April 18, 2012
|
Special
Dispatch No.4664
|
Pakistan's Waqt TV: 'Lord Nazir
Ahmed Has Announced That He Will Reward Anyone Who Assassinates George W. Bush
With $100,000' – And Other Pakistani and Urdu Media Reports
Clip from Waqt TV – The news ticker
in Urdu reads: "Lord Nazir sets price for the heads of Bush and Tony
Blair"
Below are excerpts of reports from
the Pakistani and Urdu media on Lord Nazir Ahmed's controversial statements, in
which he reportedly announced a bounty for the heads of Barack Obama, George W.
Bush and Tony Blair, that led to his temporary suspension from the UK's Labour
Party. The controversy involves two speeches and a press statement that he
delivered in the town of Haripur on April 13, 2012 and a few days earlier in
Lahore on April 10, 2012.
While international media
organizations based their reports on a single source, The Express Tribune
daily of Pakistan, which carried a report on Ahmed's announcement of £10
million rewards for U.S. President Barack Obama and his predecessor George W.
Bush in Haripur, the Western media has not reported that Ahmed allegedly made a
similar statement while addressing students at Punjab University in Lahore on
April 10, 2012. This incident was widely reported next day, April 11, in the
Pakistani media and by at least one London-based Urdu daily. In fact, two days
after Lord Nazir Ahmed first announced a bounty for Bush in Lahore, his
announcement became a topic for the political comedy show Hasb-e-Haal,
broadcast by the Pakistani television channel Dunya TV.
Ahmed's statement followed the
U.S.'s announcement of a $10 million reward for Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the
founder of the Pakistani jihadist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba and Emir of its
charity arm Jamaatud Dawa. Both organizations are banned by the UN Security
Council for their role in the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
Following the controversy, Ahmed
denied that he offered any bounty for Obama, Bush and Blair, telling CNN:
"I am appalled that The Tribune Express [sic; The Express
Tribune] has told such a big lie. I did not mention President Obama and I
did not mention any bounty."[1]
He told GEO TV: "I didn't mention bounty at all. It's a fabrication by the
BBC and other sections of the media. My positing on the shedding of blood,
whether of Muslims or non-Muslims, is well known and I have always maintained
it."[2]
About his suspension, he said: "The Labour Party, with the false news
stories from BBC and Sky [TV] as a basis, has suspended me temporarily... I
neither uttered the name of Barack Obama in any of my speeches nor set money
for anyone's head…. "[3]
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