Hello friends in Pakistan. Some of you have been asking for an update about the 25 July press statement by former CM Sharif that he was going to issue a legal notice to sue me and the Mail on Sunday over this article.
Still nothing has happened.
THREAD. There seems to be some confusion in the Pakistani media about the end reached yesterday to the defamation cases brought by
@CMShehbaz
and Ali Imran Yousaf against he Mail on Sunday.
If Shahbaz Sharif really wanted to sue me and the Mail, he would have to get his wife and children to explain to the court why they accepted huge foreign cash "investments" from people who were actually penniless hawkers, pappadom sellers, etc. Maybe they will. We shall see.
The order from Mr Justice Nicklin in the case brought by
@CMShehbaz
and Imran Ali Yousaf in respect of my article about them in the Mail on Sunday has now been issued. This is page one.
Mr Abbasi, I left the Mail in February 2022 to move to another job. I was a salaried contract writer at the Mail on Sunday and then Daily Mail for 14 years, in which I was shortlisted six times and twice won national press awards. It seems you sometimes make mistakes yourself...
According to my sources in Daily Mail David Rose was never a staffer. He was a freelancer and had made several mistakes in past too. Daily Mail has stopped taking his stories two years ago.
Mr Sharif says the UK has been a "great development partner" for Pakistan. A pity then that his own family is alleged to have stolen and money-laundered billions of rupees, much of it via the UK, while he was chief minister.
I warmly welcome the royal couple on their visit to Pakistan. It underscores deepening friendship b/w our countries. UK has been a great dev. partner of Pakistan. With DFID's cooperation, Punjab achieved various milestones during our govt for which we will always remain grateful!
I can't comment yet on the claims of Shehbaz Sharif, or other legal matters. But allegations that I've ever been motivated by anti-Muslim or anti-Pakistani racism are monstrous and defamatory. I've spent much of my career exposing and fighting racism, and I stand by that record.
Hello friends in Pakistan. Several of you have kindly pointed out that Shehbaz Sharif is coming to London today. But to issue a lawsuit he can't just show up in court. There is a long process that has to be conducted on paper through lawyers. So far, there is no sign of it.
The PMLN trolls in Pakistan are posting a photo of me with Imran Khan, claiming this shows my article about Shahbaz Sharif was “planted”. The photo was taken last year, when I interviewed him before the election. Here’s the proof
Hello Pakistani journalists: the reason the Mail has not yet replied to Shahbaz Sharif's lawyers is that I have only just returned from leave. We will shortly. And I assure you, my article was NOT fabricated, and we are not about to admit that it was.
I’m only going to make one comment on Shahbaz Sharif’s recent statements. He complains the earthquake was in 2005, before he became CM. But according to evidence already aired in a Pakistani court, the alleged thefts from the quake relief fund were in 2009 and 2011. Refutation?
A question to my followers in Pakistan. Have any of the PMLN trolls attacking me yet claimed that besides Imran Khan and the ISI, my story today was the work of the “hand of India”? 😂
I wrote an article last year on another member of the Sharif family and his unexplained wealth. Do please remind me of his current address. I don't think it's anywhere in Park Lane or Mayfair. And doesn't his daughter face some issues too?
The apology issued covers only one point: That NAB did not accuse Mr Sharif of stealing large sums of DFID aid when he was chief minister of Punjab. The newspaper has not apologised for other allegations in the article, such as those covering alleged money-laundering. See below.
Contrary to some Pakistani reports, today's hearing in the Shahbaz Sharif defamation case is strictly preliminary. The judgment sets the parameters for the eventual trial, which lies in the future: it determines what the court says the article means. It is NOT a final outcome.
It seems some in Pakistan are claiming that the London judge in today's hearing in the Shahbaz Sharif case has said our evidence is not "up to the mark". This is untrue. He has made no such comment. Today's hearing is not a victory for anyone. It was strictly preliminary. OK?
The newspaper has not paid Mr Sharif or Mr Yousaf either damages or costs, and it has not waived the costs orders made against them by Mr Justice Nicklin last month.
