British-American broadcaster Mehdi Hasan, along with netizens, has trolled PML-N leader Hina Parvez Butt for her ignorance regarding paywalled content on the internet. Butt claimed that former Prime Minister Imran Khan paid for an interview with Hasan.
The PML-N leader shared a screenshot of the website link with the caption: “Take the money and give internview (paisay lo interview do).”
“‘Paid’ on the post below means it’s a post only for paid subscribers to Zeteo,” Hasan clarified in response to Butt’s social media post on X on Wednesday.
Hasan replied that Butt, a member of the ruling party, was pushing a conspiracy theory that he was “paid” to conduct the interview with Khan.
“Imagine being this ignorant & conspiratorial… & elected! Lol,” Hasan remarked.
“Pretty sure that if there was a big conspiracy involving Imran Khan paying Zeteo (!) to do an interview with him, we wouldn’t stick… ‘PAID’ at the top in plain sight to give it all away,” he added.
Earlier this year, Hasan launched a new publication called Zeteo, featuring video, podcasts, and text journalism, more than a month after he quit the US news channel MSNBC during a live show.
In the interview with Hasan, Khan claimed that the incumbent government lacked legitimacy. “He also had some, ahem, choice words for former Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa.”
It was written in the text story that Hasan could only send a list of written questions for Khan to answer and was unable to ask any follow-up questions.
When asked about life behind bars, Khan said he found himself confined in what is referred to as a “death cell.”
He alleged that the authorities were determined to cast him in a negative light. “In solitary confinement, I am denied even the basic rights of a prisoner,” the former prime minister said, claiming that psychological tactics were being employed to break his spirit.
Here is how the netizens reacted to Hina’s post:
