A record of payments allegedly made to 19 senior-journalists of Pakistan, by the Bahria Town owner Malik Riaz has surfaced on the social networking site Twitter, Aaj News reported.
Renowned names of various news television anchors and journalists like Dr. Shahid Masood, Najam Sethi, Kamran Khan, Nusrat Javed, Meher Bokhari, Mubasher Lucman, Hamid Mir, Javed Chaudhry, Sana Bucha, Sohail Waraich and Asma Shirazi among a few others, are present in the lists below.
An account of favors given to these journalists in shapes of money, cars and property etc is recorded in these trademarked letterheads of Bahria Town.
JUJ replied on Sunday, June 17, 2012 03:36 AM
This great list. Now they are all going to deny.
I had some respect for Hassan Nisar, but his latest praise for Zardari was a bit strange. Now I know he is a sellable commodity. The B*****rd. |
MAS replied on Sunday, June 17, 2012 04:33 AM
There is no shortage of conspiracies and pranks in our society. We should take every unverified information with caution. This is not a "record". Bahria bank account numbers are known to many people who do business with Bahria. THERE IS NO COPY OF BANK STATEMENT ATTACHED. This is just a list that any tom dick or harry can make on a false or stolen letter head. Who has signed that list? Is the signature authentic? No doubt bribe takers are every where in our society but no bank statement, no signature and we are still giving it importance. It is government's responsibility to check out Bahria's bank statements and launch FIR against the culprits (if any) which can be done in one day. |
MAS replied on Sunday, June 17, 2012 04:53 AM
For those who have not seen the Bahria list on internet I may mention here that the list claims that money was transferred to each journalist using banking channel and Bahria's bank account. That is why I have emphasized on bank statements in above reply. Logically it seems unlikely that some one will give bribe using his own bank account. |
Khan replied on Sunday, June 17, 2012 06:27 AM
The money or cars gifted to journalists by Malik Riaz to get appraising words is not a criminal act but it falls under moral values. That is why, Bahria can transfer money using its own bank accounts. I am not favoring Malik Riaz or journalists, just want to clarify it is not a criminal act. |
MAS replied on Sunday, June 17, 2012 08:31 AM
Khan sb you have raised a technical point and you are probably correct. For the act to be criminal some one will have to prove in court that after accepting "gift" the journalist willfully misguided the public in favor of Bahria and that is not easy to prove. PEMRA can still initiate an investigation of Bahria bank statements to look for "the possibility of such criminal act" and thus expose (or vindicate) the journalists, even if they do not go as far as filing an FIR due to "lack of proof". But why would PEMRA do that. It is in control of PPP.
However for fear of risking reputation I think any journalist in his right mind is unlikely to accept "gifts" through banking channel.
In any case I think our parliament should pass a law making it mandatory for Journalists, Judges and their families, and other such professionals to publicly declare any gifts they receive from anyone. Failing to make such declaration should be defined as criminal. |
Khan replied on Sunday, June 17, 2012 09:02 AM
Dear MAS
Many thanks for your professional feedback and suggestion to overcome such types of money movement etc |
Salman Malik replied on Sunday, June 17, 2012 02:38 PM
Anyone can put a list or rumour on internet. We must not make any judgement unless there is evidence to prove any allegation. |
