Pak investigators quiz noted TV journalist Hamid Mir in ISI official’s murder case

ISLAMABAD - Acting on a petition filed by Osama Khalid, son of former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) official Khalid Khwaja, who was killed last month, Pakistani investigators quizzed noted TV journalist Hamid Mir in connection with the case here.

Osama had lodged a complaint against Mir, Executive Editor of the Geo News, Usman Punjabi and a militant group called Asian Tigers, alleging that they were involved in the murder of his father.

Sources privy to Mir’s interrogation said that he denied having any association with man named Usman Punjabi, and also rejected reports regarding him talking to Punjabi over telephone.

Mir also said that the audiotape, which was released earlier this month, was forged.

Investigators are now likely to quiz Osama to clear ‘doubts’, The Dawn reports.

Mir has already rubbished reports that he had a telephonic conversation with a Taliban spokesperson during which he described former Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) official Khalid Khwaja as a Central Investigation Agency (CIA) collaborator.

Khwaja was abducted and killed last month.

Mir denied ever speaking to any Taliban spokesperson, and said that the leaked audiotape was an attempt to malign his image by his ‘enemies in the government.’

“I never said these things to these people. This is a concocted tape. They took my voice, sampled it and manufactured this conspiracy against me,” Mir had said earlier.

The tape, in which Mir is purportedly heard asking the Taliban spokesperson to interrogate Khwaja over his links with the CIA and his role in the Lal Masjid siege, has started a debate amidst media circles in Pakistan.

Several senior and respected journalists believe that the voice in the tape sounded exactly like that of Mir’s. (ANI)