Hamid Mir (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''
Relationship with the Taliban
Hamid Mir is sometimes alleged to be a supporter of (or media face of) Taliban in Pakistan because of his views which, it has been alleged, are usually based on denialInstead of acknowledging and condemning Taliban''s terrorist activities in Pakistan and elsewhere, it has been alleged, he attributes all acts of terrorism to Indian, USA and Israel.
Amir Mir, a brother of Hamid Mir, is also a journalist who is known to have thoroughly investigated the terrorist activities of jihadi and sectarian organizations in Pakistan.
