Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman's media talk outside Supreme Court

Whatever allegations PTI has levelled are wrong, otherwise, they would have provided evidence had those allegations been correct. They have not provided any evidence till date, neither have they given any evidence in the past. They do not appear in the courts.

They allege that God forbid we were involved in rigging. They have been consistently accusing us but those allegations did not even reach the court. Those allegations are absolutely false.

We are preparing cases against their allegations and PTI will have to come to court to answer. They should face the courts and not run away from them. The matter should be cleared in a couple of hearings.

We issued them a notice four years ago, but it was decided that we should not pursue the notice and hence a committee was formulated. Our three to four journalists and a few members from PTI were included in the committee so that both parties can meet.

I myself met Imran Khan thrice and requested him to call a committee meeting and prove all the allegations that they levelled upon us and all this was documented. He, himself said many times that he will call a meeting but he never did, hence we are preparing to file a fresh case.

As you all know that we won a case in London which had multiple allegations and Imran Khan was present in all those programs. When we went to courts in UK, ARY`s lawyer had to concede that they do not have any evidence against us. ARY had accepted this and they were punished severely. This was a unique decision in UK`s history, so if anyone, including Imran Khan or anyone who alleges a media group, should also back it with evidence.

Question: Your media group is accused of supporting the government’s propaganda, what do you have to say about it? Remarks have been revealed about your biased attitude, your inclination toward the government is obvious, do you want to say something about it?

Answer: I just want to say that whoever is saying that our inclination is towards the government is a slave of his own thoughts or he must be in a hateful relationship with the government or Nawaz Sharif.

Nawaz Sharif and his supporters, Imran Khan and his supporters, do not want to see any news which is published against them. They do not want to see if we show Imran Khan’s wrong doing. They don’t want to see the other side of the story. Because we are the only channel which is showing the other side of the story. It might be that they don’t like our policy, but we show both sides of the story. It does not matter if its Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan or the People`s Party, no one wants to see anything published against them. This is the real situation.

Question: Does that WhatsApp story have any evidence?

Answer: I have presented the case of the entire media today in front of the court. Our editors, as well as our legal team, are of the opinion that most of our published news have been correct except for one for which we have apologised.

Mistakes can occur in journalism, but the correct thing is to accept the mistake and apologise. Our team works hard. Our news is not supposed to look after JIT and ISI. I have repeated several times that even this story, and also other stories are true till now. I have requested the honourable judges to take action if the story is wrong. Till now the action has been taken against one matter and which was misreporting. I even stated this in the court room and all the newspapers and channels also aired wrong headlines. It happens.

Question: It is not written in the decision that the JIT has been given in ISI`s control, do you want action to be taken against you?

Answer: I have said this several times, and also in front of you, why was action not taken against us if we are wrong? If we are wrong, then it should be exposed in front of everyone.

Question: Sir, can you tell about the advertisements?

Answer: Related to the advertisements, I have complained to the judges with respect and also revealed my pain to them regarding the matter. It was said that judges have given remarks and in my opinion, the remarks which are not present in the order sheet have zero value. So if the remarks of honourable judges have no value in the order/decision, then it has literally no value.

We media people, which also includes us, build it as a 1000 floor building and also put marble on it. We also put wonderful black glasses and then polish it but eventually, it has no value. First time ever I have felt that we do wrong by valuing it too much and I realised this after today`s remarks.

We have done the same mistake in the past and we are doing it again. I said one thing when talking regarding the remarks and everyone started criticising. I gave an example to them that If my colleagues who work hard with me, ask me on whose behest am I publishing this news, then I can ask in return ask on whose behest are you asking me this question? So I can answer them if they ask me. But I cannot give the same answer to you all, everything should be backed by evidence.

As far as the advertisements are concerned, Mr Imran Khan started this and may Allah guide him towards the right path and may Allah guide us as well, Imran Khan talks without evidence. I have told him several times, and we have published and aired this in channels and newspapers, that he, Imran Khan visits the UK too and if these allegations are true, then he should try and accuse us in UK as well.

