Adish Aggarwala said Ansari ‘chose not to disclose about the Jama Masjid United Forum’s event in order to mislead government agencies & the public.’ Pakistani journalist Mirza claimed that he visited India several times and collected information for ISI
Former Vice President Hamid Ansari. PTI
New Delhi: Sharing an “image showing former Hamid Ansari and Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza attending an event in New Delhi in 2009”, senior advocate Adish C Aggarwala alleged that former Vice President and his friends “were fraternising with the columnist.”
He added that the government should initiate a probe into the matter as it “relates to national security and espionage”.
This comes just a day after Ansari denied having met Mirza.
The Pakistani journalist had said that he was “invited to India at the time of Vice Presidentship of Mohammad Hamid Ansari.”
Notably, Mirza who has visited India many times during the Congress-led UPA’s rule, boasted on camera that he used to pass on information collected during his visits to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Meanwhile, Aggarwala also issued a statement on the issue on Thursday. He rejected Ansari’s claims that Mirza attended the ‘International Conference of Jurists on International Terrorism and Human Rights’ in 2010.
Aggarwala was the organiser of the event.
He added that the event that Mirza and Ansari attended was the “International Conference against Terrorism” organised by the Jama Masjid United Forum in New Delhi on 27 October, 2009.
Aggarwala said it appears that Hamid Ansari and Jairam Ramesh “chose not to disclose about the Jama Masjid United Forum’s Conference in order to mislead government agencies and the public. Possibly, they felt it appropriate to take shelter behind the Jurists’ Conference so that Mr Ansari receives a clean chit on scrutiny of records of the said Conference”.
Aggarwala said statements were made to take cover behind the Conference of Jurists in order to evade questions and escape inquiries. The senior advocate added that Ansari who had attended the jurists’ body event was upset with him as he refused to invite Mirza.
“It is recalled that when the aforesaid Conference was being organized, an invitation to attend the Conference had been sent to Mr Hamid Ansari in his capacity as Vice President of India. Mr Ashok Dewan who at that time was working as Director, Vice President Secretariat had informed me that the Vice President has desired that Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza be invited to the Conference. However, we could not accede to the request since Mr Mirza was from Pakistan media and we had not invited judges or lawyers from Pakistan,” Aggarwala said.
He added that the former Vice President must “be made to account for acts that endangered the lives of its citizens”.
Aggarwala also said that his name was being dragged into the controversy also because he has authored two books on PM Narendra Modi.
What Ansari said
In a statement, Ansari said, “a litany of falsehood has been unleashed on me personally in the sections of the media and by the official spokesman of the Bharatiya Janata Party: that as Vice President of India I had invited the Pakistani journalist, Nusrat Mirza. That I had met him in a conference in New Delhi on ‘Terrorism’, and that while as Ambassador to Iran, I had betrayed the national interest in a matter for which allegations have been made by a former official of a government agency.”
Ansari said that invitations to foreign dignitaries by the Vice-President of India are on the advice of the government generally through the Ministry of External Affairs.
BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia had taken a dig at Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and alleged that the opposition party has a history that it “stands for the family, not for the nation”. He also asked Ansari if ha has taken instructions from the Gandhis to invite Mirza.
MEA steers clear of Ansari row
The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday steered clear of the controversy involving former vice president Hamid Ansari over claims of a Pakistani journalist, saying it does not want to comment on the issue.
Asked about the media report on Mirza’s remarks and Ansari’s statement on the allegations, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “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.”
With inputs from agencies
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