Zaid Hamid


Syed Zaid Zaman Hamid, better known as Zaid Hamid, is a Pakistani right-wing political commentator, writer and columnist. His byline in newspaper articles has been Zaid Zaman.
The Muslim 500 included him in their yearly most influential Muslims in the world, as a political commentator and host of TV series on geo-politics, Islamic philosophy, Muslim history, and Dr Iqbal’s vision for Pakistan.
Born to a Pakistan Army officer and a Kashmiri mother, Zaid is a supporter of Jihad and supports Kashmir-centric anti government organizations. He claims he fought in Soviet-Afghan War. He is a supporter of Pakistan Army interventions in matters of state and actively campaigns against Democracy in Pakistan. He supports military government.

Early life and education

Zaid was born to a Bihari father and a Kashmiri mother in Karachi in 1964. His father was a Pakistan Army officer. He studied computer systems at the NED University of Engineering & Technology. He is second of his four siblings. His father fought in the 1965 and 1971 wars.

Political views

Hamid claims that the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, were part of a plan hatched by "Hindu Zionists", and that it was an attempt by the Indians to stage a false flag attack, which he accuses the September 11th Attacks of being.
Hamid believes that Muhammad had declared war on India, and claims that India will be "trounced and enslaved according to sharia if Hindus don’t repent and embrace Islam."
During an interview in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak, Hamid put forth several controversial claims:
A number of Pakistani journalists, writers and Islamic scholars have criticized Hamid and have described his views on politics and security as conspiracy theories. Zaid Hamid has been criticised as xenophobic and accused of hate speech towards Hindus, Jews, Christians and Pashtuns.
In 2013, Imaad Khalid, a former staff member of Zaid Hamid, revealed at a press conference, that Zaid Hamid was plotting to assassinate Pro-democracy Army Chief, Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani. He showed Media the emails that he claims were sent by Zaid Hamid to different Army Officers asking them for a revolt against their own chief. He said "Zaid Hamid is a quisling and enemy of Islam and Pakistan, who had plotted unsuccessfully to assassinate the pro-democracy army chief Gen Kayani." Khalid further claimed that Zaid's hit list also contained the names of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and others from the media and the judiciary.
Historian Manan Ahmed Asif called him the leading voice of a new Pakistani revivalism, because he radicalizes young, urban men and women under the age of 30 - the largest demographics of Pakistan - into a mixture of militant Pakistani nationalism and Islamism.

Arrest in Saudi Arabia

In June 2015, Hamid was arrested in Saudi Arabia for opposing Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. He was visiting the Kingdom on a private tour with family when he was arrested.
On 1 July 2015, media sources began citing unconfirmed reports that Hamid has been sentenced to 8 years in prison, and 1,000 or 1,200 lashes, for criticizing the government in Saudi Arabia. Media reports later claimed these reports about the sentence could not be verified. The Pakistan embassy has officially requested consular access and information about the charges against Hamid. He was released in the start of October 2015 due to lack of evidence and baseless allegation of spying for Iran. Hamid alleges that the allegation of spying was hatched up by the Research and Analysis Wing, India's spy agency.
During an interview in 2020, Mr. Hamid claimed that then Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif and DG ISI Lt. General Rizwan Akhtar had played an instrumental role in securing his release.

Books

His books include:

Urdu