Geo News, a private TV channel of the Jang Group, has sent a legal notice to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan for making “defamatory remarks” against the private broadcaster. The TV channel has also sought a restraint order on ARY News channel to desist from repeating the programme featuring the PTI chief. Per details, an ARY News talk show on October 25 hosted by Mubashar Lucman discussed an article that appeared in a leading Indian daily “Hindustan Times” a few days ago. The article was about an upcoming TV channel to be launched in Pakistan, Bol TV. The article claimed that this venture was allegedly being backed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in collusion with notorious Indian mafia don Dawood Ibrahim in a bid to rein in Geo News which is currently the most popular news channel of the country. Hindustan Times later retracted the news after a legal notice was sent to it by the Bol TV management and a top stock broker of Karachi Stocks Exchange. In the ARY News talk show, the host alleged that Geo News had connived with Indian intelligence to get the article published in Hindustan Times in a bid to malign the ISI and damage Bol TV’s reputation. Imran Khan, who was on the guest panel, had commented: “This is a very serious matter. It’s a serious allegation. It should be fully investigated and facts should be exposed. I believe it’s wrong for any Pakistani television channel to make propaganda under the influence of any foreign agency. An enquiry should be held into the matter.” PTI Information Secretary Shireen Mazari confirmed that Geo News had sent a legal notice to her party chief. “Imran Khan has the right to give an interview,” she said, adding that Khan stands by his stance and it is his basic right to demand an investigation into the issue. However, Mazari said Khan had not named the channel during the interview. Meanwhile, the PTI chief said the legal notice would not stop him from demanding a probe into the issue, and that he would also raise the matter in parliament.
Imran in midst of TV channels’ WAAR
