‘No remark’: MEA steers away from row involving Hamid Ansari and Pakistani journalist

By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of External Affairs Thursday steered away from the controversy involving former vice chairman Hamid Ansari over claims of a Pakistani journalist, saying it doesn’t need to touch upon the problem.

Clips of Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza’s interview in Pakistan have been doing the rounds on social media for the previous few days during which he acknowledged that he attended a seminar on terrorism in India during which Ansari spoke.

Mirza additionally claimed to have given secret and categorised data to the Pakistani spy company Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Asked concerning the media report on Mirza’s remarks and Ansari’s assertion on the allegations, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi mentioned, “I have seen some media reports but I cannot comment on it. I don’t have the details about the media report and it is uncorroborated. I would not like to comment on both the points.”

The BJP has accused Ansari of inviting to India the Pakistani journalist, who has claimed to have spied for the ISI, however the former vice chairman dismissed the cost as a “litany of falsehood” and mentioned he by no means met or invited him.

In his assertion, Ansari mentioned, “I had inaugurated the Conference on Terrorism, on December 11, 2010, the ‘International Conference of Jurists on International Terrorism and Human Rights’. As is the normal practice, the list of invitees would have been drawn by the organisers. I never invited him or met him.”

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of External Affairs Thursday steered away from the controversy involving former vice chairman Hamid Ansari over claims of a Pakistani journalist, saying it doesn’t need to touch upon the problem.

Clips of Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza’s interview in Pakistan have been doing the rounds on social media for the previous few days during which he acknowledged that he attended a seminar on terrorism in India during which Ansari spoke.

Mirza additionally claimed to have given secret and categorised data to the Pakistani spy company Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Asked concerning the media report on Mirza’s remarks and Ansari’s assertion on the allegations, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi mentioned, “I have seen some media reports but I cannot comment on it. I don’t have the details about the media report and it is uncorroborated. I would not like to comment on both the points.”

The BJP has accused Ansari of inviting to India the Pakistani journalist, who has claimed to have spied for the ISI, however the former vice chairman dismissed the cost as a “litany of falsehood” and mentioned he by no means met or invited him.

In his assertion, Ansari mentioned, “I had inaugurated the Conference on Terrorism, on December 11, 2010, the ‘International Conference of Jurists on International Terrorism and Human Rights’. As is the normal practice, the list of invitees would have been drawn by the organisers. I never invited him or met him.”