Pakistan’s first Sikh journalist terminated, falls prey to 'political meddling'

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's first Sikh journalist and anchor, Harmeet Singh who was recently terminated from his job by Public TV alleged that he is facing extreme challenges to survive in the country. He was sacked after a complaint by Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader and former minister Shazia Atta Marri, who blamed Harmeet for spreading fake news about the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) raid on her and recovery of PKR 97 billion from her possession.

According to Harmeet Singh, who made his mark as Pakistan's first Sikh journalist, acknowledged that last week he shared a news on his X (formerly Twitter) handle @HarmeetSinghPk that NAB had raided the residence of Shazia Atta Marri and had recovered Rupees 97 billion from her. He said that he had shared the news after the same was circulated in several local news channels and several independent journalists of Sindh on their social media accounts.

Harmeet Singh, who also runs a YouTube Harmeet Singh channel, said that after he learnt that the news was fake, he deleted the tweet and sent a written apology to Shazia Marri acknowledging his mistake. He further said that instead of accepting his apology, Shazia sent him a legal notice of a Rs. 10 billion defamation case and used her political power to dismiss him from his job while threatening that if he is not removed, all government advertising would be stopped and the channel's license will be cancelled.

Although, along with senior journalists met the caretaker Federal Minister for Information, Murtaza Solangi on September 9 and was assured of all possible help, Harmeet Singh informs that he had been categorically told by leaders of PPP that the doors of every media house are closed for him and his journalistic career is now over. Harmeet posted his video on YouTube and said, "It's becoming very difficult for me to survive. I got a lot of job offers from foreign channels, but I wanted to work for my country. But, I was not aware that this country is a club of the elite class".

He added, "Everyone is aware about the situation of this country. Sikhs in large numbers are migrating from here. I had a wish to serve this country, and make people aware about the beauty of this country. But, I misjudged and besides the common people I didn't get any support".