Dr Mazari said that Imran Khan had only pointed out that the allegations on a media group of receiving money from foreign powers and having contacts with foreign agencies were very serious. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
PTI central information secretary and spokesperson Dr Shireen Mazari said this as she confirmed that the Geo Group had sent a defamation notice to the PTI chief through fax. She said the notice was sent a day after Imran’s interview, telecast on ARY News on 28 October.
The notice terms the language used during the interview as ‘derogatory’ and ‘unacceptable’ but she said that the chairman stood by the interview.
She said as the head of the second largest political party of the country, Imran had only pointed out that the allegations on a media group of receiving money from foreign powers and having contacts with foreign agencies were very serious.
The PTI chief did not draw any conclusions and only said that the allegations should be investigated, she said, adding that the legal notice depicted a criminal mentality and an effort to usurp the freedom of expression. “It is also tantamount to open character assassination of the interviewing anchorperson.”
She said it was a matter of concern that a main political leader of the country was being targeted just for demanding investigations which had no aspect of defamation in it.
“He had not even named any group in his interview. In such a situation, this notice from the Geo Group itself becomes a matter of defamation against the sender of the notice,” she maintained.
Mentioning that the legal notice had also raised the questions about Imran Khan’s comments about the process by which the Geo Group acquired rights of the cricket series, she said: “It seems that a political leader neither can ask the government about the process of assigning the broadcasting rights nor can question as to why the state television did not take part in the bid process.”
She said the demand for transparency was a democratic right. “Parliamentarians also raise such questions in the house. It is IKs right to ask for details of such bids and agreements,” she said, adding that earlier the PTI had decided to avoid any legal action against Geo but now it was rethinking its decision.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 31st, 2013.
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