Former Vice President Hamid Ansari issued a fresh statement reiterating his earlier stand that he never knew or invited the Pakistan journalist Nusrat Mirza, after Dr Adish Aggarwala, the event organiser, made grave allegations against him and the Congress party, alleging that the former VP had desired that Nusrat Mirza be invited to the conference.
“The former vice president of India stands by his earlier statement that he never knew or invited the Pakistan journalist Nusrat Mirza to any conference, including the 2010 conference mentioned by Nusrat Mirza or the 2009 conference on terrorism or on any other occasion,” the new statement issued by the officer of the former vice president of India read.
Statement by Former Vice President of India #HamidAnsari. Says he didn’t invite Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza for any conference in India in 2009 or 2010. https://t.co/dCksKjdopH pic.twitter.com/RM5dYbuG5J
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) July 15, 2022
Event organiser rubbishes ex-VP Hamid Ansari’s defence over Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza controversy
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 serving 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 had read.
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.
“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.
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.