What a day. Intense interest in my article about Shahbaz Sharif. The longest Wimbledon men's singles final in history between two historic sporting giants. And the World Cup final going to the last ball. Incredible. To all my new friends: Pakistan zinadabad! (Next time.)
Mr Sharif and Mr Yousaf have settled their claims. The case is therefore over. The newspaper has removed the article from the internet. I shall be making no comment on the end to these proceedings.
Messrs Sharif and Yousaf have not issued replies to our defences that comply with the requirements of English law. Those defences therefore stand, and are public documents.
Sources tell me that investigations by NAB and the Asset Recovery Unit into allegations against Shahbaz Sharif have continued with some vigour since my article was published. This may explain why he hasn't filed a lawsuit: they have been keeping him busy.
Shahbaz Sharif met the UK High Commissioner the day after the NAB issued a court reference alleging he and his sons laundered Rs 7.3 billion and acquired assets disproportionate to their known income. (NB, they deny this.) I wonder if his excellency
@CTurnerFCO
was aware of this?
Had a meeting with British High Commissioner Dr Christian Turner to discuss the ways & means to further strengthen the partnership b/w our two countries. UK is a great friend of Pakistan & has been assisting us in several important areas, particularly health & education!
This DFID “rebuttal” of my story about Shahbaz Sharif is nothing of the kind. It merely repeats their statement quoted in the article, and claims the piece contains no evidence about the earthquake fund. Read it. It does. Poor show. More wasted cash!
Hello friends in Pakistan. Some of you may know there was to have been a preliminary hearing next Tuesday of the defamation action brought against me by Shahbaz Sharif over the meaning of my article. This has been postponed to a date yet to be fixed after November 11th.
To my friends in Pakistan: Eid mubarak. You may have missed this interesting announcement about Shahbaz Sharif and his family from NAB. If you did, do take a look.
Hello Pakistani TV journalists. Thank you for having me on your shows the past two days but after doing about 20 interviews, I need to get on with other work, so please don't ask me me to do any more - at least not this week. Thank you and best regards!
I've been doing investigative journalism for 40 years. That means I've sometimes been sued. I've usually won. Occasionally I've lost, for complex reasons. That doesn't empower you to call me a liar, or a "tissue". Especially when you make your living wiping the arse of the PMLN.
Ladies & gentlemen, here's another £3 million case Mail on Sunday lost due to yellow journalism of
@DavidRoseUK
after he lied about a respected female barrister. Then
@ShazadAkbar
used DR like a tissue. Mail apologised and confirmed David Rose is a liar
Pakistani friends: Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Mail on Sunday, has today filed detailed defences to the defamation claims brought by
@CMShehbaz
and Ali Imran. Copies are available from the High Court in London. Our defences say that my story of 2019 is true.
BREAKING: The Czech medicines regulator has authorised the use of the drug Ivermectin for use with Covid patients in hospital. If the results there are as impressive as those suggested by trials in the developing world, this will be significant.
The minutes of the Nervtag meeting that led Hancock to make his statements about the new COVID variant make clear that a) the 70% more infectious claim is derived from modelling in which there is only moderate confidence and B) there is no other evidence.
Wonderful that HRH the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting Pakistan, and thankfully they won't be meeting Shahbaz Sharif. But they will see the High Commissioner who posted this absurd tweet in 2018. A pity he was so taken in by a man now facing such serious allegations!
@ShazadAkbar
As for being anti-Pakistani: I first visited Pakistan when I was 18, in 1978. Islamabad was not much more than a village - I think it had one market. I loved the country and its people then, and I love them now - which is why I care about them, and have returned many times.
As for his brother Nawaz, it is too late for him to issue a lawsuit in respect of my article Penthouse Pirates. The 12-month statute of limitations on that expired several months ago.
I'm hearing that PMLN trolls are claiming I was paid £30,000 by the PTI government for my recent article about Shahbaz Sharif and his family. Needless to say, this is totally untrue 😂😂
And that's how I got to know
@ShazadAkbar
, long before he worked with Imran Khan. He was and is a warrior for human rights, and I'm proud I was able to stand shoulder to shoulder with him in some of the battles he fought - with courage and dignity.
