Pakistani journalist Ahmed Quraishi fired from PTV over Israel visit

ISLAMABAD – An anchorperson of the country’s state-run broadcaster who was part of a delegation of Pakistani-Americans visiting the Jewish state was terminated from service on Monday.

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb announced the development saying the PTV anchor Ahmed Quraishi has been terminated and taken off the air. She maintained that Quraishi visited Israel in ‘personal capacity’.

The development comes amid outage after Israeli President Isaac Herzog confirmed meeting a delegation including Pakistani expatriates in Israel.

سستی سیاسی شہرت کے لئے ہر منفی اقدام کرنے والے کسی قومی مفاد کا تو خیا ل کریں

دورے میں شامل پی ٹی وی کے اینکر کو ٹرمینیٹ اور آف ائیر کردیاگیا ہے

مذکورہ اینکر اپنی ذاتی حیثیت میں دورے پر گیا تھا@Marriyum_A pic.twitter.com/Hz02RhWDQE

— PTV News (@PTVNewsOfficial) May 30, 2022

Issac said that he received a delegation of Pakistani ex-pats a couple of weeks ago. He commended the visiting members, saying it was an amazing experience because we haven’t had a group of Pakistani leaders in Israel ever in such scope.

The Israeli president, however, did not share the names of the members of the delegation however a picture of the event that featured Ahmed Qureshi as part of this delegation went viral.

Quraishi, an expert on the Middle East affairs, was recently appointed to host a show on state-owned TV. He told the Israeli daily that all Israelis have ‘nothing against Muslims, and they respect Muslims’.

Pakistan's Foreign Office also rejected that any official delegation from Pakistan visited the Jewish state, saying the reported visit was organised by a foreign NGO not based in Pakistan.

The spokesperson maintained that Islamabad’s position on the Palestinian issue is clear and unambiguous and there is no change whatsoever in our policy on which there is a complete national consensus.

He also maintained aid Pakistan steadfastly supported the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination.