As ex-VP Hamid Ansari denies link with Pak journalist, BJP shares old photo to back its claim

New Delhi: The BJP on Friday stepped up its attack on the Congress over ex-vice president Hamid Ansari's alleged connection with a Pakistani journalist and cited a photograph of both purportedly sharing stage during a conference in India. Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza has claimed that he had visited India five times during the UPA rule and passed on sensitive information collected here to his country's spy agency ISI. Mirza purportedly commented that he had visited India on Ansari's invitations and also met him.

Ansari, however, has dismissed the charge as a "litany of falsehood" and said he never met or invited the journalist. "Former Vice President of India stands by his earlier statement that he never knew or invited Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza to any conference including 2010 conference mentioned by Nusrat Mirza or the 2009 conference on terrorism or on any other occasion," Hamid Ansari's Office said in a statement.

Earlier, citing Mirza's claims that Ansari shared many "sensitive and highly classified" information with him, the BJP had accused the former vice president of inviting the Pakistani journalist to India who has claimed to have spied for the ISI.

आतंकवाद से कैसे लड़ना है ये कांग्रेस पार्टी पाकिस्तान के आईएसआई एजेंट से सीख रही थी।
हामिद अंसारी जी कहते हैं कि मैंने आतंकवाद के विषय पर 11 दिसंबर 2010 एक कांफ्रेंस का उद्घाटन किया था।

- श्री @gauravbh pic.twitter.com/Tk7uVowJtW

— BJP (@BJP4India) July 15, 2022

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters on Friday, the party's national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia showed a picture of Ansari purportedly sharing a stage with Mirza at a conference on terrorism here in 2009.

आतंकवाद के विषय पर आयोजित एक अंतरराष्ट्रीय कांफ्रेंस की तस्वीर में दिख रहा है कि बीच में हामिद अंसारी जी बैठे हैं, उसी मंच पर पाकिस्तान के बहरूपिया पत्रकार, पाकिस्तान का एजेंट नुसरत मिर्जा भी बैठा है।

- श्री @gauravbh pic.twitter.com/zCDfM9Mlgy

— BJP (@BJP4India) July 15, 2022

People holding constitutional posts should act responsibly and should have not shared the stage with Mirza, Bhatia said. Hitting out at the Congress, Bhatia said intelligence clearance is required for holding such programmes and inviting dignitaries from abroad.

क्या ये सत्य नहीं है कि इस तरह का कोई भी कार्यक्रम आयोजित होता है तो उसकी क्लेरेंस इंटेलिजेंस एजेंसी के इनपुट के क्या बाद में दी जाती है?

- श्री @gauravbh

— BJP (@BJP4India) July 15, 2022

For a programme of someone holding a constitutional post, protocol dictates that his office gathers information about those involved in the event. In such a situation, would it not be correct to believe that Congress wanted a person from Pakistan to enter India and hurt its integrity, he alleged.

भाजपा द्वारा पूछे गए कांग्रेस पार्टी और हामिद अंसारी से सवालों के जवाब में हामिद अंसारी जी ने सारा ठीकरा कांग्रेस सरकार पर ये कह कर फोड़ा कि जो उपराष्ट्रपति के कार्यक्रम में बुलाए जाते हैं वो सरकार की सलाह से बुलाए जाते हैं।

- श्री @gauravbh pic.twitter.com/xZrcfCBj7V

— BJP (@BJP4India) July 15, 2022

 Clips of Pakistani journalist Mirza's interview in Pakistan have been doing the rounds on social media for the last few days in which he stated that he attended a seminar on terrorism in India in which Ansari spoke. Mirza also claimed to have given secret and classified information to the Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

(With Agency Inputs)