KARACHI: Senior journalist and anchorperson Kamran Khan on Thursday night announced that he is leaving Geo TV, where he used to host nightly show “Aaj Kamran Khan Ke Sath”.
Sources belonging to journalist fraternity said that Khan has joined Bol Network – an upcoming private media group.
He is one of the several senior staffers who have left the beleaguered news channel in the recent past including religious scholar Dr Amir Liaquat Hussain.
Liaquat – famous for hosting Ramazan transmission – has joined Express media group after resigning from the Geo TV.
In a highly emotional tone, Khan bid adieu to his audience earlier tonight on his show.
Geo News, part of the privately-owned Jang Group, had served a legal notice on the Ministry of Defence, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) for defaming and maligning the group after a suspension of the channel's license for 15 days along with a fine of Rs10 million last month.
In April, the defence ministry had demanded that the license of Geo News be suspended after it provided air space to journalist Amir Mir who accused the ISI for being behind the shooting of his brother Hamid Mir, one of Pakistan's most famous television anchormen.
Since the dispute began, Geo News has been taken off the air in several parts of the country or been moved to obscure slots on the channel lineup by the cable operators, allegedly under pressure from the military, according to the lawsuit.
Distribution of the parent group's newspapers has also been disrupted.
Last month, the channel apologised for the allegations in an attempt to resolve the issue.
April's shooting of Hamid Mir sent a chill through the journalists’ community weeks after television anchor Raza Rumi was attacked in Lahore. Rumi survived but his driver was shot dead.
