• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Sunday, July 3, 2022
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion

Shah Hussain Murtazawi: Afghan President’s Propagandist and Undertaker of Truth

Mohammad Naser Sidiqee by Mohammad Naser Sidiqee
06/22/18
in Opinion
Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani speaks during a news conference in Kabul, Afghanistan

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani. Photo: Omar Sobhani, Reuters

43
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Behind the presidency of Mohammad Ashraf Ghani in Afghanistan, there is a small group of people who tactically stage-manage his every movement, function and word in order to dramatize his performance as the so-called representative of the people. Among this “executive arm of the invisible government” is Shah Hussain Murtazawi.

Ever since becoming Ghani’s Deputy Spokesperson, Murtazawi has been the face of the inescapable media presence of Arg, the presidential palace in Kabul, and its “alternative facts.” In his deceitful and illusory efforts, Murtazawi has been irrationally trying to engineer and puff up a “demagogue” to fit the office. Coming from a reputable journalism background, the spokesman’s graphic pronouncement of President Ghani’s “rightness” has broken path with core principles of ethical journalism.

Disservice to the Public

In literary terms, the two most important characteristics of Ghani’s “rule by law” are fear and scapegoating. When criticized for his failures, his most favorite approach is to use military force against civilians and blame the troubles on the “out-groups,” supporters of Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. Murtazawi has been ignoring his moral duty to the people by guarding Ghani’s reign from public scrutiny and accountability. In many instances, Murtazawi has deliberately violated the principles of journalism by supplying mythological ideas about President Ghani. It has set the deputy spokesperson onto an unethical course.

Through his untrue and dishonest manipulation of the masses’ opinion, he made President Ghani so important that he has become not just the president but someone closer to a deity. Pashtuns call him their spiritual father, “Baba.” Such blind devotion resembles deity worship.

Shah Hussain Murtazawi
Shah Hussain Murtazawi. Photo: Afghanistan’s Government Media and Information Center

With his immoral and corrupt conduct, Murtazawi has been misleading citizens by uninterruptedly attempting to capture their minds in the interest of Ghani’s ethnocentric and exclusivist policies.

While laws in Afghanistan do permit free competition among media and their staff members, Murtazawi’s efforts to bring manipulated information to the consciousness of the masses in order to aggrandize Ghani’s narcissistic personality and his finite abilities is nothing but the obstruction of truth.

Strikingly, President Ghani too seems to rely more and more on instruments that help to misuse the public opinion. However, his clamorous attempts to advance his ethno-nationalist cause by actually cultivating the persona that the “Transcending Pashtun Elites” want to see in their idol, has only turned many against him.

Pursuing Sectional Interest

In an era when ideas can be instantaneously transmitted to any number of people, professional journalists are required to conduct their business with sound judgment and self-discipline. Murtazawi, however, has defied all these rules hard and fast. Coming from a historically underprivileged Hazara community, he has gotten himself completely attached to the sectional interest of President Ghani, who is an ethno-nationalist Pashtun of the Ghalzai tribe.

Murtazawi’s romantic relationship with President Ghani has tacitly encouraged his connivance. Ghani has skillfully turned Murtazawi’s innocent original thoughts into a rubber stamp inked with fanatical ethnocentrism. Unfree from the whiff of bias since becoming the amplifier of Arg, he has drifted too far from sincerity and integrity. Recently, he arrogantly refused to participate in a roundtable TV discussion which also demonstrates his growing intolerance for opposing views.

In the shadow of President Ghani, Murtazawi is increasingly becoming conscious of nothing but his own existence. His exaggerated feelings of self-importance and excessively growing need for attention tempts many to look back on the good old days when his reputation as a respectable and trustworthy journalist fired up enthusiasm among young professionals.

Unfortunately, Murtazawi gives the impression that he is insensible to Ghani’s agenda which pleads for the restoration of Pashtun dominance. Judging by the situation, one can see that in partisan politics, Murtazawi’s conduct could be a perfectly legitimate form of human activity. However, his conscious and deliberate dissemination of what he knows to be lies prompts many to label him with the diabolical name “the Propagandist.”

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Globe Post.
Share43Tweet
Mohammad Naser Sidiqee

Mohammad Naser Sidiqee

Development practitioner, observer of Afghan political history and lecturer at Dunya University of Afghanistan

Related Posts

Afghan refugees
Featured

Pakistani Migrants in Afghanistan Caught in Quake No-Man’s Land

by Staff Writer
June 27, 2022
Afghanistan
Middle East

Taliban Vows in Geneva Talks to Protect Aid Workers: NGO

by Staff Writer
February 11, 2022
Afghan women
Middle East

Afghan Women Activists Say They Feel Betrayed by Oslo Talks

by Staff Writer
January 24, 2022
Afghan women protest
Middle East

Afghan Women Protest Against Taliban Killings of Ex-Soldiers

by Staff Writer
December 28, 2021
Afghanistan drone strike
National

No US Troops to Be Punished Over Deadly Kabul Drone Strike

by Staff Writer
December 14, 2021
Afghanistan
World

World Bank Says Donors Approve Release of $280 Mn for Afghanistan

by Staff Writer
December 10, 2021
Next Post
A health worker helping a girl in Monrovia

MSF Aid Workers in Africa 'Used Prostitutes,' Traded Medicine for Sex [Report]

Chinese leader Xi Jinping

China's Xi Denounces 'Protectionism, Isolationism and Populism'

Recommended

Google logo

Google to Pay $90 Mn in Settlement With App Developers

July 1, 2022
Mexico murdered journalists

Journalist Murdered in Mexico, 12th This Year

June 29, 2022
Spain migrants

Spain Prosecutor Opens Probe Into Melilla Migrant Deaths

June 28, 2022
Afghan refugees

Pakistani Migrants in Afghanistan Caught in Quake No-Man’s Land

June 27, 2022
Joe Biden climate summit

Biden Calls Clean Energy Matter of National Security in Face of Russia War

June 17, 2022
climate change

Developing Countries Left ‘Disappointed’ at Climate Talks

June 16, 2022

Opinion

US President Donald Trump

Owning the Words and the Libs

June 16, 2022
Officers in Uvalde, Texas, stand outside Robb Elementary School near a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims

Child Sacrifice Makes a Comeback

June 3, 2022
A Lebanese election official stands at a polling station

New Group Threatens Lebanese Elections… and Potentially Middle East Peace

May 18, 2022
A man holding a gun

Safely Back in USA, Land of Guns and Burgers

May 2, 2022
China Muslim Uyghurs

Unfair Politicization, Corruption, and the Death of Modern Olympism

April 23, 2022
Ukraine war

The Ukrainian Refugee Crisis and the Hierarchies of Western Compassion

April 20, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post