Pakistan to sue 'The Sun'

[RayKalm]

The decision to launch legal action in Britain marks a rapid U-turn after Rehman Malik, Pakistan's interior minister, initially promised to arrest anyone involved.

Now, however, it seems ministers have had a change of heart and are claiming to be innocent victims of a tabloid sting.

Earlier this week The Sun said it had uncovered a racket in the eastern city of Lahore that could have allowed potential terrorists access to the London games as part of the Pakistani contingent, in return for about £7000.

At a meeting of the Pakistani cabinet, ministers ordered a libel suit to be filed against The Sun in response.

Qamar Zaman Kaira, the Information Minister, said: "Dirty propaganda was unleashed against Pakistan." He added that the cabinet had ordered the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) – the agency at the centre of the alleged scandal – to file a defamation suit.

He also took a swipe at the paper saying it "does not have a good reputation".

He was followed by Tariq Malik, Nadra chairman, who claimed the story was concocted after the authority beat British firms to a £100m contract in Kenya.

"The story appears to have been crafted to defame Pakistan against this background," he said.

Four officials and three travel agents have now been released from detention.

The government's position will not surprise critics who say ministers prefer to blame anti-Pakistan conspiracies rather admit the country's failings.

A similar response followed a News of the World investigation two years ago that Pakistani cricketers were involved in spot-fixing.

At the time, the Pakistani High Commissioner to London said he believed Salman ****, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir had been "set-up" and may have been victims of doctored videos.

All three were eventually convicted and served prison sentences in the UK.

A spokesperson for The Sun said the story was another example of the paper's tradition of investigative journalism: "We are not aware of any such claim being made against us. If such were to be filed The Sun stands by our story and we would vigorously defend it."

Pakistan to sue The Sun over Olympics visa allegations - Telegraph

 

[Safriz]

Dont think it will materialize....
The British Ambassador has already gone into apology mode,but the damage has been done..
Only Publicly denying the news by the newspaper itself can do some recovery,and for that to happen and court case will be needed.

 

[qinglong-china]

That’s great!

 

[amigonaqvi]

Pakistan must sue and should insist of loud apology from UK so that world media can hear.

 

[INDIAISM]

hehe here i am confuse To Buy or Not to Buy this News.. As Non of the parties here have a credible history....

On one hand you have ''The Sun''who is known for its Propaganda News,Then on another hand you have Pakistan....and all of us know that Pakistan and terrorism go hand in hand....Some times Pakistan becomes the victim and it becomes the .......

 

[Hasbara Buster]

The greatest western threat to humanity are not their nuclear weapons, but their media.

 

[Roybot]

Pakistan should be careful. With these sorta sting operations they always hold on to some information to use later on just in case the "culprit/victim" decides to sue them.

 

[Roybot]

UK visa scam: British High Commission backs The Sun

The British High Commission released its report in the UK visa scam on Friday, claiming that The Sun’s agent Ali Asad had successfully attained a fake passport in Pakistan to sneak into Britain along with Pakistan’s Olympic delegation, reported Express News.
The report said that Ali Asad came to Pakistan on a British passport and managed to get a fake CNIC and a machine-readable Pakistani passport on the specifics of “Mohammad Ali Asad”.

 

[IZVINITE]

LONDON: The Sun newspaper said on Wednesday that it will defend itself robustly if a legal action was initiated by the Pakistani government after the Federal Cabinet in Islamabad decided to sue the tabloid for its Olympic passport scam reporting, raising the spectre of terrorist infiltration into Britain from Pakistan.

A source at the News International, owner of The Sun, told The News that Stephen Moyes, under whose name the story was published, was on holidays and was not available to comment but “the paper was fully satisfied that it had strong evidence and decided to publish the story in public interest.”

“We will defend our story in the courts if a legal action is initiated,” she said, requesting not to release her name.In a highly alarming front page story on Monday, backed by a video on the paper’s website, the paper claimed to have busted a Lahore-based crime ring involved in issuing fake passports and visas, giving potential terrorists a chance to sneak into Britain with Pakistan’s Olympic delegation.

