(Disclaimer: this is a work of fiction. Learn to take a joke; you’ll live longer.)
Renowned journalist Haroon-ur-Rasheed has slammed criticism following an audio leak of a threatening call he allegedly made to a police officer revealing it was part of a sting operation to check how awesomely upright police officers in Naya Pakistan were.
The audio, which was leaked on social media, became viral on Monday night resulting in demands into an inquiry over the matter. “Bhai inquiry about what? I was just testing them so that I can report back to the government over their performance and shower praise on primetime television…like I always do,” said Rasheed.
The audio recording is alleged to be a telephonic conversation between a man, who introduces himself as “Haroon-ur-Rasheed from Dunya TV”, and a police officer, with the former threatening the officer after making an inquiry into the custody of a person.
“I did not threaten him,” said Rasheed “I merely pretended to be doing so just to see how well the police in Naya Pakistan were performing and whether they buckled under pressure,” he added. “Clearly they do not,” he said adding that he would congratulate the new IG over a job well done.
Responding to a question regarding him calling the officer “son of a donkey”, Rasheed simply said: “tau is main aisi kaunsi ghustakhi hogaee?”
“Haven’t you seen the movie ‘Donkey King’? If a leader of a country can be one why can’t an officer take pride in being one too?”
“If anything, he should be thankful to me for calling him that,” he said.
Meanwhile, provincial information minister Fayyaz ul Hasan Chohan has lauded Rasheed for reporting the truth about police in Naya Pakistan. “It gives me great satisfaction to know there are journalists like Haroon sahab who are true to their profession and are giving time to the idea of Naya Pakistan. It will take a bit of time and lots of tranquilizers.
