Journalist Claims PM Khan Sought His Termination For Publishing Story On Corruption

(@fidahassanain)

Journalist claims PM Khan sought his termination for publishing story on corruption

Ansar Abbasi—senior journalist who is associated with The News International—has said that Prime Minister Imran Khan threatened his management that Geo TV will be shut down if he (Abbasi) was not terminated.

ISLAMABAD: (Urdu Point/Pakistan Point News-Jan 25th, 2020) A senior journalist has claimed that Prime Minister Imran Khan approached Geo tv management for his termination just for publishing a story on corruption.

Ansar Abbasi—senior journalist who is associated with The news International, has said that Prime Minister Imran Khan threatened to his management to shut down Geo TV if Abbasi was not terminated.

Talking in a TV program, Abbasi who also heads an investigative reporting cell with The News International in Islamabad says that he reported surge in corruption last year in October when Prime Minister Imran Khan was on his visit to Tehran. He said he was called from there to Geo TV management and asked them to terminate him.

“Sort it out and terminate him before 9pm tonight,” he said while quoting PM Khan’s telephone call to Geo Management.

“Geo will be shut down,” he further said while quoting Prime Minister Imran Khan.

On Thursday, Transparency International said that corruption increased in Pakistan in 2019 as compared to 2018. The global body said that Pakistan scored 32 and not only fell one point below the 2018 score of 33 but also dropped three stages in the world ranking from the previous 117th to the latest 120th among 180 nations on the globe. TI, however, suggested measures to the PTI to control corruption.

Yesterday, Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan rejected the report of Transparency International and called it “part of some targeted agenda”.

Firdous Ashiq Awan said that there was a long history of corruption in Sindh. The government of former premier Nawaz Sharif gave undue benefits to the chief of the group here in Pakistan," the assistant to the PM alleged. She asked: “Who will consider Transparency International report, saying that Transparency International was given a diplomatic posting to the Chief of the organization to gain undue favors.

She went on to say that there was long history of corruption in Sindh. “The report was launched and was part of a targeted agenda against PTI government,” she added.

Fida Hussnain

Fida Hussnain is a lahore based journalist. He writes on politics, religion, social issues and climate change. He is also a research fellow at University of Gujrat.