Adil Najam
Just got hold of a list of major media appearances that Gen. Pervez Musharraf will be making as part of his book tour to promote In The Line of Fire: A Memoir. The book is publsihed by Simon and Schuster which will be handing much of the book tour, although it is clear that he will be asked about and will speak about much more than just the book.
(BTW, there is also a White House meeting with President Bush on Friday; so Gen. Musharraf will remain busy).
ATP had alreday written about the general’s appearance on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, and we have a ccurrently ongoing ATP Poll on Grading Gen. Musharraf’s Performance in office. I am sure there will be other appearances too, but here is a list of the key ones.
Sept. 24: 60 Minutes
Sept. 25: NBC’s Today Show
Sept. 26: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Sept. 27: NPR’s Morning Edition
Oct. 1: NBC’s Meet The Press
Although there are always surprises, those familiar with the US media landscape would agree that one could express the toughest questions on Meet The Press with Tim Russert and The Dialy Show with Jon Stewart. The Today Show and Morning Edition appearances are more likely to focus on the ‘softer’ and more personal questions. 60 Minutes can go eitehr way, depending on who is interviewing him, but is likely to be a mix of personal and political issues.
Also heard on the internet that the ghost writer for the book is Humayun Gauhar. I am not at all sure if this is true or not. If this is, in fact, true that would be something. Humayun Gauhar is another ‘PR maven’, and son of Ayub Khan’s media guru, Altaf Gauhar. Reportedly, Ayub Khan’s biography, Friends, Not Masters, was ghost-written by Altaf Gauhar.
If true, the coincidence and the connection would be just a little too perfect. Which is why I remain skeptical about the authenticity of this rumor. Readers, does anyone have a sense if this is true or not?
Video clips (in three parts) of Bush-Musharraf press conference at the White House on Sept. 22:
I am surprised by the silence in the US media and offical circles to the interview yesterday… no response at all…. or am I missing something? Maybe we will hear of it once the Musharraf meets Bush today in the White House?
How can Musharraf allow himself to be grilled by foreign journalists and media and not allow similar freedoms to local countrymen.
Today in Dawn,
http://dawn.com/2006/09/22/top9.htm
[quote post=”319″] this was the fifth case of disappearance of journalists in Sindh over the past six months, while four journalists were killed and an equal number of mediamen were victimised by being implicated in concocted cases as punishment for covering events and exposing the high-handedness of the state machinery.
Mehardeen Marri of Sindhi daily Kawish, they said, had been missing since July 2. In March, Mukesh Ropeta and Sanjay Kumar of KTN were picked up by law-enforcement agencies from Jacobabad and they were produced for remand in July.
Electronic media employee Muneer Mengal, who had arrived in Karachi from Dubai about six months ago, was whisked away as he came out of the airport lounge and his whereabouts are not known yet. During the last two weeks, Maqbool Hussain Sayal and Taimoor Khan were killed in DI Khan and Wana respectively.
In the latest case of victimisation, Shakeel Anjum of The News has been implicated in a triple murder case by an SHO of Islamabad whose involvement in extra-judicial killing was exposed by the reporter. [/quote]
Well, they are not Daniel Pearl when the whole state machinery had nothing to do for a week and was involved in tracing his whereabouts on a war footing.
President Musharraf certainly has a lot on his plate…but after seeing him at the UN press conference, I can say that he can handle himself.
To watch his UN press conference:
real player: http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/pressconference/pc060 920pm1.rm
UN Page: http://www.un.org/webcast/2006.html
Seems that Mush’s response is the reaction of what bush had said earlier that is he wouldn’t hesitate some military action in Pakistan to hunt Bin Laden.A tussel b/w Mush and Bush?
[quote comment=”3020″]Falcon, It is truly an educated guess from you. In my opinion, it could be any number of things, including what you mentioned and, going down as much as getting the right pitch for sunday primetime for 60 minutes.[/quote]
I’m certainly not one to advance conspiracy theories. If someone in Pakistan actually did think it through this far, frankly, I’ll be impressed with their understanding of American culture/media.