PAKISTAN: PTV sports anchor Dr Numan Niaz and fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar on Saturday decided to bury their days-long feud after Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhary Fawad Hussain stepped in as a mediator between the two.
Taking to Twitter, the information minister shared a selfie of Shoaib, Niaz and himself and tweeted a couplet about friendship.
He said the argument between Niaz and Akhtar was “not that big”, blaming the social media for blowing the matter out of proportion.
“Social media is a big [thing] now and small matters are turned into big issues. Nevertheless, all is well that ends well,” he added.
The two met at the residence of the minister for the reconciliation. Apologising to Akhtar, Dr Niaz regretted what he did on the live show. He said that their 30-year-old friendship should not fall through.
Later, Akhtar also confirmed it. “It was an unpleasant incident on national television and it had hurt my sentiments [and] that’s why it took me a while,” he tweeted.
“Taking a higher moral ground, I am accepting the apology of Dr Nauman Niaz. Lets move on from this,” he added.
Legal battle
The state-owned PTV had earlier served the country’s cricketing star with a recovery notice worth Rs100 million in the wake of his on-air spat with Dr Nauman Niaz during a show that prompted the former fast bowler to resign from the channel.
In response, the former star pacer expressed his disappointment and vowed to “fight this legal battle”.
In the notice, the state-run broadcaster maintained that Akhtar had resigned on air from PTV sports on October 26 which was not only a violation of the clause but also resulted in huge financial losses to the channel.
“As per clause 22, both sides shall have right to terminate his agreement by serving three months’ written notice or payment in lieu thereof. Whereas, Shoaib Akhtar resigned on air on October 26 which has resulted in huge financial losses to PTV,” it read.
The PTV had recently decided to take sports show host Niaz and Akhtar off the air after their on-screen spat made headlines across the country.
The feud
Former Pakistani speedster Akhtar quit live on air after facing “rude and obnoxious” behaviour from the host during a show on PTV Sports. The state broadcaster later formed a committee to probe into the incident.
In a post-match show on October 26, after Pakistan’s win over New Zealand, Akhtar and the show’s host, Niaz, were involved in a verbal spat while discussing the impact of Lahore Qalandars’ Player Development Programme (PDP) on pacers Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf’s performance.
“You’re being a little rude and I don’t want to say this: but if you’re being over smart, you can go. I am saying this on-air,” Niaz told Akhtar before switching to a commercial break.
Akhtar and Niaz remained on air after the break but the former eventually decided to leave the show after apologising to the other guests, which included cricket greats like Sir Vivian Richards and David Gower.
“A lot of apologies guys, a lot of apologies. I am resigning from the PTV. The way I have been treated on national TV, I don’t think I should be sitting here right now. So, I am resigning. Thank you very much,” said Akhtar before leaving the set.
