Cyril Almeida calls Haroon Rasheed a 'clown'

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 17 May 2020

Cyril Almeida has labeled columnist Haroon Rasheed a 'clown' over his claims regarding Nawaz Sharif's exit from Pakistan. Almeida has used similar terms for various media figures recently.

Summary

ISLAMABAD—Former Dawn journalist Cyril Almeida (pictured) has called columnist Haroon Rasheed a "clown" for claiming that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif left Pakistan after paying $500 million.

In the talk show "Muqabil" on 92News last month, Rasheed, quoting sources, claimed that Sharif paid $500 million in exchange for being allowed to leave the country.

When making the claim, Rasheed said that $445 million had been paid, but he did not know about the remaining "$55 million."

Of late, Almeida has used the word "clown" for anchors, including Nadeem Malik, Javed Chaudhry, and others.

On May 13, commenting on the Nadeem Malik show, Almeida said: "Clown anchor wants politicians to get along, a week after he tried to have a few ministers lynched..."

Similarly, on May 7, he simply said: "The clown brigade descends" while commenting on a tweet of Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi.

When Geo reporter in the UK, Murtaza Ali Shah tweeted on May 2 about a doctor claiming treatment of COVID-19 with a traditional herb, Almeida termed him a clown. "Clown reporter promoting dangerous ideas..."

Almeida also called Javed Chaudhry a clown when he claimed that COVID-19 would end on May 18, citing the appearance of the Pleiades star cluster. "Clown anchor announces that corona will end on May 18 b/c of some religious stuff he has read and, wait for it, the Pleiades star cluster…clown anchor was recently declared by clown mullah Tariq Jameel as one of the best…"

Photo: Twitter (@cyalm)