Ansari rebuts allegation of sharing information with Pakistan journalist

Former vice president Hamid Ansari on Wednesday refuted allegations that he shared any secret information with Pakistan-based journalist Nusrat Mirza during the latter's visit to India. Ansari also denied allegations of betraying national interest in his role as ambassador to Iran.

"It is a known fact that invitations to the foreign dignitaries by the Vice President of India are on the advice of the Government generally through the ministry of external affairs," read a statement issued by Ansari. "I had inaugurated the Conference on Terrorism on December 11, 2010, the International Conference on Jurists on International Terrorism and Human Rights. As a normal practice, the list of invitees would have been drawn by the organisers. I never invited him or met him."

On the allegation of compromising national interest during his posting as ambassador to Iran, Ansari said his work in Tehran was always within the knowledge of the government of the day.


"I am bound by commitment to national security in such matters and refrain from commenting on them. The government of India has all the information and is the only authority to tell the truth," read the statement.

The Congress too on Wednesday refuted the BJP charge against Sonia Gandhi and Hamid Ansari, calling it "insinuations and innuendos" by the ruling party aimed at character assassination.

"Insinuations and innuendos by a spokesperson of the BJP against Sonia Gandhi, President of the Indian National Congress and Hamid Ansari, former Vice President of India, are to be condemned in the strongest possible language," said Jairam Ramesh, general secretary in-charge AICC Communications, in a statement.

Earlier BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia had attacked the Congress over revelations made by a Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza.