Haroon Rasheed plagiarizes Independent Urdu article

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 27 April 2022

Haroon Rasheed is facing allegations of plagiarism after lifting an article from Sajjad Azhar and publishing it as his own. He has since apologized.

Summary

ISLAMABAD—Renowned Urdu columnist Haroon Rasheed has plagiarized an entire column by journalist Sajjad Azhar and published it in Daily 92 News under his byline.

However, in response to criticism on social media, tendered an apology and termed the act a mistake.

Azhar, associated with Independent Urdu, wrote an article for the paper's online edition on April 22 titled "Blind thug of Rawalpindi." https://www.independenturdu.com/node/100241

Rasheed, however, managed to get his column published under his name for 92 News titled "A non-political thug." In this column, he just wrote the first few lines and conclusion while lifting the entire content of Azhar's article published a few days ago.

Azhar took to Twitter to point out the matter and termed Rasheed a journalistic thug. Many social media users supported his stance and criticized Rasheed for plagiarism.

Rasheed, in a tweet, apologized and said that he committed the mistake unintentionally.

KEY POINTS:

• Haroon Rasheed plagiarized Sajjad Azhar's article for Daily 92 News.
• Azhar's original piece was published in Independent Urdu on April 22.
• Rasheed only altered the introduction and conclusion of the content.
• Social media backlash led to an apology from Rasheed.
• Azhar criticized Rasheed by labeling him a journalistic thug.