Hamid Mir

Hamid Mir ( _ur. حامدمير) (b. July 23, 1966, Sialkot) is a Pakistani journalist and editor. He is known for his Urdu columns and hosts Geo's Capital Talk.

Education

Mir was born in Sialkot, Punjab. He earned his master's degree in mass communications from the University of Punjab, Lahore, in 1989.

----Hamid Mir has two children.

Career

Mir joined the "Daily Jang" (Lahore) in 1987 and worked there as sub-editor, reporter, feature writer and edition in charge. In 1994, he broke the submarines purchase scandal in "Daily Jang". Some close friends of Asif Zardari (husband of then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto) were involved in that scandal, along with some Navy officials. Mir lost his job the day his article was published.

In 1996, Mir became the editor of the "Daily Pakistan" in Islamabad, making him the youngest editor of any national Urdu newspaper in the history of Pakistani journalism. He lost his job again in 1997, when he wrote an article in the "Daily Pakistan" about the alleged corruption of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Also in 1997, he joined "Daily Ausaf" (Islamabad) as founding editor.

Mir spent ten days in the Eastern Afghanistan, where he investigated the escape of Osama bin Ladin from Tora Bora mountains in December, 2001.

In 2002, Mir joined GEO TV as the Northern Region editor. Since November, 2002, he has hosted GEO TV's "Capital Talk", a political talk show in which top Pakistani politicians from the government and opposition have appeared. He is currently writing a biography of Osama bin Ladin, as well as a weekly column in "Daily Jang" and "The News International".

Hamid Mir some times also contrast with another famous journalist of Pakistan, Dr Shahid Masood.Though Mir style is different but both counter the participants in there talk shows very acutely.

Comments to "Canadian Free Press"

Mir claimed --in an interview with independent online news source CanadianFreePress.com-- that Al-Qaeda had acquired three so called 'suitcase nukes' from Russia, and had successfully smuggled them to Europe. Mir alleges these weapons have been in the possession of Al-Qaeda since long before the 9/11 terror attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., and that they were originally intended to be targeted against London, Paris and Los Angeles.

Mir also claims that Al-Qaeda has 23 sleeper agents inside the United States (minus the 19 who died carrying out the 9/11 attacks) and that these terrorists already have enough radioactive material for six 'dirty bombs'. [http://canadafreepress.com/2006/mauro052506.htm Al-Qaeda's Hidden Arsenal and Sponsors:Interview with Hamid Mir] ]

Notable articles and awards

* Contributed a weekly column for "The Friday Times" from 2000 to 2002, and for the weekly "The Independent" from 2002 to 2003.
* Contributed columns for "The Times of India", "Outlook, Delhi", "The Week, India", "Dainik Bhaskar" (the largest Hindi newspaper of India) and Rediff.com.
* Earned an All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) award for best columnist (Urdu) for the years 1996,1997,and 1998.
* Received the Maharishi Samman Award for Excellence in Journalism announced by Trust for Media Studies, in Jodhpur, in March, 2005.
* Awarded the Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal from the Ministry of Women Development, Government of Pakistan for writing and speaking in support of women's rights, in August 2005.
* Interviewed Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in 1994 for the "Daily Jang", in Switzerland. It was the first ever interview from any high Israeli official by any Pakistani journalist.
* Interviewed Osama Bin Ladin for the "Daily Pakistan" in 1997, for the "Daily Ausaf" [http://www.dailyausaf.com] in 1998, and for the "Daily Dawn" [http://www.dawn.com] in 2001. [http://www.robert-fisk.com/usama_interview_hamid_mir_ausaf.htm] The latter was the first interview after 9/11 by any journalist, and the BBC and CNN declared it an international scoop. The "Monthly Herald" announced that interview as the scoop of the year in its annual issue of December 2001. [http://www.maldivesculture.com/maldives_osama_bin_laden.html]
* The American newspaper "Christian Science Monitor" declared him a hero of the Pakistani masses after his coverage of the October 8th, 2005, Kashmir earthquake. [http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1201/p04s01-wosc.html]
* Author of a book on the political philosophy of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, published in 1990, which is still in print.

References

External links

* [http://www.hamidmir.com/ HamidMir.com] - Hamid Mir's homepage
* [http://www.pakistannewsroom.com Watch Latest videos of Hamid Mir's Capital Talk]
* [http://www.maldivesculture.com/maldives_osama_bin_laden.html 2002 interview with Mir, about his interactions with Osama bin Laden]
* [http://jang-group.com/thenews/sep2005-daily/14-09-2005/main/main6.htm Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmid Jalali was forced to resign]
* [http://oraclesyndicate.twoday.net/stories/2693514/ Risk is the beauty of journalism: ] Interview from David Dastych with Hamid Mir
* [http://www.ibitians.com/category/columns/hamid-mir/ Read Hamid Mir Columns in Urdu at IBITIANS.com]