MADRID: Spain’s Tele­cinco television channel revealed on Wednesday a series of mobile phone messages written by sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont to another separatist, in which he says it’s likely all over for him.

The revelations, which Puigdemont did not deny, came as the Spanish government urged the Catalan parliament to pick another candidate to head up the region instead of the separatist leader, who is in self-exile in Belgium.

A Telecinco reporter caught on camera the phone of Toni Comin, a former Catalan minister who like Puigdemont is in self-exile in Belgium, while he was looking at messages sent to him by the separatist leader.

This reportedly happened on Tuesday evening, just hours after the Catalan parliament’s speaker postponed a vote to reappoint Puigde­mont as Catalan leader, drawing an outcry among separatists but welcome by Madrid and anti-independence parties.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2018

Opinion

Editorial

Plugging the gap
06 May, 2024

Plugging the gap

IN Pakistan, bias begins at birth for the girl child as discriminatory norms, orthodox attitudes and poverty impede...
Terrains of dread
Updated 06 May, 2024

Terrains of dread

Restored faith in the police is unachievable without political commitment and interprovincial support.
Appointment rules
Updated 06 May, 2024

Appointment rules

If the judiciary had the power to self-regulate, it ought to have exercised it instead of involving the legislature.
Hasty transition
Updated 05 May, 2024

Hasty transition

Ostensibly, the aim is to exert greater control over social media and to gain more power to crack down on activists, dissidents and journalists.
One small step…
05 May, 2024

One small step…

THERE is some good news for the nation from the heavens above. On Friday, Pakistan managed to dispatch a lunar...
Not out of the woods
05 May, 2024

Not out of the woods

PAKISTAN’S economic vitals might be showing some signs of improvement, but the country is not yet out of danger....