Watch: Waqar Zaka disputes career sabotage accusations, reveals 2020 clash with Nida Yasir

The internet personality criticised morning show host for not making way for a better host

Former host, Waqar Zaka posted a scathing video message on his official Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) accounts, addressing the accusations levelled against him by Good Morning Pakistan host Nida Yasir of attempting to sabotage the latter’s position as host.

The long counterblast began with Waqar explaining his late reply, owing to his busy study schedule at Stanford University in US California before announcing that the video is not intended as a justification. “I am not offering an explanation or clarification; I am once and for all clapping back at critics by divulging the full account,” he stated.

Nida Yasir , Get Ready pic.twitter.com/5PVBUe7hwH

— Waqar Zaka (@ZakaWaqar) November 25, 2023

Recently, Nida appeared at Hasna Mana Hai with Tabish Hashmi where she alleged, “Waqar Zaka tried very hard to get me replaced. He ran a long campaign to sabotage my position.” The veteran host also expressed her confusion about the entrepreneur-host’s animosity towards her and maintained that the hostility began when he left the channel. She shared how Waqar kept sending emails to the channel’s management to get her removed from the show.

According to Waqar, the contentions began in 2020 when Nida made a series of episodes that drew her flak. One mistake in particular culminated in Waqar’s opposition against Nida. He recalled, “There was a child abuse case in Karachi and she invited the parents to her morning show. These morning shows have a norm of making people cry for ratings. To make the parents cry, she [Nida] asked them such inappropriate questions that they genuinely burst into tears.”

The incident in question featured a minor victim of sexual abuse, Marwah, a case that steadily garnered media attention. However, the morning show host ignited a wave of outrage with her insensitive line of questioning that made the parents visibly upset. Internet users circulated a hashtag on X demanding a complete ban on Nida with others urging people to report her to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA).

Nida Yasir, ARY MORNING SHOW, accurate & complete story? pic.twitter.com/9xc5mlrqVK

— Waqar Zaka (@ZakaWaqar) November 25, 2023

Criticising her conduct with the grieving parents, he relayed, “After a lot of trolling, she lied and said her team didn’t approach Marwah, instead the family sought her to amplify their injustice.” The internet personality linked up videos of an activist from 2020 who exclusively interviewed Marwah’s family to interrogate Nida’s claims with the family denying ever contacting the channel.

Waqar invoked the wide outcry across social media as his motivation to contact the private news channel’s management to replace Nida. He shared how people asked him to leverage his good relations with the channel to demand swift action against her following the backlash.

Adding a 2020 video of his from that time, Waqar asserted that he actively discouraged people from hurling abuses at Nida, saying, “If you have a problem in society, please approach it with due legal procedure. Contact PEMRA and ask them to ban Nida Yasir’s morning show…Abusing and trolling Nida Yasir online is not the way of a respectable culture. Her children are watching, her husband is watching.”

Waqar further criticised her for holding onto her position as the morning show host for this long instead of finding a better replacement. “It’s not like she’s Oprah or a follower of Noam Chomsky or any other follower. Does she have any theory in her life? In her place, you can have Sidra Iqbal as a host. If not her, then there are so many women you can give a chance to,” he contended.

Referring to his own departure from the private news channel, he stated how the channel's top management can confirm that he left in 2014 of his own volition, following the success of his show Living On The Edge, at its peak rather than once it had gotten stale. As per Waqar, a TV host should move on after establishing something and explore other avenues.

He cited himself as an example from when he quit Living On The Edge and disclosed his reception to passing on the host’s mantle. “When the show returned later, I stated clearly that don’t give this position to me, give it to Aamir Liaquat instead,” he revealed, emphasising why other people must be given the chance so as to keep the content from growing stale.

The internet personality’s concluding advice to Nida was to groom herself if she is adamant about staying as the host. Waqar also announced his intention to launch a political organisation by 2027-28 under the name Technology Movement Pakistan, rejecting the narrative that he ‘left’ Pakistan. “Once my classes [at Stanford] end in March, I’ll return to Pakistan,” he insisted.

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