But the federal cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, concluded that there was no evidence of any breach of the Nadra security system, no passport was issued and hence a legal challenge to The Sun story. But from very start, the announcement by the federal government looked shaky as no directives for a legal actions were taken on Wednesday.

“We have no information about any legal action. We have not been requested to engage a lawyer against The Sun,” said a spokesperson at Pakistan High Commission in London, adding that he was aware of Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira’s statement that the Nadra (the National Database Registration Authority) had been ordered to file a defamation suit against the powerful downmarket tabloid, which remains the highest circulating newspaper in Britain.

Its weekly sister publication News of The World, which famously exposed the match-fixing Pakistani racket, was closed over the hacking scandal. Owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch,

The Sun now published round the week and is the best selling daily tabloid.The Sun claimed that that the visa gang could have given access to terrorists to take part in the London Games as part of the Pakistani contingent in return for about £7,000.

It said the Lahore agent had offered undercover reporter the chance to go to the Olympics posing as an official member of the Pakistani contingent on a two-month visa. Pakistani officials have denied that any breach could have taken place.

Speaking to The News, President Pakistan Olympics Association (POA) Lt General (Retd) Arif Hasan insisted that Pakistan’s London Olympics 2012 contingent was “completely clean” and fully accredited, after having been cleared by a multi-layered verification process.

Pakistan could win a large sum in compensation if its case based on vilification, traducement, libel or slander for written and broadcast is held by an English court. The courts could also get the paper publish an apology prominently for bringing Pakistani individuals and the state to disrepute.

But for Pakistan to prove that the whole story is fake, it will have to prove that the video which allegedly shows individuals taking bribes is doctored and that the passport was not issued and that the paper’s claim was wholly untrue.

The daily tabloid is known for running scare stories but it has to its credit many stories which have set the national agenda and the paper’s backing is considered crucial for any government, although it appears that the hacking scandal and the overall troubles of the media empire owned by Rupert Murdoch has damaged the clout of the paper.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-122827-The-Sun-to-defend-Pakistans-libel-suit

 

[Jango]

UK visa scam: British High Commission backs The Sun

Nadra yesterday released a statement that the Pakistani passport of that guy was real. and NADRA also released related info along with that i.e Father name, place of birth etc etc.

They also said that this guy went to UK in 2001-02 (if i remember correctly), and then attained a UK passport some years later.

And NADRA also said that his place of birth is different in both passports.

There was no fraud or illegal activity done while obtaining the ID cards and passport of the “Sun Man” Mohammad Ali Asad, s/o MohammadAnwerSiddique, NADRA asserts that documentary and video evidence proves that Mohammad Ali Asad was himself present for the renewal of his expired CNIC.

According to Nadra’s database, Mohammad Ali Asad, obtained a National Identity Card (NIC) number 35202-2660630-5 from NADRA on 6thFeburary 2002. He later immigrated to the UK and had been living there for the past 8-10 years.

His UK Passport number 506486804 was issued on 24th Oct 2011 and has the same name and photograph as Mohammad Ali Asad in Nadra’s record.

The passport bears a fake place and date of birth.

Mohammad Ali Asad was picked by The Sun as undercover, who travelled to Pakistan on 8th July 2012.He stayed at Avari Hotel, Lahore and booked a room from 8th till 31st July 2012 @ Rs. 18,000 per day.

He went to Nadra office, Baghbanpura to get his photo updated against his own CNIC on 10th July, 2012 rather than getting someone else identity as claimed by The Sun story. His CNIC was updated after matching with his previous record held in database. After getting his CNIC modified, he processed for his MRP on 13th July 2012 which was delivered to him on 18th July 2012.Since the same person applied to renew his own ID card and for provision of a passport, nothing illegal was done.

Nadra exposes Olympic scam

British tabloid