘a country which can make a nuclear bomb, long range missiles, fuel its fighter jets in the air, whose girls are flying fighter jets, make drones so on and so forth.

But the same people could not make few holes to drain water from Attaabad Lake in North of Pakistan for 6 months, which swallowed the miles of Silk Road and then caused huge floods downstream from southern Punjab to rural and urban Sindh while our than President Asif Zardari spent his holidays in London. By simply not making few holes these elements have caused losses to the state and lives of the people. Don’t you see any treachery in it? (a) Crucial road link to China was shut down due to flooding (b) this could be stopped?

Indus water commissioner allowed India to violate the water treaty and continue with the plan to water bomb Pakistan for over 12 years. A politician from ANP installed as Railway Minister and he destroyed the entire system in few years. Hence weakens the national defence and transport network?

Riaz Haq said...

Concern Grows as #Pakistan Journalist @HamidMirPAK Who Interviewed #BinLaden Linked to #Taliban Kidnapping of Spy

https://www.voanews.com/a/concern-grows-as-pakistani-journalist-who-interviewed-bin-laden-is-linked-to-taliban-kidnapping/4103777.html

The reopening of the case was a result of a complaint filed by the widow of the slain former army intelligence officer Khalid Khawaja, who was reportedly killed by the Pakistani Taliban group in the North Waziristan tribal region.

Khawaja allegedly had a close association with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and also worked closely with the Afghan Taliban on behalf of the Pakistan army's intelligence agency, the ISI. Media reports connected him with the murder of American reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi in 2002.

Mir, who is currently associated with Pakistani Geo TV station and hosts a current affairs show called Capital Talk, has denied any role in Khawaja’s abduction and claimed that the charges were politically motivated.

“It's a seven years’ old case. I was cleared by courts in 2010. The same case surfaced again in 2017 to silence my voice but fake cases can’t silence me,” Mir tweeted.

It is not the first time that Mir has been accused of links to Khawaja’s abduction. A recording of a phone conversation between journalist Mir and a Taliban spokesperson about the fate of Khawaja surfaced in May 2010 in which he described Khawaja as a “CIA collaborator,” according to a report in The Guardian newspaper.

In the recording, he accused Khawaja of “playing a treacherous role in the 2007 Red Mosque siege” by the Pakistani army in which the Mosque’s chief cleric and more than 100 people were killed. He said the tape as fabricated.

Mir rose to prominence after he interviewed Osama bin Laden in November 2001. The interview was conducted in the Afghan capital Kabul, under intense U.S. bombing following the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

Riaz Haq said...

#Pakistan #ISI has a record of discovering & breaking #CIA informant networks. #Intelligence services in countries such as #Russia, #China, #Iran and Pakistan have been hunting down the C.I.A.’s sources and in some cases turning them into double agents. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/us/politics/cia-informants-killed-captured.html

Top American counterintelligence officials warned every C.I.A. station and base around the world last week about troubling numbers of informants recruited from other countries to spy for the United States being captured or killed, people familiar with the matter said.

The message, in an unusual top secret cable, said that the C.I.A.’s counterintelligence mission center had looked at dozens of cases in the last several years involving foreign informants who had been killed, arrested or most likely compromised. Although brief, the cable laid out the specific number of agents executed by rival intelligence agencies — a closely held detail that counterintelligence officials typically do not share in such cables.

The cable highlighted the struggle the spy agency is having as it works to recruit spies around the world in difficult operating environments. In recent years, adversarial intelligence services in countries such as Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan have been hunting down the C.I.A.’s sources and in some cases turning them into double agents.

Acknowledging that recruiting spies is a high-risk business, the cable raised issues that have plagued the agency in recent years, including poor tradecraft; being too trusting of sources; underestimating foreign intelligence agencies, and moving too quickly to recruit informants while not paying enough attention to potential counterintelligence risks — a problem the cable called placing “mission over security.”

The large number of compromised informants in recent years also demonstrated the growing prowess of other countries in employing innovations like biometric scans, facial recognition, artificial intelligence and hacking tools to track the movements of C.I.A. officers in order to discover their sources.

While the C.I.A. has many ways to collect intelligence for its analysts to craft into briefings for policymakers, networks of trusted human informants around the world remain the centerpiece of its efforts, the kind of intelligence that the agency is supposed to be the best in the world at collecting and analyzing.

Recruiting new informants, former officials said, is how the C.I.A.’s case officers — its frontline spies — earn promotions. Case officers are not typically promoted for running good counterintelligence operations, such as figuring out if an informant is really working for another country.

The agency has devoted much of its attention for the last two decades to terrorist threats and the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, but improving intelligence collection on adversarial powers, both great and small, is once again a centerpiece of the C.I.A.’s agenda, particularly as policymakers demand more insight into China and Russia.

The loss of informants, former officials said, is not a new problem. But the cable demonstrated the issue is more urgent than is publicly understood.