Days after Pakistani journalist-turned-spy Nusrat Mirza revealed that ex-Vice President Hamid Ansari had invited him to a seminar on terrorism in 2010, the organiser of the event Dr Adish Aggarwala issued a detailed statement on the matter.
He is the President of the International Council of Jurists and the Chairman of the All India Bar Association. In a press release on Thursday (July 14), Aggarwala stated that the said event was held between December 11-12 in 2010 at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, as per the press release.
“The then Vice-President Hamid Ansari had attended the conference but Nusrat Mirza was neither an invitee nor had he attended it. Even Nusrat Mirza has not referred to this conference in his interview,” he emphasised.
“Mr Ashok Dewan who at that time was walling as Director, Vice-President Secretariat had informed me that the Vice-President has desired that Pakistani journalist Mr 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,” the statement read.
*PRESS STATEMENT*
— Dr. Adish C Aggarwala (@adishcaggarwala) July 14, 2022
*HAMID ANSARI PUTTING UP SPURIOUS DEFENCE TO CONCEAL TIES WITH PAK SPY NUSRAT AND TO MALIGN THE PM: ICJ PRESIDENT & CO-AUTHOR OF PM BIOGRAPHY DR. ADISH C. AGGARWALA*
New Delhi, July 14 – Pakistani Journalist Nusrat Mirza is reported to have stated in…..
According to Dr Adish Aggarwala, a dismayed Hamid Ansari communicated to Dewan that he would attend the seminar for only 20 minutes. This was despite the fact that the ex-Vice President had initially agreed to spend an hour at the event.
“Some Congress leaders are trying to mask the alleged meeting of Mr Hamid Ansari with Nusrat Mirza by making insinuations and veiled statements on social media that Mr Nusrat Mirza had attended the conference organized by me”, he added.
The President of the International Council of Jurists stated how some Congress leaders were trying to cast aspersions on him for co-authoring a book on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He emphasised that Ansari and Mirza did not attend the Conference on Jurists but instead participated in the “International Conference against Terrorism”, which was held at Oberoi Hotel in New Delhi on October 27, 2009, by Jama Masjid United Forum.
#BREAKING: Fresh twist in #HamidAnsari controversy relating to Pakistani spy journalist. One Event organiser Dr. Adish Aggarwala issues detailed statement from London. Says, Vice President Ansari’s secretariat wanted Spy Nusrat Mirza to attend conference. Demands inquiry by Govt. pic.twitter.com/lGtVvklQXr
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) July 14, 2022
“It appears that Mr Hamid Ansari and Mr 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,” Dr Adish Aggarwala said.
He emphasised, “The statements made by Mr Hamid Ansari, Mr Jairam Ramesh, and other Congress office bearers are manifestly distorted, wholly untrue, and deplorably dishonest. It is rather astonishing that a former Vice-President of the country would indulge in underhanded activity and then try to duck behind another unconnected event to lead the public astray.”
“They deceitfully and designedly named the Jurists’ Conference as the only one which was attended by Mr Hamid Ansari on the assumption that none will reach the truth,” he further stated.
Dr Adish Aggarwala also pointed out that such conferences could not be organised without the clearance of the Foreign Ministry and Home Ministry of the Union government.
“Whenever an event is attended by the President of India. Vice-President of India or the Prime Minister of India who are adorning the dais, the names of all persons who share the dais are to be first cleared by the said leaders. It is, therefore, obvious that the names of persons who were on the dais that day had been approved of by Mr Ansari,” he remarked.
“India is a country governed by the rule of law and we firmly believe in the jurisprudential principle expressed in the immortal words of Thomas Fuller: ‘Be ye never so high, the law is above you.’ A former Vice-President of India must therefore be made to account for acts that endangered the lives of its citizens,” he concluded while seeking a government inquiry into the matter.
Hamid Ansari saga and his fallible defence
On July 10, Pakistani Journalist and YouTuber Shakil Chaudhary published an interview with Pakistani Journalist Nusrat Mirza who claimed he spied on India and handed over the information he had gathered during his visits to India between 2005 to 2011.
He said in 2010, he was invited to a seminar on terrorism by then-Vice President Hamid Ansari. He said, “Though I agree I am not an expert, but we are Mughals. We have ruled India for centuries. I understand their culture. I know about their weaknesses. But the problem is the experience I gathered about India is not being used due to lack of good leadership in Pakistan.”
During his 2011 visit to India, Mirza said he had met The Milli Gazette’s publisher Zafarul Islam Khan. In his defence, Ansari said that falsehood was unleashed on him by the controversy.
Correction | Ex-Vice President Hamid Ansari issues a statement regarding Pak journalist Nusrat Mirza
— ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2022
“…falsehood unleashed on me in media & by official spox of BJP…known fact that invitation to foreign dignitaries by VP of India is on advice of Govt generally through MEA…” pic.twitter.com/nbQvOq4or1
He had denied claims about inviting Nusrat Mirza for a conference in Delhi in 2010, saying that it was the government and the organiser who invited people.
“It is a known fact 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…As is the normal practice the list of invitees would have been drawn by the organizers. I never invited him or met him,” Hamid Ansari claimed.
