The Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) which promotes militancy groups such as Hamas, and ARY, a Pakistani ISI controlled dubious business conglomerate that runs various types of businesses and television channels are reportedly patronizing activities of anti-Bangladesh individuals namely Hasinur Rahman and others. It may be mentioned here that, ARY was the funder behind 10-truck weapons which were seized by Bangladeshi law enforcement agencies in 2004 en-route to Indian northeastern states.
Abdul Razzak Yaqoob, a Pakistani gold bullion trader who founded ARY Gold in the United Arab Emirates and later ARY Media Group.
Yakoob moved to the United Arab Emirates in the 1960s and started gold business with an outlet in Dubai. He founded ARY Group in 1972 and launched a private television channel ARY Digital in 2000.
He was associated with the ARY Gold bribery case in which he paid a bribe to then Finance Minister of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari to get exclusive rights to import and trade gold in Pakistan. In January 1994, Schlegelmilch established a British Virgin Island based named Capricorn Trading, with Zardari as its owner.
Following the ouster of Imran Khan and formation of a cocktail government with Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as Pakistan’s foreign minister, ARY was taken down in parts of Pakistan following an order passed by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to the cable operators. But ARY still remains under the influence of ISI.
The transmission of ARY News was suspended in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Sialkot, Hyderabad, Faisalabad and other cities. The position of ARY News was also changed in different areas of Rawalpindi city.
Following the shutdown of ARY News, several Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders including Shireen Mazari, Shahbaz Gill, and others took to Twitter and condemned PEMRA’s illegal act.
Protesting PEMRA’s decision, ARY in its website said:
The suspension of ARY News transmission is a clear violation of Islamabad High Court (IHC) orders which barred PEMRA from closure and relegation of ARY News to lower numbers on TV channels sequence.
The suspension of transmission comes hours after ARY News aired a report that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) has reportedly activated its strategic media cell to malign Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its chairman Imran Khan besides building a narrative to prove the rival as an anti-armed forces power.
The report aired by ARY News on June 27 regarding the activation of the ruling PML-N’s strategic media cell proved to be true. It emerged that the PML-N activated its strategic media cell to run a malicious campaign against Imran Khan and PTI to prove it was an anti-military or anti-armed forces party.
CAIR, which is known as one of the biggest American Muslim rights groups has earned a reputation as one of the most controversial Islamic advocacy groups. Leaders of the group have, for years, refused to address substantive concerns about their ties with extremist groups and terror finance entities.
According to media reports, Jamaat-e-Islami has heavy influence inside CAIR, while the later is in many cases used by Jamaat for exerting influence in its favor in the Western countries, particularly the US.
According to a credible source, Hasinur Rahman was referred to CAIR by some extremely influence Jamaat leaders in Pakistan, while he was assigned to bring media outlets in favor of Jamaat’s anti-Awami League and anti-Bangladesh vendetta. Accordingly, Hasinur Rahman succeeded in helping Jamaat and Pakistani side in bringing Netra News and Nagorik TV under indirect control and use these outlets as propaganda machines targeting Bangladesh, ruling Awami League and Bangladesh Armed Forces.
