52 Facts About Hamid Mir

Hamid Mir was born on 23 July 1966 and is a Pakistani journalist, columnist and writer.

Hamid Mir has hosted the political talk show Capital Talk on Geo News intermittently since 2002.

Hamid Mir writes columns for Urdu as well as English newspapers, both national and international.

Hamid Mir has been a contributor to the Global Opinions section of The Washington Post since June 2021.

Hamid Mir is known for his stance against the dominance of the Establishment in Pakistan.

Hamid Mir has interviewed actors such as Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan.

Hamid Mir was awarded with the civil award Hilal-i-Imtiaz for his work for Pakistan.

Hamid Mir is the only journalist in South Asia to cover wars and conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Bosnia and Sri Lanka.

Hamid Mir is regular participant in international seminars and conferences on security, human rights and press freedom.

Hamid Mir has delivered lectures at Harvard University, Yale University, University of Oxford, London School of Economics and University of California, Berkeley.

Hamid Mir's grandfather was Mir Abdul Aziz from Sialkot, who was a poet in Punjabi, Urdu and Persian.

Hamid Mir's father died on 9 July 1987 in Lahore and his mother died in 1993.

Hamid Mir studied at Government College University and University of Punjab.

Hamid Mir joined the Daily Jang in 1987 and worked there as sub-editor, reporter, feature writer and edition in charge.

In 1990, Hamid Mir was abducted, beaten and driven to a house where his captors demanded to know his source for the critical story he wrote when then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan was planning to dismiss the Bhutto government.

Hamid Mir lost his job from daily Jang the day his article was published.

In 1996, Hamid 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.

Hamid Mir lost his job again in 1997, when he wrote an article in the Daily Pakistan about the alleged corruption of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Hamid Mir was the first Pakistani journalist to interview Osama bin Laden.

Hamid Mir first interviewed Bin Laden for the Daily Pakistan in March 1997, in a cave of Tora Bora mountains in eastern Afghanistan.

Hamid Mir interviewed Bin Laden for the second time for Ausaf in May 1998, in a hideout near the Kandahar International Airport.

Hamid Mir interviewed Bin Laden for the third time for Dawn and Ausaf on 8 November 2001, at an undisclosed location near Kabul.

Hamid Mir went to eastern Afghanistan, where he investigated the escape of Osama bin Laden from Tora Bora mountains in December 2001.

Hamid Mir visited the caves of bin Laden, during the American bombing.

Hamid Mir alleged that it was US-backed Northern Alliance leader Hazrat Ali who provided safe passage to bin Laden after getting a huge bribe.

Hamid Mir has written a biography of Osama bin Laden, as well as a weekly column in Daily Jang.

In 2002, Hamid Mir joined Geo News where he begin hosting a political talk show Capital Talk which is the oldest current events program in Pakistan.

Hamid Mir's popularity increased as Geo became one of the popular TV channel in Pakistan where Pakistani politicians, both from the ruling and oppositions parties appeared to debate on current events and controversial topics.

Hamid Mir was arrested by Hezbollah in Beirut during Israel-Lebanon war in July 2006 while trying to cover the scenes of Israeli jets bombing on Beirut, but was later set free after Hezbollah was assured that he was not an Israeli spy.

On 16 March 2007, during live coverage of the lawyers' protest against the suspension of the Chief Justice of Supreme Court Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Hamid Mir was attacked by police at his Islamabad office.

Hamid Mir was banned by PEMRA in November 2007 for four months to appear on TV.

Hamid Mir came on roads after the ban and organised street shows.

Hamid Mir was again banned by the government of Pakistan Peoples Party in June 2008 for a few days on Geo News.

Hamid Mir investigated the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in a documentary aired on Geo TV in 2008.

Hamid Mir appears on CNN, BBC and Indian channels as an analyst on issues related to Pakistan.

Hamid Mir claimed in an interview with independent online news source Canada Free Press that al-Qaeda had acquired three so called 'suitcase nukes' from Russia, and had successfully smuggled them to Europe.

When Hamid Mir started highlighting the issue of enforced disappearances, fake cases started arising against him.

Hamid Mir faced the charge in Pakistani courts and nothing was proved against him.

In December 2011, Hamid Mir received death threats after he hosted a TV show on Influence of ISI in Pakistani politics.

Hamid Mir reportedly left Geo TV on 10 August 2018 and joined GNN News as president.

In May 2021, after journalist Asad Ali Toor was attacked by masked men, Hamid Mir supported him and criticized Pakistan's military establishment, which has directly ruled Pakistan for nearly half of its existence since its creation in 1947.

Hamid Mir's focus of criticism was military dictator General Yahya Khan and Akleem Akhtar.

On March 8,2022, Hamid Mir made a comeback to Capital Talk after the nine-month ban was lifted.

Hamid Mir was the subject of an attempt on his life in November 2012, when half a kilogram of explosives were placed in his car, which was successfully defused by the bomb squad.

On 19 April 2014, Hamid Mir was fired upon by unknown gunmen and received three bullet injuries.

Hamid Mir had earlier told his colleagues that if he is attacked, Pakistan's intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, "and its chief Lieutenant-General Zaheer-ul-Islam will be responsible" and had sent to the Committee to Protect Journalists a video recording implicating the ISI in case of any attempts on his life.

Hamid Mir was labeled Indian agent after he invited Pervez Hoodbhoy in his program.

Hamid Mir received threats from some militant groups when he wrote investigative stories on Taliban.

Hamid Mir visited Bajour tribal area in January 2006 after a US missile attack in Damadola village.

Hamid Mir claimed that the US missiles killed only innocent children and women, not Al Qaeda militants.

Hamid Mir treated Pakistani Information Minister very roughly in his show on the US drone attacks.

Hamid Mir claimed that some of the Hamas leaders were educated in Pakistani universities, and that many of them were part of the Afghan Jihad against the former Soviet Union, and close to Abdullah Azzam who was a mentor of Osama bin Laden in early 1980s.