ISLAMABAD: Against the backdrop of an attack on the life of senior journalist and anchorperson Hamid Mir, Geo TV network and Jang media group tendered apology on Monday to the armed forces and Inter-Services Intelligence for hurling allegations on ISI chief Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam.

In the apology published in The News and Jang, the media group clarified that it respected Pakistani forces and their leadership.

“We have always appreciated their sacrifices to safeguard our borders and the security of our country,” said the apology letter.

The media group clarified that the allegations were not hurled by the institution but by Hamid Mir himself and later repeated by his brother soon after the attack in Karachi.

Mir had repeatedly held the ISI or some elements within its ranks for orchestrating the attack on his life. The senior anchorperson had said in his first media interaction that he was being threatened to leave the country by the same elements who he alleged were behind the attack.

“After serious retrospection, editorial debates, feedback and engagement with all parties, directly and indirectly, we have concluded that our coverage immediately after the tragic and unnerving attack on Hamid Mir on April 19 was excessive, distressful and emotional,” said the group in the apology. The group accepted that the coverage of the incident was “misleading, disproportionate and inappropriate giving impression of a campaign,” although it followed current media practices, including the version of armed forces with photo of DG ISPR televised repeatedly.

The group apologised to the ISI, its chief Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam, his family, Pakistan Army and large number of television viewers for causing “deep hurt”.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2014