ISLAMABAD: A British journalist, who wrongly claimed that a man of Pakistani origin was involved in a child sex ring in a news report published in May 2017, created a Twitter thread on Saturday, calling the allegations of “anti-Muslim or anti-Pakistani racism” against him “monstrous and defamatory.”
“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,” said David Rose whose story in Mail on Sunday shattered the life of Wajed Iqbal, a British-born Pakistani.
Iqbal filed a lawsuit against the tabloid to clear his name and won £1.2 million in an out-of-court settlement. Commenting on the case, his lawyer, Mark Lewis, claimed: “I cannot avoid reaching the conclusion that the Mail on Sunday chose to defame Wajed Iqbal because he is a Muslim. They believed their own article, they chose to defend saying it was true.”
Rose maintained in one of his Twitter posts, however, that he had spent much of his “career exposing and fighting racism,” adding that he stood by that record.
“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,” he said.
“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,” Rose continued.
“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,” he added.
The British journalist also wrote an article for Mail on Sunday in July 2019, claiming that the former chief minister of Punjab, Shehbaz Sharif, siphoned off money from a fund established by UK’s Department of International Development (DFID) for the 2005 earthquake victims.
Sharif claimed last week that the article was written on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s behest before announcing his decision to file a defamation suit against the British publication and journalist.
Rose refused to comment on Sharif’s claims in his Twitter threat, though he lavishly praised Khan’s adviser, Shahzad Akbar, who was also quoted in the 2019 story.
After listing his achievements as a rights activist, the British journalist said: “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.”
