Islamabad, Pakistan: The media in the United Kingdom as well as in Pakistan and India has reported that “Imran Khan adviser launches legal action against Pakistan government following UK acid attack”.
The story written by David Rose in the Independent is the second of his on the issue of the alleged event of throwing acid on Shahzad Akbar. The first story David Rose published was on 27 November 2023 claiming Shahzad Akbar was a victim of an act of throwing acid on him and his face and eyes were saved because he was wearing his spectacles.
It may be pertinent to mention that the photo published by the Independent is enough to show that Shahzad Akbar had no scare, no injury, and even not a micro spot of acid on his face while he was covering his arm with a white bandage. Even a single drop of acid could burn his face or at least leave a spot of acid injury on his face. However, the writer did not only publish a version of Shahzad Akbar but rather took the responsibility that the target of the alleged attacker was the face of Shahzad Akbar who was saved because he was wearing his spectacles.
In both stories David Rose tried to establish that Shahzad Akbar had sought refuge in Britain after leading Pakistan’s efforts to combat corruption during Imran Khan’s government, he also used the diction of “toppled from power” instead of voted out Imran Khan from the National Assembly of Pakistan. The majority of readers and writers can understand that the diction of “toppled” is usually used when a legitimate government is removed by force and through illegitimate moves but former Prime Minister Imran Khan lost the “Vote of No Confidence” in the National Assembly so using the diction of “topple” does not look like an appropriate word for this process. While reading the story, any reader can think that Khan’s government was “removed illegally” rather than that Khan was voted out democratically.
David Rose also claimed in both stories that acid was thrown on the face of Shahzad Akbar and it was ordered by the top intelligence agency of Pakistan—ISI. David Rose in both stories did not use “allegedly” or “claimed by Shahzad Akbar” but directly took the responsibility that it was ISI and the target was the face of Shahzad Akbar. David Rose in both stories tried to establish that Shahzad Akbar was targeted by Pakistan because he during his tenure as part of Khan’s cabinet Akbar was a person who waged war against corruption.
Interestingly, David Rose blamed the top politician of Pakistan Mian Shehbaz Sharif who is now Prime Minister of Pakistan in his story published in Daily The Mail and that story too was based on information provided by Shahzad Akbar. The story was published in 2019 accusing Shehbaz Sharif of stealing British aid money meant for earthquake victims. Shehbaz Sharif went to court for defamation and won the case in December 2022 and UK’s Daily Mail apologized to the Pakistan premier over corruption allegations. Although the official apology of Daily The Mail was quite embarrassing for the newspaper David Rose did not face any legal charges and now he is writing for the Independent.
All three stories of David Rose represent allegations such as “ISI is a feared organization”, Shahzad Akbar was attacked by ISI on his face and Akbar’s face was saved by his spectacles, Shahzad Akbar had been a warrior against corruption in Pakistan and his life is in danger and politicians like Shehbaz Sharif are corrupt. Interestingly all three stories are based on allegations and statements of Shahzad Akbar.
One story met its fate in a UK court when Daily The Mail had to seek an apology from Shehbaz Sharif but the November 2023 story was not contested by the Pakistani government because the interim government was in place and it had no interest to contest the story. Now the third story having even two paragraphs from the November 2023 story is about the decision of Shahzad Akbar to try ISI officials in a UK court and he has hired one of the best law companies in the UK as legal counsel. Interestingly, neither Daily the Mail asked David Rose’s reasons for publishing a story full of adjectives and allegations of corruption without having any legal documentation supporting the allegations now the Independent asked his writer to publish just allegations involving ISI for the alleged attack and calling an intelligence agency s “feared organization” because the diction of “feared organization is mostly used for those that had been a history of proven involvement of criminal practices in past. Again David Rose published a story based on the repeated narration/allegations and claims of Shahzad Akbar and published whatever Shahzad Akbar told David Rose.
The line in the story that “Shahzad Akbar, who sought refuge in Britain after the attack indicates that Shahzad Akbar is living in the UK due to fear of his wellbeing in Pakistan otherwise he could live in Pakistan. Shahzad Akbar even before joining Khan’s cabinet used to live mostly in the UK and abroad because he had studied in the UK (the University of London and a Master of Laws (LLM) from the University of Newcastle) and had been working serving as a consultant for the U.S. Agency of International Development. So living in the UK is not a curse rather he can consider the UK as his second home.
The teaming up of David Rose and Shahzad Akbar in the past cost heavily to Daily the Mail but the team is so strong that another well-reputed media organization is publishing whatever Shahzad Akbar tells of David Rose and whatever David Rose wishes to publish without having credible information and legally strong evidence in favor of his reckless and blunt allegations against Pakistan.
