BJP slams Hamid Ansari, releases photo with Pakistan journalist

The former Vice President and the Congress have both categorically denied the allegations. The BJP accused the Congress of compromising the country’s security during its tenure.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday stepped up its attack on former Vice President Hamid Ansari and the Congress, alleging that Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza shared the stage with the former V-P during a conference on terrorism in Delhi in October 2009.

BJP slams Ansari, releases photo with Pakistan journalist

Ansari and the Congress categorically denied the allegations. The BJP accused the Congress of compromising the country’s security during its tenure.

BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia at a press conference on Friday showed a photograph of the said event as proof that Ansari and Mirza attended the event in 2009. Ansari refuted allegations that he knew or invited the Pakistani journalist to India.

Referring to the photograph, Bhatia said the former V-P didn’t mention the 2009 conference where he did share the stage with Mirza. “People holding constitutional posts should act responsibly... If Hamid Ansari wanted he could have said that this person shouldn’t be called or that he will not share the stage with him,” Bhatia said.

Bhatia’s allegations come a day after senior advocate Adish Aggarwala, chairman of the All India Bar Association, refuted Ansari’s claim that he had never met Mirza. He tweeted a photograph of the 2009 event.

Aggarwala, president of the International Council of Jurists, on Thursday alleged that Ansari wanted Mirza to be invited for the International Conference of Jurists on International Terrorism and Human Rights that was held on December 11-12, 2010.

“It is recalled that when the aforesaid Conference was being organized, an invitation to attend the Conference had been sent to Mr. Hamid Ansari in his capacity as Vice-President of India. Mr. Ashok Dewan who at that time was working 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,” Aggarwala said in a statement.

Aggarwala said the “request” was not met as Mirza was from the media and Pakistan’s judges or lawyers were not invited; so there was no question of inviting journalists from that country. But when this was communicated to his office, Aggarwala alleged, Ansari “felt offended”. Speaking to HT, Aggarwala said, “A day before the conference, I was told that the V-P will attend the inaugural ceremony for only twenty minutes instead of an hour as agreed initially. On the day of the event, he left the ceremony after twenty minutes.”

In an interview with a Pakistani YouTube show recently, Mirza claimed he attended events in Delhi and Aligarh between 2007 and 2010 and handed over the information he collected to the then Pakistan army chief. Mirza claims he attended a seminar on terrorism in 2009 when Ansari was Vice President. Following an attack from the BJP earlier this week, Ansari hit back, calling the allegations a “litany of falsehood” unleashed on him by sections of the media and the BJP.

Condemning the “insinuations and inuendos” by the BJP spokesperson against Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Hamid Ansari, Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said on Wednesday, “The levels that the Prime Minister and his party colleagues will stoop to debase public debate and spread their patented brand of lies is staggering. It reflects sickness of mind and lack of any form of integrity whatsoever.”

Jairam added that “the facts regarding the International Conference of Jurists on International Terrorism and Human Rights held on December 11, 2010, in New Delhi are already in the public domain. The insinuations and innuendos of the spokesperson of the BJP are character assassination of the worst form.”

In the face of a fresh attack from the BJP on Friday, Ansari said that he stands by his previous statement that he “never knew or invited” Mirza. “The former Vice President of India stands by his earlier statement that he never knew or invited the Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza to any conference, including the 2010 conference mentioned by Nusrat Mirza or 2009 conference on terrorism or on any other occasion,” a statement from Ansari’s office said.

Bhatia hit out at the Congress on Friday for allowing Mirza to attend the conference on terrorism in 2009 that was held less than a year after the 26/11 terrorist attacks. Bhatia said intelligence clearance is required for holding such programmes and inviting dignitaries from abroad. “Why was Nusrat Mirza given a visa? As per the protocol, a person from Pakistan gets an Indian visa for three cities, but he was allowed to visit seven cities,” Bhatia said.

The conference on terrorism was attended by a then Union minister, Bhatia said. “The Congress and Hamid Ansari are bothered about their image, but the BJP is bothered about the country’s image... The Congress was compromising the country’s security. They were learning about how to combat terrorism from people against whom they were supposed to take action.”

Bhatia said the then Union minister Kabil Sibal was present at the press conference when the “conference of terrorism” was announced.

When contacted, Sibal said, “I have absolutely no idea who this Mirza fellow is. Incidentally, the prime minister [Narendra Modi] was photographed meeting Nirav Modi and with Mehul Choksi, who are absconding offenders.”