Hamid Mir born 23 July 1966, he is a Pakistani journalist, news anchor,and security analyst. He currently hosts the political talk show Capital Talk on Geo TV and also writes columns for Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, and English newspapers. He was twice banned from Pakistani television by the Pervez Musharraf government in 2007, and by the Zardari administration in June 2008. He has also received the Hilal-i-Imtiaz, Pakistan's second highest civil award.
Background
Mir was born in Lahore, Punjab, in July 1966. He studied and completed his secondary education at University Laboratory School New Campus and Government Central Model School, Lahore. He received his intermediate degree from Government Science College and his Bachelor of Arts (B.A) degree from Government College. He earned his Master of Arts (M.A) in mass communications from the University of Punjab in 1989. He played cricket but left the sport after the sudden death of his father.
Journalistic 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 on 25 December 1997, he launched Daily Ausaf (Islamabad) as founding editor.
Mir went eastern Afghanistan, where he investigated the escape of Osama bin Laden from Tora Bora mountains in December 2001. Mir visited the caves of bin Ladin, during the American bombing. Mir also disclosed that it was U.S.-backed Northern Alliance leader Hazrat Ali who provided safe passage to bin Laden after getting a huge bribe.
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 also writing a biography of Osama bin Laden, as well as a weekly column in Daily Jang.
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Source: Wikipedia.org