I spent years investigating injustice in the war on terror, including Guantanamo and drone strikes on civilians. I devoted parts of 20 years trying to save the life of a wrongly-convicted African-American on death row. If you say I'm a racist, you'd better be ready to prove it.
@Khaledhzakariah
Khaled. Your posts recently have been amazing. I hold you in the highest regard. I think you’re a hero. We’ve worked together with significant effect. And because I care about you, I ask one thing. Please, stop smoking.
Schools reopened in Denmark on April 15. Yesterday there were no Covid deaths there, after a steady decline. It usually takes around four weeks from infetion to death. You can conclude that reopening schools there did NOT cause any spike in infections. Why are we waiting?
If
@cmshebaz
's amended reply is deemed not to comply with the requirements set down by law next month, his action will be struck out. See para 4. If that happened, he would have to pay all our costs since he brought the case. The same would be true if he and Ali Imran withdrew.
Another comedian claiming that an interview I conducted before the last Pakistan election had something to do with the Shahbaz Sharif case. Pathetic, honestly!
You will see they applied for a stay, have not got it, have had their replies to our defence rejected by the court, told to return with new ones, and ordered to pay costs according to a timetable. There is an error that I assume will be corrected in para 12 - 2022 should be 2023.
@ShazadAkbar
I'll never forget my first experience of Pakistan - after crossing the border at Torkham. It was May 1978. The officer in charge said, 'before you go any further, come and have a cup of tea'. I'd just driven from Kabul - it was very welcome. Pakistani hospitality hasn't changed.
@zeeshan139
@CMShehbaz
The Mail sent a letter to his lawyers several days ago. Perhaps they have forgotten to tell him? We absolutely reject the suggestion we published a "forged story".
There seems to be a little confusion in some quarters about the defamation cases brought by
@CMShehbaz
and Ali Imran against the Mail on Sunday. For the avoidance of doubt:
1. We are fighting the cases and have today filed defences.
1/
For some, the pandemic has been the gift that keeps on giving - especially those deemed “VIPs” by Whitehall’s impenetrable contracting process. Kudos to
@JolyonMaugham
and his colleagues at the
@GoodLawProject
for their valiant efforts to dispel the murk.
@ShazadAkbar
In 2009, I witnessed close at hand the bravery and self-sacrifice of the Pakistan army as it fought to liberate Dir and Swat from the grip of terrorism. No one is going to call me an anti-Pakistani racist and get away with it.
@ShazadAkbar
I've also spent time in Peshawar, Mardan and FATA covering the gruesome consequences of that terrorism, and talking to the incredible police officers who risked their lives every time they were on the streets. I am truly thankful those days have passed.
For 10 years Britain treated Punjab leader Shahbaz Sharif as a foreign aid poster boy. Now investigators claim his family laundered vast sums, much via the UK, and suspect some of this may have been stolen aid.
@ShazadAkbar
Last year, I climbed a mountain near Nathia Gali. It was a tough walk, with amazing views at the top, 3,000m above sea level. Everyone I met wanted to share their food and take selfies with me. A fantastic day.
@ShazadAkbar
It's being suggested that there are court documents in which I admit to being an anti-Muslim or anti-Pakistani racist. This is a lie. There aren't. Nor, by the way, have I ever 'met PTI leaders in London', as is also being falsely alleged.
You’re still totally confident that Boris has committed to a plan to free us and is sticking to it,
@DPJHodges
? You’re still quite certain that those of us who think he keeps on moving the goalposts are fantasists? Have a nice late 2022. Or maybe 2024.
There are always police on duty in Downing St. If they ignored all these parties, would they be equally useless if terrorists attacked? Shouldn’t they be investigated too? And what about their guvnors? Could this explain why Cressida has been so supine,
@JolyonMaugham
?
When the history of this era comes to be written, the role of the Good Law Project in helping to erode what looked like Johnsonian hegemony will be considerable, I think. One thing I do know from talking to the targets of its efforts: they really hate it. That is an accolade.
