Observer Report Dubai
TV anchor and former Pakistan Television host Dr Nauman Niaz has tendered an “unconditional apology” for his misconduct with Shoaib Akhtar in a live TV show a week ago, prompting the resignation of the former star pacer from the channel.
The two were part of a panel for PTV Sports programme “Game On Hai” on Oct 27 along with guests the likes of West Indies batting legend Sir Vivian Richards, former England captain David Gower, former Pakistan women’s captain Sana Mir and former fast bowler Umar Gul.
The panel was discussing the Pakistan-New Zealand T20 World Cup match which Pakistan won by five wickets.
During a discussion on the Pakistan squad, Akhtar had credited the Pakistan Super League’s Lahore Qalandars franchise for discovering Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf.
Niaz took issue with Akhtar’s comments and said: “You are being a little rude so I don’t want to say this but if you’re being over-smart then you can go.
I am saying this on air.”
Once the show resumed after a break, Akhtar apologised to the guests on the panel and announced his resignation from PTV, saying that he could not continue with the programme because of “how I was treated on national television”.
The incident soon became viral on social media with the two individuals becoming top trends on Twitter and videos of the confrontation circulating, which prompted Akhtar to issue a video message to “clarify” the situation.
Later, the PTV launched an inquiry into the spat and took Dr Niaz and Akhtar off-air until completion of the probe.
In his tell-all interview a day ago with on a YouTube channel, Dr Niaz candidly confessed to his “mistake” and said he rued whatever happened that day.