We have given our stance openly in the newspapers and on the channels. I am not talking about all the channels but a few channels in our industry edit programs when they broadcast in London. The law is the same for allegations throughout the world. This practice in journalism of blaming is only seen here; they all edit their content elsewhere.

As far as the advertisements are related, the KP government comes on top in giving advertisements to us. We also get more advertisements from the private sector. Readership and viewership are high, which is why we get more business. Same is the case with the government, whichever channel has the highest viewership and whichever newspaper has the highest readership will be given more advertisements so the argument that I am providing is very logical and they have asked for an entire table from the government.

I have also asked requested the honourable judges to give us an opportunity to provide our data and they have agreed to it. We weren’t asked to present it at first but the government was and probably the government has not provided it yet. We want to provide our data and wanted to bring it today, but it wasn’t complete and it will include all the things which I have mentioned. We have more market share.

The government has been unfair to us, as we have been saying for quite long that we should be given advertisements many more times than our closest competitor in newspaper and TV. We get a lesser number of advertisements than we should be getting. Number two and three get more advertisements than us. Their rating is much lower in percentage than us and we have been treated unfairly.

Question: The record which has been revealed shows that you got ads worth Rs4.5 billion while the others got Rs40 million worth of ads. In relation to Imran Khan, you said that you have had quarrels with Imran Khan before, your offices have been stoned and you made peace afterwards, don’t you trust the Pakistani courts?

Answer: This is a good question. All the cases are also currently filed in Pakistan, also the one that we took to UK. We have filed a case against Zaid Hamid which has proceeded a bit. We filed cases against him in Pakistan four years ago and they are moving forward. As far as your argument of Rs4bn is concerned, kindly wait for the report, everything will be revealed once the report is exposed. Rubbish is being peddled on social media currently. 75pc of social media is rubbish in the world. International people term it as gutter, Imran Khan uses social media because it's free for him and for all the politicians, even for PML-N to post whatever they want. They can post 1,000 emails at once and start useless propaganda. It is a rule in Pakistan that a defamation case has to be decided in three months. It is necessary that the honourable judges realise that everything would be fine in Pakistan if decisions are made. If there is a difference between me and you, then it should be cleared because it progresses with time and then turns into a rivalry. Judgements are not made in Pakistan, while it took only 15 months in the UK to make a decision and hard work was put in the case.

Question: Geo is a big name in media, especially during the PPP’s government, but after the sit-ins, a perception in the general public was that PTV and Geo have very similar news/content. What do you want to say about it?

Answer: I have said this before too, we show every perspective. The perspective which is not acceptable to Imran Khan and his supporters, they dislike it and say that we are trying to save PML-N and Nawaz Sharif. But our policy is different. Someone should tell me if we have not given coverage to Imran Khan. Although he has boycotted us, we still give him coverage. We have never boycotted his coverage.

Hence, his goal is to make individuals controversial by accusing them and discrediting them, making the people not believe our reporting and having them read our news with a sense of doubt. This is his game and he will never be successful in this. We have faced this in the past as well and you all know what we have been through even during Nawaz Sharif`s era when Saif-ur-Rahman was there.

We faced everything when Musharraf was in power. You all know what he did to us. When Zia- ul-Haq was there, my father had to write an editorial on the first page with his signature. Ayub Khan also did a lot. Bhutto also did a lot. All the rulers did a lot to us. This is not something new for us. All the allegations that they associate with the media and the Jang Group, no one has ever proved any allegation.

I request Imran Khan to please go to the courts and prove all the allegations. There is a council of complaints, PEMRA and the courts, he should go there and prove. I request you to select 10 people and tell Imran Khan to send 10 people as well and I give you permission to decide independently on whose fault is it, in order to resolve this situation. And I request Imran Khan and his supporters to approach this is a positive manner and avoid negativity.

Question: What is your complaint with Tehreek-e-Insaf that you are explaining yourself so much? Why are you diving into politics? The reason why the Supreme Court summoned you is, because you are not doing journalism but manipulating and this is the only reason why you have been sent a notice. A trend has started in your organisation regarding fake reporting.