Disappointing too that our vaunted media - which ignored* the VIP lane when we published leaked documents - chooses soft targets like second jobs than going after what has many of the hallmarks of fraud. Brave or spineless?
*Picked up, first, by
@DavidRoseUK
of the Mail.
Right after this latest interview with Moussavi, Murtaza and colleagues came to my house. I spoke to them for 20 minutes. They took photos with me. Yet they didn't broadcast my statement that - as I've already made clear - the claim I asked Moussavi for money is a lie. Why?
Broadsheet CEO Kaveh Moussavi says David Rose wanted Pakistan to sign another assets recovery deal with Broadsheet and actively took part in discussions
#broadsheetscandal
@HamdullahKhilj
@Shafqat_Mahmood
It was last year, you foolish person. I interviewed Imran Khan before the election. It would have been amazing if he’d planted the story then, wouldn’t it?
I've just spoken to a Tory former Cabinet member. He says he thinks the lockdown is likely to last six months, perhaps with occasional variations, because winter favours the virus, every time restrictions ease positive tests will rise, and the government will panic. He's serious.
I used to work for this paper. The great editors of the recent past, Peter Preston and
@arusbridger
who I was proud to work with would never have published such a shameful editorial. It repels and disgusts me. Make a donation to the paper's fighting fund? You must be joking.
This twit wrongly claims DFID denied my story about Shahbaz. No. It issued a press release consisting of the statement I'd already quoted in my piece, falsely saying it was a rebuttal. Why? The UK High Commissioner was upset we printed his photo toasting the Queen with Shahbaz.
You made an allegation, the relevant department of your government immediately denied it. That's would be the end to your story for anyone with sense but your whole career is build on propagation of disinfo.
Sweden's population is more than 1/7th that of the UK. Its population density where most people live is a little lower. It's had no lockdowns. We've had 1,565 Covid deaths per million. Them, 1,144. Its GDP shrank by around 3% in 2020.
@DPJHodges
, the lockdown jury is still out.
This is me a short while ago the day I was appointed politics and investigations editor of the Jewish Chronicle. The hard work starts tomorrow. Wish me luck and send me your stories!
@CMShehbaz
The Mail sent a letter to your lawyers several days ago. Perhaps they have forgotten to tell you? We absolutely reject the suggestion we published a "forged story".
How strange it is that many of us argued that banning fracking in the UK would destroy our energy security and make us dependent on Russian gas - and were ignored. We could burn fracked gas and bury the emissions, too. Is it too late to start? No. And it's cold out there...
@RobbyRobot999
@afneil
What a dismal article. My favourite political programme is lost and I’m going to miss it. Andrew is the best, and the best informed, interviewer/host operating in English. No one else comes close. Add in humour and quirk and this has been genius.
Imagine if chanting death threats against a specific minority group had become commonplace in Britain, and police and prosecutors were doing nothing about it. Oh wait. It has. But the targets are Jews, so apparently that’s ok
2. It took a long time to do this because of the pandemic, and because the defences are very detailed, presenting a lot of evidence and citing many documents.
3. To succeed, the claimants must convince the court this evidence isn't valid. The ball is now in their court.
Atonement, forgiveness and redemption are central values in Judaism. As a Jew, I regard Azeem Rafiq’s apology as wholly sincere, and the racism he endured in cricket as repellent. Let’s accept his decency and lay off the poor man. He has suffered enough.
I suspect I may not be the only person who has come to find Gary Lineker's Twitter sermons tiresome. Maybe he will now undergo a period of reflection, because this story pretty much defines rank hypocrisy.
@zeeshan139
@MArsalanIshtiaq
This DFID “rebuttal” of my story about Shahbaz Sharif is nothing of the kind. It merely repeats their statement quoted in the article, and claims the piece contains no evidence about the earthquake fund. Read it. It does. Poor show. More wasted cash!
Once again, the climate catastrophe makes itself felt just before a COP, as seen here in a California ski resort yesterday, about to open a month earlier than usual.
@_soota
Can you post it in full, please, or send me a direct message, and send me an address, if you have it? I’ll follow you, so you can follow me and send DM.
