Maryam who is a frequent user of the social media took to Twitter as usual on Tuesday and posted a tweet that stated: "The misery of journalists who broke the Panama story is understandable. Their overt & covert efforts to bring the govt [government] down came to a naught." This prompted the German journalist Bastian Obermayer, who is a member of International Centre for Investigative Journalism (ICIJ), to spring into action and reiterate that journalism is not about bringing down a government. "It's about telling the truth. Like it or not. (& Panama papers isn't only about Pakistan, by the way," he responded.
In another tweet, Maryam claimed: "Panama Papers were never about corruption. Even the stealers & hackers (read originators) didn't say it was. Losers (are) in imminent danger." Obermayer insisted that Panama Papers were about corruption, saying: "Sorry to tell you: panamapapers are about corruption. We found an astonishing number of corruption cases in the documents - and all real."
"Don't want to say much abt [about] nexus bet [between] you & your Pak [Pakistani] counterparts but sad that they became a part of conspiracy against Pak [Pakistan]," she responded. Maryam, however, continued describing the Panama papers as crap, saying the issue of Panama Papers was trashed in the rest of the world. "Those relying on it to bring down NS [Nawaz Sharif] will bite the dust Insha'Allah [God willing]."
It was responded by yet another team member of the ICIJ, Frederik Obermaier?, who reminded her about 150 investigations into corruption cases in 80 countries. "Trashed in the rest of the world? ICYMI [in case you missed it]," Obermaier responded to her by providing a link of the detailed report titled "Panama Papers: the secrets of the dirty money" on the investigations, inquiries, audits by police, customs, mafia prosecutors, judges and courts, parliaments and corporations in 80 countries. Maryam's Tuesday tweets were actually meant for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) when she stated: "You won't be able to present the Panama Papers as a substitute or compensation for your dismal performance in KP. Electorate has matured, u [you] haven't." It also generated a heated debate among the supporters of PML-N and PTI, who often become offensive in their tweets while defending their respective leaderships on the social media.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017