This Article is From May 03, 2014

Geo had Played Role in 'Rigging' 2013 Elections: Imran Khan

Geo had Played Role in 'Rigging' 2013 Elections: Imran Khan

File photo of Imran Khan.

Islamabad: Pakistan's cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan today accused Jang media group of playing a role in the alleged "rigging" in last year's general elections.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief told reporters in Islamabad that his party would boycott the embattled media group until it tenders an apology.

Drawing a strong reaction, Director of Geo News' election transmission Iftikhar Ahmad challenged Khan for a debate.

Jang is the leading media group in Pakistan and has a bouquet of channels and publications under its control, including The News daily and Geo News.

Khan said Geo was responsible for airing a victory speech of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif at 11:23 pm on May 11 when only 18 per cent of the votes had been counted.

The Tehreek-e-Insaf has issued a white paper in which it reveals instances of rigging that the party had investigated.

"Myself and my party will keep on boycotting Geo unless they apologise," he said. Khan said he will issue a document "exposing foreign funding of media houses".

Geo group is currently embroiled in a controversy surrounding the assassination attempt on its leading anchor Hamid Mir.

The Defence Ministry has approached the electronic media regulatory authority here for suspending the license of the news channel after it aired views and comments saying that "certain elements in the ISI" and its chief were behind the attack on Mir.

Since then, the channel and its newspapers have been unofficially banned in all military institutions.

Many of the cable operators too have pushed the channel down in the queue.

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