ISAS Insights

Pakistan's government headed by Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif has had deal to with a variety of problems in the first year of his third term in office. These relate to the development of a political order which could define the role of Islam and that of the military in governance. A new battle front opened up for this administration as it was nearing the completion of its first year. This was the result of an assassination-attempt on a well-known TV anchor on 19 April 2014. Hamid Mir of Geo, a popular TV channel, was the target of some assassins-to-be. He was fired upon and injured as he was going by car to the Karachi studio of his employer. Geo is by far the most popular cable channel in Pakistan. It is watched by about one-half of those in the country who get their news and information from this particular medium. Soon after the attack, Amir Mir, the anchor's brother and also a journalist, went on the air and accused the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) and its Director General, Lt Gen Zaheer-ul-Islam, for planning and executing the assassination attempt