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This Version is For Public Release and Use.

ATQ/8745, Friday, May 1, 205.

Mr. Sultan Lakhani

Express News
Karachi, Pakistan.

SUBJECT: THE PERSONAL SMEAR CAMPAIGN BY DR. TAIMUR RAHMAN AGAINST AT Q HOST
AHMED QURAISHI, WITH A POLITICAL AGENDA

Dear Mr. Lakhani,

A professor at LUMS, Dr. Taimur Rahman, has launched a campaign of disinformation against
me and the TV program, At Q, one of the highest-rated political commentary shows in
Pakistan that I produce and host on Express News.

It is an opportunistic campaign, politically-motivated, based on deliberate distortion of facts

and outright lies. At Q has not done any show on the person of Dr. Rahman or his life or
history, nor are we interested in any way. However, using the social media, Mr. Rahman has
painted an imaginary picture of himself as a persecuted activist, and has made serious
allegations, including harassment and threat to life. Unfortunately for him, facts prove that
he is a publicity-seeker who is trying to exploit the assassination of Sabeen Mahmud Shaheed
to raise his own profile.

This smear campaign comes after a show I did on April 26, 2015, on Sabeen Mahmud and the
anti-Pakistan agenda of BLA terrorist group and its sympathizers and promoters inside and
outside Pakistan. In this facts-based and well-researched show, I eulogized Pakistani social
activist Sabeen Mahmud as a ‘martyr’ [‘shaheed’] and linked her murder to BLA terrorist
group and the attempts to make the Pak-China Economic Corridor and the Gwadar projects
controversial.

Considering the seriousness of the allegations, I reviewed the points and the arguments that
Dr. Rahman has raised in his letter to you. I am surprised at his audacity in misrepresenting
my show and its content, and the blunt way in which he lies. Since facts do not support Dr.
Rahman, the only explanation I find for this campaign is politics.

The campaign against me, led by Dr. Rahman, appears to be organized on behalf of BLA
terror sympathizers inside Pakistan, and on behalf of BLA supporters currently based in
India, as shown in the evidence presented during the TV program. [Link:
http://bit.ly/1Jd6PDq]

This hate campaign leaves me no option but to present facts that uncover the opportunistic
nature of Mr. Rahman’s campaign against Express News and against me personally.

THE PERSONAL SMEAR CAMPAIGN BY DR. TAIMUR RAHMAN, POLITICAL AGENDA

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DR. TAIMUR RAHMAN’S DISTORTIONS

AND SMEAR CAMPAIGN
1. Contrary to the perception that he is trying to create, Express News and Ahmed Quraishi
have not commissioned any show on Dr. Taimur Rahman. I do not know Mr. Rahman in any
professional or personal capacity. As a public affairs professional, journalist, and human
rights activist, my work does not cover any area that would give me reason to follow Mr.
Rahman’s work or activities. I read his name for the first time in media coverage for the
seminar he organized for BLA terror sympathizers in the first week of April 2015.

2. Dr. Rahman was briefly mentioned in an 8-minute segment on April 12, and some unclear
pictures of him were were aired for a few seconds as background footage on April 26,
without mentioning him by name. Unlike Dr. Rahman’s assertions, none of this fits the
definition of ‘a campaign’.

3. During both shows, the comments I passed were polite and professional, factual, verifiable,
and did not include anything that is insulting, defamatory, or concocted. The content was
strictly non-personal.

4. In the April 12 segment, I covered a seminar Dr. Rahman organized at LUMS [Video link:
http://bit.ly/1ynJa2F]. In the show, I defended LUMS as a top Pak educational institution, and
that the responsibility for any anti-State activity rested with the organizers. I discussed the
personal interest in the event of Dr. Rahman and the link of some of his family members to
some of the panelists. I said that Dr. Rahman’s father, uncle, and uncle’s friend were on the
panel, and that showed political agenda, not public interest. My argument was that Dr.
Rahman misled LUMS management and the public, that this is was not a public interest event
but a promotion of personal political agenda using LUMS name. The purpose of this 8-minute
segment was to show that personal and political agendas guided the organizers, and not free
speech. Concealment of personal interest showed dishonesty on the part of Dr. Rahman
toward the university and his students.

5. After the April 12 program, Dr. Rahman resorted to intense self-promotion. Some examples:

 He twice posted links to the entire At Q show on his personal social media pages,
which is surprising since he was keenly posting alleged slander against himself, as if he
relished the publicity.

 He created hashtags on Twitter to promote himself.

 He created alarming tweets and posts alleging that he has been threatened, that his
personal security has been compromised, that he faces possible murder, and that he is
being accused of killing social activist Sabeen Mahmud. All of them are blatant lies.

 He started a letter-signing campaign to pressurize Express TV management based on

concocted claims.

