THIS is apropos of the news report ‘National flag hoisted in Tirah’ (June 21). Anything out of the routine or out of turn is news.

Tirah was, is and will remain a part of Pakistan. Hoisting of national flag in Tirah, therefore, cannot be defined as news unless the above-referred report mentioned the date since when the national flag could not be hoisted in Tirah.

Unfortunately, I did not find any mention of this fact in the said report. Nor do I recall having seen any news report captioned ‘National flag cannot be hoisted in Tirah’.

It is correct that for quite some time Dawn has been reporting about the disturbances in Tirah but never did the news reports carried by Dawn in the past mention that the situation in Tirah was so bad that the national flag could not be hoisted in the area.

Past news reports only vaguely mentioned about the absence of the government’s writ in that area which is neither here nor there because the expression “absence of government’s writ” has of late become so commonplace that it is also used, for instance, to describe the situation in the Lyari area of Karachi.

I, therefore, urge Dawn not to compromise the paper’s standing by publishing vague news reports.

KHALID IDREES Islamabad