Daily Times

Growing up on the mean streets of Karachi, a certain, impactful sentence would make the rounds in its original form, “Paisa bari hi gandi cheez hai; iss ki chamak achay achon ko baawla ker daiti hai.” The translation goes like this, “Money is a very dirty thing because its sparkle impairs the senses of many otherwise sane and sensible people.” The recent fiasco, which led to the downfall of a supposedly leading IT firm and its executives, is positive proof of this street-smart saying. The people associated with an upcoming private television channel, which was going to take the media industry head on, are now singing a totally different tune. What a difference a week or so makes! If you were to visit the website of this leading IT company and click on a video message from the very famous managing director and an acclaimed journalist of Pakistan, you would see him praising the parent company and its set up. You would also see him defending the company very vocally at the initial stages of this scandal and, at the same time, making foolish distinctions between the channel and Axact. The gentleman who was considered the Peter Jennings, Dan Rather or Ted Kopple of Pakistani television was seen backpedalling rather rapidly.
The guy delivered his oddly rhyming commentaries every night, even as the credits rolled, but was rendered clueless and at times speechless when questioned by his former colleagues on this subject. He used Twitter as a medium to express his disassociation (resignation). When grilled by a fellow journalist on his questionable and not so ethical stand, he acted like a juvenile trying to drag the interviewer into the muck, by blaming him for being as interested as him in negotiating a deal with the ill-fated enterprise. What blew most people away was his statement to a fellow journalist on air, reminding him that the channel had a video recording of his negotiations with the management.
Most people were able to gather that the so-called largest, most truthful and patriotic channel was videotaping business conversations without the consent of the parties being videotaped. I am no legal eagle but perhaps this not only borders on being unethical but is illegal as well. The sudden change of heart and mind came from the evidence released by The New York Times reporter. One is amazed that this is the epitome of investigative journalism in Pakistan that these top journalists were unable to investigate or dissect the parent company at all.
Another journalist, who used to do a programme reminiscent of Crossfire by Chris Mathews on his debut channel and had joined the private television channel bandwagon, brought about sheer amazement coupled with major disappointment. He was asked about the reason behind his resignation and he sounded expectedly disgruntled. Yet even after his resignation on moral grounds, he tried to defend the channel in question. In its defence, the respected anchor cum seasoned political analyst and thinker said that “at least the Axact company was bringing the money to Pakistan and not taking it overseas or looting from its people”. I tried to engage the respected senior analyst several times on Twitter but to no avail. With that logic, as long as anyone brings money to Pakistan, regardless of the source of that wealth, they should be awarded a Sitara-e-Imtiaz (medal of distinction). The icing on the stinking cake was his loud-mouthed boast of joining the flashy channel so that it would improve the standard of living of the other workers by default. In more Urdu street slang, this is called topi pehnana (covering up your follies).
The paragon of intellect, a Harvard educated, defence analyst cum talk show host, with a well-crafted US accent, recently tweeted: “Innocent till proven guilty.” That foreign journalist, who was expelled for engaging in anti-Pakistan activities according to the patriotic lot, must have released a magical cache of evidence because our tough and macho guy crumbled in no time and bolted from the channel instantaneously. I tried engaging this paragon endlessly with highly intelligent (a rarity from this scribe) questions on Twitter but again to no avail.
Mr Walsh has not only exposed the hypocritical nature of this shady business outfit but also the hypocritical nature of our so-called media giants. It is easy for these people to go after politicians like hungry vultures but it is difficult for them to indulge in basic due diligence when it comes to their own landing pads. As the respected chairman and CEO of the only patriotic channel has repeatedly said, the “seth media” is busy hatching conspiracies. One has to ask the respected chairman and CEO, who is perhaps practicing his oratory skills in front of the officials of the Federal Investigative Agency (FIA), whether his company was a non-profit in any way? Were you not dreaming of becoming Bill Gates at one time? Or should we rename you the Robin Hood of Pakistan?
The evil media is now busy with its favourite conspiracy theories and parroting age-old narratives. I recently watched four evening talk show icons debating the topic. One was driving at the message that fraud was perhaps not committed because online universities and their regulations are not present in Pakistan. Some were expressing concerns about the way in which the FIA raid was conducted at the location where the stash of blank degrees and certificates were discovered. To such bright minds, who literally shape the opinions of millions in this country, it should be clear that even online universities need to have real teachers to assist enrolled students.
In addition, the incriminating evidence is so overwhelming that even my nine-year-old can understand what is going on. Speaking of my nine-year-old, I have repeatedly said on Twitter that even he can smell that the respected CEO and chairman is only a front man. I have repeatedly tried to engage the who’s who of Pakistani journalists on Twitter and direct their attention towards the real owner of Axact who owns 98 percent shares, registered as Axact FZ LLC in Dubai, but have received no response from such bright minds. Perhaps another foreign journalist will pick up that piece and uncover the truth. Borrowing from another late broadcast legend, Andy Rooney, “that’s the rest of the story”.

The writer is a Pakistani-US mortgage banker. He blogs at http://dasghar.blogspot.com and can be reached at dasghar@aol.com.
He tweets at http://twitter.com/dasghar