Islamabad, Oct 25(ANI): The Pakistani news channel that had interviewed Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week has insisted that the controversial interview was aired in its "original form", without adding or deleting a single word.
Karzai's interview in Geo TV's programme 'Jirga', wherein he had asserted that Afghanistan would side with Pakistan in a hypothetical war against the United States, has caused a stir across the world.
A spokesman for the Afghan president issued a clarification in this regard that some newspapers have misreported the interview, saying that the media had 'misinterpreted' Karzai's speech.
"Although in Pakistan the interview has been generally welcomed, still some have taken ill the anti-US stance of the Afghan president and they have vented their anger in their own way," Jirga's host Saleem Safi said.
In his article in The News, Safi said he intends to bring the background of the interview in this context, so that the positions of Geo TV and himself become clear.
"In the first place, not a single word has either been added or deleted from the portion pertaining to US and India. The interview telecast by Geo TV can be compared with the one available on the tape with the media team of the Afghan president," he said.
"The press release of spokesman of Afghan president has mentioned misreporting by some newspapers and not by Geo TV. Geo TV has aired the interview in its original form whereas Washington Post or New York Times etc have reported it in their own way and with their own comments for which neither I am nor is Geo TV responsible," he added.
Safi also said that before the interview, which was recorded on Friday and aired on Saturday evening, Karzai had invited him for a cup of tea and in this meeting too, his staff was present.
"When he asked me about the topics for the interview, I told him the topics and made an offer that he was free to add or delete some topics. Neither I told him the questions nor he gave me the answers. However there was a consensus on topics and President Karzai and his staff would bear me out on that," he added.
Safi said that during the interview, when Karzai uttered the sentence: "God forbid, if there is a war between Pakistan and US, Afghanistan would stand by Pakistan", he ventured to make the Afghan leader realise that he was saying something big.
"In spite of that, he continued in the same strain. Then I asked him what would he do in case there is a war between Pakistan and India. He said whosoever attacks Pakistan and Pakistan requests Afghanistan for support, it would stand by Pakistan in the same way as Pakistan has been with Afghanistan," he added. (ANI)
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