Dawn CEO Hameed Haroon under fire on social media after BBC interview

KARACHI - Hameed Haroon, a name you will find in the top trending on Twitter, has landed in hot water after his recent intense interview with Stephen Sackur on a BBC programme.

The head of Pakistan's leading English daily was a guest in Hard Talk where issues related to media in Pakistan and its role in the coming polls set to be held on July 25, marking the historic second consecutive democratic transition amid high fears of ballot rigging.

During the 23-minute long interview with Sackur, he appeared to be unable to effectively respond to the question pertaining to allegations that Dawn is supporting and showing sympathy for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, who are currently serving their terms in Adiala jail following the conviction in the Avenfield case.

The BBC journalist questioned Hameed, "You are supporting convicted corrupt criminals Nawaz Sharif & his daughter. Where is the evidence they were framed?"

In response to the hard hitting question, the Dawn CEO Hameed Haroon apparently stumbled while giving the answer, which was widely trolled on social media: "If you go to social media, if you look at trolls on social media and texts on Dawn, you might get some idea that there is very large presence by ISPR [military’s media wing]”. He added that intelligence agencies are going after anybody that stands in their way but could not furnish any proof to substantiate his claim.

https://twitter.com/BhittaniKhannnn/status/1018962589378924549

https://twitter.com/BhittaniKhannnn/status/1018984311448653824

RT iamusmanjolaha "Controversial remarks by Hameed Haroon who owns the Dawn are condemnable and his remarks are an attack on the integrity of Pak Armed Institutions.
As a nation we should boycott Dawn, we should boycott all the anti Pakistani media… pic.twitter.com/DfnYzZvpJh"

— Sufyan Akhtar (@Sufyan_ppk) July 18, 2018

Some social media users asked the Hameed Haroon to apologise to Pakistani national and Pakistan Army over his remarks.

https://twitter.com/Bilal_Anwar_S/status/1019477040741978112

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan also took to Twitter slamming the Dawn CEO for his recent political analysis. He wrote, "The blatant bias of Dawn against PTI has now come out in the open. So much for Dawn's neutral and liberal credentials! Complete farce! Full marks to Stevan Sackur for exposing Dawn in his BBC HardTalk interview".

https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1019230696601251841