Pakistani Media Reporting of Lashkar-e-Taiba
Pakistani media outlets have been accused of allowing Islamists, including militant groups, air time to advertise their message. Activist group Pakistan Media Watch reported on April 2, 2014, that:
“Any pretense of media freedom was washed away by the ink in [journalist] Kamal Siddiqi’s pen when he wrote to instruct Express Tribune [a prominent Pakistani newspaper] reporters to write ‘nothing against any militant organization and its allies like the Jamaat-e-Islami, religious parties and the Tehrik-e-Insaf’.”“Media Freedom…For Militants,” Pakistan Media Watch, accessed May 5, 2015, http://pakistanmediawatch.com/2014/04/02/media-freedom-for-militants/.
Regarding Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the article continues, “A perfect example of this is the decision by The News (Jang Group) to publish an extensive pro-Taliban interview with jihadi leader Hafiz Saeed. The Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief excused militant violence inside Pakistan by blaming ‘foreign enemies’ and claiming that ‘Those who are destroying peace in Pakistan are directly or indirectly working on the [sic] foreign agenda’.”“Media Freedom…For Militants,” Pakistan Media Watch, accessed May 5, 2015, http://pakistanmediawatch.com/2014/04/02/media-freedom-for-militants/.
The BBC quoted Saeed in a press conference he gave after the U.S. announced a $10 million bounty on him, stating, “I am here, I am visible…I will be in Lahore tomorrow. America can contact me whenever it wants to.”“Lashkar-e-Taiba Founder Decries ‘Ridiculous’ US Bounty,” BBC News, April 4, 2012, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-17607779.
The Counter Extremism Project Presents
Enduring Music: Compositions from the Holocaust
Marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Counter Extremism Project's ARCHER at House 88 presents a landmark concert of music composed in ghettos and death camps, performed in defiance of resurgent antisemitism. Curated with world renowned composer, conductor, and musicologist Francesco Lotoro, the program restores classical, folk, and popular works, many written on scraps of paper or recalled from memory, to public consciousness. Featuring world and U.S. premieres from Lotoro's archive, this concert honors a repertoire that endured against unimaginable evil.