Pak’s Geo TV draws flak for airing report on Ajmal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s private TV channel Geo TV has drawn flak from other TV channels here for running a special investigative report confirming that the gunman captured alive during the Mumbai terror attack is from Faridkot in Pakistani Punjab.

Geo TV’s 9pm news bulletin, for three consecutive days — Friday, Saturday and Sunday — aired a special report with exclusive footage of locals talking about Mohammad Ajmal Amir as a boy from Faridkot village. TV reporters used hidden cameras to record their conversation with residents, who confirmed Amir had visited the village three months back to seek his mother’s blessings before proceeding on an important jehadi mission.

During the visit, Amir also told his mother that his fate was now in Allah’s hands, the channel quoted a villager as saying. But Amir’s father, Mohammad Amir Iman, told Geo TV that Amir left home several years ago and never returned.

The Geo TV report however, revealed that Amir first left his village seven years ago and then returned on September 26 to meet relatives and friends.

The Geo TV report served a major blow to Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari’s statement insisting that the arrested terrorist was not a Pakistani national. Intelligence agencies also persuaded TV channels to campaign against Geo TV, saying that it was working against Pakistan’s interest.

However, the Geo TV management has refuted the charges saying the report it ran was based on facts.