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 He wrote several posts on his personal Facebook page that are extremely derogatory
and slanderous of me, vicious personal attacks that go beyond any professional
grievance, that show his state of mind and intention. This is in complete contrast to
the polite, fact-based, non-personal and issue-based research that I did on my April
12 segment on BLA.

Since none of this is based on fact, it is safe to assume that Dr. Rahman indulged in publicity-
seeking exercise to raise his profile by tagging his name to one of the highest-rated political
shows on television. In the process, he indulged in slander against Express News and against
At Q host Ahmed Quraishi.

DR. RAHMAN’S BOLD LIES

As I explained earlier, the 8-minute segment I did on April 12, the only time Dr. Rahman was
mentioned, was a professional, research-based and issue-based take on a BLA seminar that
did not touch Dr. Rahman’s person. It was professionally conducted with no personal attack
against anyone, including Dr. Rahman.

Since Mr. Rahman has made personal attacks, I am forced to discuss the lies that Dr. Rahman
has posted against me on his personal Facebook page [link: http://on.fb.me/1GLywpp] and in
an article he published in The Daily Times where his father, Mr. Rashid Rahman, is the editor
[link: http://bit.ly/1GAEzaU].

6. Accusation: “… deliberate vilification campaign of Dr. Taimur Rahman, running on your

channel over the past two weeks.”

REFUTED: Dr. Rahman was never the focus of any full show for two weeks as he alleges.
There was one, 8-minute segment discussing Qadeer Regi, BLA, terrorism in Balochistan in
1970s, where Dr. Rahman was mentioned in relations to the seminar he organized which was
discussed in all Pak media.

7. Accusation: a two-week campaign.

REFUTED: one 8-minute segment on April 12 was focused on LUMS seminar. The other show,
on April 26, was entirely focused on the assassination of Sabeen Mahmud in Karachi. Dr.
Rahman was not mentioned at all. A picture of him, however, came on screen for a few
seconds a backgrounder footage for the BLA seminar that he organized.

8. Accusation: “…Dr. Taimur Rahman of LUMS invited Mama Qadeer Baloch to speak to
students in a Seminar alongside other panelists who are working on an anti-state agenda and
have been provided with funds by CIA, RAW and MOSAD.”

REFUTED: This is a ridiculous line that does not reflect the tone and journalism of Ahmed
Quraishi. None of this was ever said anywhere, directly or by insinuation, in any TV
appearance by Ahmed Quraishi or in any of his writings. The Indian intelligence service was

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mentioned, however, in relation to terrorism inside Pakistan, but not in Dr. Rahman’s context
in any shape or form. The names of other foreign agencies were also never mentioned.

9. Accusation: “…The anchor falsely says that Dr. Rehman forced or tricked late Ms. Sabeen
Mahmud into holding the seminar in Karachi”.

REFUTED: a blatant fabrication. Ahmed Quraishi never accused Dr. Rahman of this anywhere,
on TV or on social media. Ahmed Quraishi did name BLA and the group’s sponsors, i.e. India
and others in Afghanistan, where BLA training camps exist. Why is Dr. Rahman connecting
himself to this? Dr. Rahman’s paranoid accusation shows his bloated sense of self-
importance.

10. Accusation: “…Mr. Quraishi has repeatedly made false and demeaning assertions about
Dr. Rahman, that he has “a deep agenda” against the State of Pakistan. Both Sabeen
Mahmud and Dr. Taimur Rahman, on the contrary, have been trying to encourage and
promote communication.”

REFUTED: Again, Dr. Rahman, who is unknown to most in the general public, tries to bring
himself up to the level of late Sabeen Mahmud Shaheed, a lady with an impeccable record of
serving Pakistanis. In his show, Ahmed Quraishi warmly eulogized Ms. Mahmud. There was
not even a hint of criticism as Dr. Rahman insinuates. The words “deep agenda” and the
name of Dr. Rahman were never mentioned by Ahmed Quraishi anywhere in the show.

11. Accusation: “…Mr. Quraishi asserts that Dr. Rahman planned a discussion titled
“Unsilencing Balochistan” at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and
convinced the University management to organize it. This is a blatant lie. Dr. Rahman had
nothing to do with either the planning or the organization of the LUMS event.”

REFUTED: This is a bold lie by Dr. Rahman. On April 12, 2015, Dawn published a long report
about this event, where the name of only one organizer was mentioned, and that is Dr.
Taimur Rahman. In fact, the story [link: http://bit.ly/1EUPSQs] clearly mentions who was the
organizer that LUMS management spoke to after deciding to cancel the seminar. Moreover,
Dr. Rahman was the only LUMS faculty member who was present on stage at Kuch Khas,
Islamabad, where the ‘organizers’ moved the event in defiance after its cancellation.

