Mr Zaka mentioned me and I feel he has committed a gross act of misrepresentation with a view to slander.
ISLAMABAD: This is with reference to Fasi Zaka’s article of December 14 titled “The Wiki conspiracy that wasn't”. I feel that the writer has committed a gross act of misrepresentation with a view to slander. Mr Zaka mentioned my name and the title of an online article I authored, “Guardian uses WikiLeaks for propaganda, Pakistani media can't?” Based on this title, he accused me by name of supporting the idea of “lying to our people” because others lie to our people too. The actual article was a protest against a British newspaper selectively using leaked US diplomatic cables to write biased stories against countries such as Russia and Pakistan, and said that the Pakistani media retains the right to selectively use WikiLeaks data to promote its own worldview and interests.
Mr Zaka also misrepresented a statement made by late US columnist Robert Novak about alleged “ISI mouthpieces” in the media, which Mr Novak published in the Washington Post, while mentioning my name, in late 2007. The “revelation” was fed to him by a US diplomat (whose name I withhold) posted in Islamabad and whom I confronted about this disinformation. The example was meant to show how some US diplomats posted here can peddle conspiracy theories as well as anyone else. I find Mr Zaka's misrepresentations deliberate, distasteful and slanderous.
Ahmed Quraishi
Published in The Express Tribune December 15th, 2010.
