Rejoinder from Hamza Azhar Salam to Bahria Town's response
... In a response to a legal notice sent by my legal team, Mr Azhar Siddique confused my educational credentials with my lawyer's who has an LLM from the University of Pennsylvania, reflecting that Bahria Town's legal team derives its influence and confidence from Malik Riaz's brazen power, not facts of the matter. That Mr Azhar Siddique's reply was responded to by myself on Twitter, on 15 December 2023 which included a copy of my MA in Interactive Journalism from City, University of London... I have an BSc in Investment and Financial Risk Management from City, University of London and an MA in Interactive Journalism from the same university. I have worked as the London Correspondent for Pakistan's largest news organisation, Geo News, for which I have over 100 news stories with my byline...
... As a digital media outlet, there is no platform to register ourselves with the government, however, we are amongst the very few digital news outlets to receive government advertisements... I have no problem with sharing my credentials with Malik Riaz's team, despite the fact that the same has not been reciprocated by the property tycoon. Instead, I have received multiple threats to my person.
More recently, I have been indirectly threatened to stop reporting on Malik Riaz to avoid arrest in any fake case or to avoid any "accident"... Mr Azhar Siddique, who represents Malik Riaz in his defamation case against me also represents Farah Gogi, who is alleged to have sold the Graff set to Umar Farooq Zahoor in April 2019 whilst travelling on a Bahria Town plane. Coincidentally, Azhar Siddique also represents former PM Imran Khan, who is also accused in the same case... [D]espite coercive tactics brazenly adopted by Malik Riaz and his team, I will continue to do my job as a journalist in Pakistan...