12. As a TV host, and a public policy writer and speaker, I am shocked at Dr. Rahman’s
language and comprehension skills. For example, the following assertion, in the letter written
to Express Media Group, shows how inflated his ego is:

“Your anchor Mr. Quraishi’s accusations that Dr. Taimur Rahman is responsible for the
murder of Sabeen Mahmud, to give the Balochistan issue greater publicity in order to scare
away the forthcoming Chinese investment and pave the way for increasing Indian geo-
strategic interests is ludicrous and ridiculous in the extreme. Where is the proof?”

Who accused Dr. Rahman? The Host of At Q certainly never did, not directly or implicitly. This
statement by Dr. Rahman is a clear lie. Such behavior by Mr. Rahman can be observed
repeatedly in his postings in this case.

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13. Accusation: that Dr. Rahman’s uncle was slandered by calling him anti-State.

REFUTED: Mr. Asad Rahman, Dr. Taimur’s uncle, admitted in recorded interviews that he was
involved in violence in Balochistan in the 1970s and participated in attacks against Pakistani
soldiers, actions that violate the law. The history of terrorism in Balochistan, using
Afghanistan as a launch pad during the Cold War, is well recorded. Ahmed Quraishi
mentioned the source where Asad Rahman’s admission was published. Quraishi’s comments
were within the boundaries of Pakistani laws that incriminate rebellion against the State.
Facts were stated based on the evidence. Dr. Taimur Rahman is in no position to protest this.
If he does, he should move the courts to amend the laws that incriminate violence and
rebellion against the State.

CONCLUDING POINTS
1. Dr. Taimur Rahman has resorted to distortion of facts, direct lies and twisted
interpretations to build an imaginary picture of himself as someone targeted by a TV
show and pretending that he is the center of attention of a major political
commentary show on national television. None of this is true. The actual review of
Dr. Rahman’s postings on social media, and his published article in a newspaper
where his father is the editor, shows that his alleged grievances are easily debunked
as either wrong or deliberately distorted. The campaign appears to be an attempt at
self-publicity.

2. Dr. Taimur Rahman appears to have a bloated and exaggerated sense of self-
importance and thinks the world is out to get him. In truth, He was passingly
mentioned in one, 8-minute TV segment where the center of attention was BLA
terror sympathizer Mama Qadeer. In another show, again where the center of
attention was late Sabeen Mahmud, where she was eulogized and praised as a
Pakistani hero, Dr. Rahman was never mentioned in the show, but his picture came
on screen for a few seconds as background footage for the LUMS seminar.

3. Dr. Taimur Rahman was never accused by Ahmed Quraishi or Express News of any
of the grandiose plans and conspiracies that he is attaching to himself. He might be
desperate for media attention and publicity, but the bitter truth is that AT Q did not
focus on him at all. He was just secondary material in the main story on the activities
of Qadeer Regi [‘Mama Qadeer’] and the follow up on Gwadar and CPEC projects,
and the assassination of Sabeen Mahmud.

4. In contrast to Ahmed Quraishi’s scholarly and researched, fact- and source-based

and professionally presented work, where no personal attack was ever made, Dr.
Taimur Rahman has resorted to vicious personal attacks and insults against the
person of Ahmed Quraishi. This not only is in bad taste but reflects poorly on Dr.

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Rahman’s ability to indulge in academic debate, and questions his role as an

educationist in a prestigious institution like LUMS.

5. This smear campaign crosses all boundaries of decent, well-intentioned behavior.

It shows political design. Most of the known signatories that Dr. Taimur Rahman
collected support BLA terror sympathizers like ‘Mama Qadeer’. Some of them have
links to two anti-Pakistan characters who were recently in India, including a former
ambassador. Those two were criticized in the show.

4. Ahmed Quraishi, the Team of At Q, and the Express News reserve the right to seek
legal recourse to hold Dr. Taimur Rahman accountable for the smear campaign,
deliberate misrepresentation and distortion of what was aired in Ahmed Quraishi’s
political commentary shows on April 12 and 26, 2015.

6. Ahmed Quraishi, a renowned journalist, author, public policy writer, and human
rights activist, has represented Pakistan at international forums and academic
institutions. Apart from his professional work, he volunteers time and energy to work
with Kashmiri refugees on human rights violations in Indian-occupied Kashmir. Dr.
Taimur Rahman’s vicious smear campaign is based on lies and distortions that do no
represent who Mr. Quraishi is and how he treats others. He will be seeking legal
counsel to compensate for the damage to his name and reputation because of the
smear campaign that Dr. Taimur Rahman continues to indulge in.

Released on Friday, May 1, 2015.

THE PERSONAL SMEAR CAMPAIGN BY DR. TAIMUR RAHMAN, POLITICAL AGENDA