I spoke to
@ProfKarolSikora
several times during the lockdowns and admired his clarity of vision and quiet, moral courage. His anger now is truly justified. "Low grade politicians" such as Matt Hancock held us all to ransom to further their own ambitions.
Thank you to the brilliant people at yesterday's meeting on Ivermectin. This cheap, safe drug may well be a vital weapon against both Covid and lockdowns. Meanwhile, read this peer-reviewed piece, out soon in a major journal:
@JolyonMaugham
I don't get what the fuss is about. It's a fund for "levelling up". If there are potholes, their bottoms are below the level of the surrounding driveway. So filling them in = levelling up. When did the government say this excellent service shouldn't be available to viscounts?
When I've been out for my powerwalk lately, I've seen hoardes of people enjoying the sun, swimming in the Isis and drinking beer. I wonder how many are on furlough, their wages paid by the taxes of those still working - and how many oppose an end to the lockdown on social media.
@ShazadAkbar
is suing Pakistan's government for the acid attack against him at his UK home last year, accusing named ISI and army officers of coordinating it, along with the attempt to kill
@ImranKhanPTI
and the murder of Arshad Sharif in 2022.
Question: if Boris Johnson were to announce new restrictions or even a lockdown without compelling evidence that Omicron does cause a lot of serious illness, would this trigger more letters from Tory MPs to the 1922 Committee expressing no confidence in him?
It’s not every day that a government decides to 1) break a major manifesto commitment that helped get it elected and 2) ignore scientific advice with a measure many find deeply worrying. Is there any likelihood we might one day see an effective Opposition?
Wonderful news for the planet! Cancelling the UN climate summit means 20,000 people will not be flying to Chile, a vast reduction in their carbon footprints. If he's still PM, Boris Johnson should make next year's Glasgow do a giant video conference!
@JolyonMaugham
Looking at the replies to your tweet is surreal. So much puzzling over motive - endless bewilderment as to why the Mail would publish it. As the author, folks, let me tell you it’s simple. It’s an important story that people need to read. I wrote it. The editor liked it. The end.
Some Pakistani media claimed that the recent preliminary hearing in the Shahbaz Sharif defamation case ended in a 'victory' for Sharif. Mr Justice Nicklin's order is now available, so now you can see that when I said these claims were false, I was right.
This could be revolutionary: a cheap EV fuel cell supplying 9 times as many KWhr per Kg as a lithium-ion battery, is easily recycled, and made using renewables. Its energy density makes it suitable for trucks, and even planes. Swapping it takes 90 seconds.
Great piece by
@arusbridger
on plod’s attempt to criminalise investigative journalism in wake of Mail on Sunday’s Darroch leaks. They need free speech classes at police college, says ALAN RUSBRIDGER
After 14 happy and rewarding years at the Mail on Sunday and Daily Mail, I'm deeply honoured to be appointed Politics and Investigations Editor at The Jewish Chronicle, working with the great
@stephenpollard
and his brilliant successor as editor,
@JakeWSimons
. I start next month.
On the left: what models very similar to Imperial College's said would happen to ICUs in Sweden without a lockdown. On the right: reality. Thanks to modellers, we have crushed the British economy and petrified people, so that they meekly comply. The reckoning is coming.
Some love to attack 'lockdown deniers' for raising the inconvenient issue of the massive collateral damage caused by our Covid strategy. They crow if they think a 'denier' got something wrong. But others have too. Like Pat Vallance, less than a year ago.
Yet another remarkable thread from
@JolyonMaugham
and his team at
@GoodLawProject
- who between them, are about the only people trying to hold the government to account for the way it spends billions in this pandemic - especially on those it deems "VIP" bidders for vast contracts
An FOI request of the Health and Safety Executive in relation to PPE supplied to the Department of Health by Pestfix has turned up some quite extraordinary material. THREAD
And that's it, folks. The Arctic sea ice melt is over for the year, with the minimum ice-covered area some 300,000 sq km greater than the record low of 2012. One day that record will be broken, and when it is, the media will go berserk. But for now, of course, there's silence.