Geo in further hot water after alleged elections rigging

Geo Network is facing further backlash after Pakistan’s cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan accused the broadcaster and publication Jang for alleged “rigging” in last year’s general elections in Pakistan.

Khan’s Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) political group told reporters in Islamabad that his party would boycott the embattled media group until it tenders an apology. Responding to Khan’s allegations, Director of Geo News’ election transmission Iftikhar Ahmad challenged Khan for a debate.

PTI has issued a white paper in which it reveals instances of rigging that the party had investigated.

Geo Network is currently embroiled in a controversy surrounding the assassination attempt on its leading anchor Hamid Mir. The Defence Ministry in Pakistan has approached the media regulator to suspend the licence of Geo News after it aired comments saying that “certain elements in the ISI” and its chief were behind the attack on Mir.

NDTV reports that Geo News has since been unofficially banned in all military institutions.