LONDON: Former Pakistan senior military officer Brigadier (R) Rashid Naseer has told the UK High Court that Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the military has nothing to do with the incidents and allegations of kidnappings and torture in Pakistan.
Giving evidence on the second day of trial as part of his defamation case against Major (retired) Adil Raja, the retired Brigadier was cross-examined by Raja’s lawyer, Barrister Simon Harding, as well as Naseer’s Counsel David Lemer.
The London High Court Deputy judge Richard Spearman KC remarked at the start of the trial on the second day that he will not allow the defamation case trial of Brigadier (R) Rashid Naseer’s case against Adil Raja to turn into a trial of Pakistani politics. The judge remarked that the case is defamation of an individual (Brig Rashid) and has nothing to do with the overall political situation in Pakistan or the role of the military or the ISI in it. The judge pushed Adil Raja’s lawyer into admitting that Adil Raja had no truth defence. Immediately afterwards, Adil raja withdrew the truth defence which means Adil Raja cannot claim that any of the allegations against Rashid Naseer are true. The only remaining defence is public interest. Answering questions of Adil Raja’s lawyer, the claimant Rashid Naseer said: “Speaking about myself. I have served in the intelligence service for a long time and I have never been involved in kidnapping, coercion, harassment and torture of anyone. Nobody ever asked me to do any such things. The ISI or the military is not involved in threats or kidnappings of journalists. These days it’s fashionable to blame the ISI for everything. It has become a fashion by some to say that they are facing threats in Pakistan by the intelligence services. This is alleged by some of those who have not visited Pakistan in nearly a decade, have no intention of visiting either but they make such allegations.”
He continued: “My case is not about silencing critics of the government, the military or the journalists. Adil Raja became a journalist as a cover because you can get away with a lot when you are a journalist. I have experienced a lot of physical and reputational harm. This is my personal endeavour to clear my name.”
Rashid Naseer said there are three categories of people from the UK who became concerned after Adil Raja published the allegedly defamatory material about him. “My immediate family, such as my nephew and niece who felt threatened. My extended family were concerned and many of them, who supported PTI and Imran Khan, thought these allegations were true. The third category are those who are still serving in the intelligence community of the UK; we served together in the UAE and Afghanistan. They persuaded me to clear my name. My immediate family were worried, they thought their security would be jeopardised in London. I had a great relation with the UK intelligence professionals and worked with them in counter terrorism; we developed and worked together on counter terrorism operations, including on the threats to the UK national security and vice versa. We neutralised these threats. The UK officers placed me in a high esteem as an army and ISI officer. They were all concerned because these tweets were done by a retired army officer form the UK. My future plans went into jeopardy. My name and pictures are out and my name is tainted as a result of these allegations. This has made me feel vulnerable. I have received death threats and my family members have gone through the same. The person who came to assassinate me was arrested. He said he saw the tweets of Adil Raja that I was involved in the rigging of elections in 2023.” The case is based around nine publications. In deciding the meaning of the publications in April 2024, Deputy High Court Judge Mr Richard Spearman KC had ruled that Brig (R) Rashid Naseer was defamed at UK common law when Adil Farooq Raja made the following allegations, without any evidence, in the publications in June 2022: Major (R) Adil Raja denied all these allegations.
Adil Raja appeared before the court via Zoom. He denied making false and exaggerated allegations against Brig (R) Rashid in his social media posts, including the claims about journalist Arshad Sharif’s killing in Kenya and attempted assassination on former prime minister Imran Khan.
Counsel David Lemer questioned Adil Raja on the second day of the trial, and suggested to him that he left the army in a low-ranking position of a major and didn’t have access to the kind of information that is available to the senior officers. Raja contended that he was a field commander, was involved in several military operations, and headed the media wing of Pakistan Ex Servicemen Society (PESS). He said: “I still am in touch with the silent soldiers, the people who want stability, democracy and progress in Pakistan. I still maintain my sources within the Pakistani institutions.”
When asked why he fell out with the PESS and why the PESS issued a statement against him, Adil Raja said the organisation may have issued a statement against him under coercion after he became a vocal critic after leaving Pakistan.
Counsel David Lemer asked Adil Raja why he had accused Rashid Naseer of being behind the attempted assassination of former prime minister Imran Khan when the claimant was not accused by anyone including Imran Khan, Adil Raja replied that he believed that the claimant would have followed the orders of his seniors who were named by Khan. Counsel David Lemer suggested to Adil Raja that he had limited or no information related to the intelligence, especially after his retirement, and that he had no documentary evidence to back up his claims, Adil Raja accepted he had no documents but had access to very senior level in the intelligence services and that he had documents passed to him that he used to expose many scandals.
The court heard about the use of social media sites such as YouTube by saying extremist and offensive things to make money through virality and breaking news angles. Adil Raja accepted that he published claims about the claimant on his social media platforms, including the YouTube channel, before the channel was terminated, and that he had addressed the claimant with offensive names. “After all, I am a human.” “My properties and assets were seized. My friend Arshad Sharif was killed. My mother and sisters suffered. Do you expect me to maintain the highest levels of decency? Yes I am a supporter of Imran Khan and voted for him. Many in the PTI don’t like me,” he said. Counsel David Lemer asked Adil Raja if he was a political activist strongly supporting the PTI at the time of the alleged defamatory publications, Raja said there was nothing wrong with being an activist and journalist at the same time. “You have an axe to grind when you are an activist because you don’t have an open and investigative mind, because you have an agenda in mind when being a publisher,” asked the counsel about Raja’s tweets and YouTube videos about Brig Rashid Naseer.
“I have also exposed PTI’s collaboration with the government and that’s why they don’t like me. I don’t do views-based programmes anymore,” Raja told the court.
The lawyer suggested to Adil Raja that he made false and exaggerated claims about the killing of journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya and blamed the ISI for his killing when the official report into the murder case made no such finding. Adil Raja referred to a complaint filed by the slain journalist’s mother to the supreme court, but the judge interrupted and told Adil Raja he must address the question in the context of the report as it related to the journalistic sources and the journalistic practises. Adil Raja said his claim was based on the inside sources from the ground and the official reports do not reveal such things. The cross-examining lawyer quoted several issues Adil Raja had addressed in his posts — including General Bajwa, anchor Imran Riaz Khan, the former PM Imran Khan, the ISI, anchor Javed Chaudhary – and suggested to him that his publications lacked credibility, facts and proper sources and were full of exaggerations. Adil Raja’s cross-examination will continue on the third day. Brig (R) Rashid Naseer is represented by Counsel David Lemer of Doughty Street Chambers and Ushrat Sultana and Sadia Qureshi of Stone White Solicitors. Adil Raja is represented by Counsel Simon Harding of Gunnercooke LLP.