India: Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza has claimed that he has made five visits to India during the UPA led Congress.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday once again attacked former Vice President Hamid Ansari over his alleged links with Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza, who he claims that he Visited India five times. He provided sensitive information from collected here and share with his country's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence. Here's a timeline of the debate that Mirza's claims began:
10 July 2022: Mirza claimed to be spying for ISI in an appearance on Pakistani YouTube program The Critical Patriot. He claims that between 2007 and 2010, he attended events in Delhi and Aligarh and the data he collected was passed on to The commander of the Pakistan Army General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. Mirza claims that in 2010, when Ansari was the vice-president, he had gone to a seminar on terrorism.
July 12: Gurdeep Singh Sappal, who served as Ansari's officer on special duty, refutes allegations that Mirza was "politically motivated" by the former vice president. He claims in several tweets that Mirza never said that Ansari invited him . He further said that neither Ansari nor anyone else invited him to the seminar. Hamid Ansari was the chief guest of the seminar.
July 13: BJP raises issue and criticizes Ansari and Congress for Mirza's visits to India during UPA government. BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia accused the Congress and Ansari of betraying the country.
In a statement, Ansari referred to the BJP's allegations as a "fire of liars". They claim that Mirza was neither invited when he opened the "International Conference of Jurists on Terrorism and Human Rights" in December 2010 – a gathering for which the organizers would have chosen the attendees.
July 14: A photograph is shared by Adish Agarwal, a veteran lawyer and seminar organizer purportedly depicting Ansari and Mirza together on stage at an event of Jama Masjid United Front in October 2009.
According to him, a member of the Vice President's Secretariat asked him to invite Mirza on behalf of former Ansari to the conference at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.according to Agarwal a day before the conference the officer called him and expressed Ansari's displeasure. Ansari initially agreed to attend the event for an hour, but according to Agarwal, he was annoyed and would now stop for only 20 minutes after the opening ceremony.
July 15: According to Agarwal, Ansari asked him to invite Mirza to the gathering. He denied that Ansari never invited or met Mirza.
Even as the former vice-president reiterated his claim that he never met or invited the Pakistani journalist, the BJP intensified its criticism of the Congress and Ansari by citing a picture shared by Agarwal.
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