Defamation charges: Mirza files privilege motion against Jang Group

MIrza says the false news report published by the group breached his privilege as MPA.

KARACHI:

Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Ali Mirza submitted a privilege motion against the English and Urdu dailies of Jang Group, The News and Daily Jang for publishing a news story titled “Mirza to be shown the door in 12 days”.

In his resolution, Mirza said that “The report gives credit to the delay in my removal to my wife, Dr Fehmida Mirza, who is the speaker of the national assembly and has repeatedly said that my immediate removal would be insulting for our family.”

He said that the report has defamed him and his family and breached his privilege as a member of the assembly. “I hold the publisher of the newspapers and the editor of the news desk accountable for this breach of my privilege and request that they be summoned to the Standing Committee of the Sindh Assembly on Rules and Privileges to disclose the sources,” he maintained.

In a very emotional speech, Mirza said that Jang Group had started a campaign against him after he refused to give incentives to the publisher.

“He sent me a request through a reporter of his group asking if I could help him in the allotment of a plot worth Rs200 million, but I refused. Later, the anchors and reporters of his television channel and newspapers launched a campaign against me,” he said.

He said that the owner of Jang Group evaded taxes, and was using different tactics to blackmail the government. During Mirza’s speech, members of the PPP thumped their desks chanting “shame, shame”.

Warning the owner of Jang Group, Mirza said, “If he does not stop publishing fabricated stories against me and other party leaders, than I will disclose the secrets of the publisher from the time he was studying at Saint Patrick’s School,” he said.

He further said, “There are reports that I am an incompetent minister, but I want to clarify here that I would prefer to work as a worker of the party and will step down in a second, if asked to do so. I don’t belong to the Makhdooms of Multan who stick to their portfolios,”
he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2011.