The man who spoke to Osama Bin Laden

Meet Hamid Mir, who covering war, found a path to peace

SPEAKING PEACE Hamid Mir at the India International Centre PHOTO: V.V. KRISHNAN

He has interviewed just about all the political bigwigs of the modern world. In Pakistan, the list includes President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. As for the movers and shakers of the wider world, there is the savvy U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, besides the controversial Colin Powell, Richard Armitage and others. He has also interviewed President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, but his `scoop', by all standards, was Osama Bin Laden, whom he interviewed not once but three times - the last one shortly after 9/11. Not just that, he is known as the authorised biographer of Osama Bin Laden. No doubt Geo TV is proud of its Islamabad Bureau Chief, Hamid Mir. The question is, what was this eminent Pakistani journalist of the well-known Jang Group doing as a delegate of a Sufism meet?

The event was organised at New Delhi's India International Centre by the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature, powered by its founder Ajeet Cour. Billed as the Conference on Sufism: Traditions, Philosophy and Poetry, the get-together featured themes like the Contribution of Sufi Saints to the Cultural Fabric of the Sub-Continent; Sufism as an Instrument of Peace; Sufism: Its Futuristic Vision, and other topics of relevance to today's populations ravaged by war and divisive politics. The speakers included scholars and authors from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Lebanon, Afghanistan, the U.S., Canada, France and Italy. That brings us back to Hamid Mir. What was this man known for `hard' news doing talking about the mysticism of the East?

Embedded in Iraq

It was during his quest for the former that he stumbled on the latter. "During the American invasion of Iraq, I was - I am ashamed to say - embedded with the U.S. Army," he begins. Besides covering the war, he found time to visit the dargah of Sheikh Abdul Quadar Jilani. There he came to know that the saint of Ajmer Sharif, Khwaja Aminuddin Chisti, had spent time with this seer in Iraq. "My interest in Sufism began to develop. After three months I went to Afghanistan to interview Hamid Karzai. I met students there, and I found they were quite furious at people equating Afghanistan with the Taliban," recalls Mir, recounting that country's Sufi tradition and adding the silsila of Khwaja Aminuddin started in Afghanistan.

Later he went to Uzbekistan - "I was following the trail of Khwaja" - and found he had gone there too. He was tracing one thread of what Ajeet Cour summarises as "such strong civilisational links" between the countries of Eastern Europe, West Asia and Asia. And just as she says what pushed her into a deeper study of Sufism was "this cliché of clash of civilisations" which she feels is born of Western misconceptions, Mir makes an equally strong statement on the power of this philosophy.

"Whenever you meet big celebrities (world leaders), they say we must cooperate on terrorism. But they can't solve it." What can halt the violence? Sufi thought, declares the 40-year-old journalist.

"I told Condoleeza Rice, Iraq is a country of Sufis, and you are bombing them. When you hit a dargah, you are not aware of the volume of feeling that builds up against you." He says he pointed out to her Iraq's Sufi links with Iran, Afghanistan, the sub-continent.

In this conversation with Rice, says Mir, she wanted to be "educated" about Sufism. But it was an "off the record" interview. "I told her I will interview her on the record and then tell her," he recounts. Here's hoping the violence mongers of the world get `educated' sooner rather than later.

ANJANA RAJAN

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