Answer: Mine and your brother questioned me about PTI and that is why I answered. Secondly, I have no idea what you are talking about and about what the honourable judges have said and what they have not. With due respect, they did not prove everything then how did the honourable judges pass their remarks? And If they have said, till date, the judges, if they have said, it is wrong because no one has provided any evidence and no action has been taken yet. The proof which has been provided in front of you discusses only one news item. Why did they make a second call for Noorani Sb? On which the honourable judge said; How dare he? This is the action he has taken and he did not take any other action. All the news has been already published, no action has been taken against them which technically means they are correct. They are not wrong it means and if they do take action then court proceedings will be held on that news.

Question: Today you talked about judicial remarks. However; you used to air remarks of Ch. Iftikhar with pleasure, then why do you have a problem with the remarks now?

Answer: Yes, I have said this there, how my parents have brought me up and what our policy Is what I have said clearly that today we are realising this when we have been made to face it. Call the order sheet. Now, we have got to know that the value of these remarks is zero as our lawyers have told us that whatever is not in the order sheet, has zero value. And I realised that even in Chaudhry Iftikhar's era, we used to build a whole building over remarks with windows and polished it, which was wrong. It has no value and we have been defaming, which should not have been done. Every media, which includes our media group, considers remarks as if they are a very big deal

Question: Have you ever met Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry?

Answer: Yes, I met him after his retirement. I never met him during his tenure.

Question: Justice Azmat Saeed has said that you have discussed everything related to the JIT. You said that no news has bounced. His stance was that your news was related to the JIT and the court did not make the decision which you quoted. He said it has to do with something with the stock exchange as well, what do you have to say about it?

Answer: I haven’t heard this statement but if you are saying it, and if it is true, then it is a shameful statement. If I can, then I would prefer to file a case against the judge who has said this.

Whichever judge said what you are saying, and if he said it then it is a shameful statement and he should not have said this about anyone. We media persons and politicians have the same complaint about these remarks which shall not be passed as defaming someone is not good

Question: You used to put all things related to Ch. Iftikhar as a headline?

Answer: Not only us but the entire media was doing it. We are also humans and not God/Allah. We accept that we have committed mistakes and we might keep on committing mistakes. We all should accept that since this world has been created, everyone has committed mistakes. We are not trying to become a party. The assumptions of manipulation are absolutely wrong and defaming. If I say, that you are saying all this because you have been bribed by someone then how would you feel? Although it will sound wrong If I say this. I am not saying this, you haven’t taken any money but I am putting forward an example, that if I say this then how wrong it will sound and should not be said. And I will also not say this without evidence

Question: You have said this again and again that you have published all the right news so will you apologise?

Answer: We will definitely apologise if we are wrong and why shouldn’t we apologise if we are wrong. But we have seen this in the past, we take a stand for our reporters if they aren’t proven wrong and this is the reason why we have differences with the governments and opposition, such as we have with Imran Khan.

We have created differences with the opposition many a time. There have been differences with the MQM, with the government. A journalist is the one who brings in the news and our organisation stands by it, then we get punished horribly for it, an example being TV closure as everyone knows what happened in Musharaf's era and also after Hamid Mir incident. You guys bring in the news but we face the music. and you guys get the right news and if they are wrong then we ourselves take action against them.

So whatever news till now we have published and our team has published, and I am proud of my team and Inshallah, whoever is claiming them to be wrong should prove them wrong and I am proud of my team because they work hard. Supreme Court should take action If they are wrong as they took action on that news. It has been over 2 months now and Supreme court hasn’t taken any action against it, I ask why?

Question: Reporters are often accused of siding with Nawaz Sharif. Imran Khan quotes Ansar Abbasi on his news against the SECP and then it is said that our group also reports against PML-N. Reporters have this perception, what will you say about this?

Answer: We are airing and publishing a lot of news against PML-N. You tell yourself that didn’t we give that news? This is our business and we know how to earn halaal. Why would we cause loss to our own business? Forget about journalism. How can I publish only one perspective? Today we are the biggest group with Allah's blessing.