Nepal, April 2, 2020
PM’s IT Consultant, Asgar Ali, Accused Of Involvement In Illegal Removal Of News Item Related To Medical Supplies Purchasing.
IT Consultant to the Prime Minister, Asgar Ali, has landed into a controversy after he was found to be involved in the removal of news content by hacking into Kathmandupress.com, a Kathmandu-based online news portal.
The news portal’s report on Tuesday accused Kshitiz, the son of Bishnu Rimal (PM KP Sharma Oli’s Chief Advisor), Swaraj, the son of Defence Minister Ishwar Pokhrel and Ali of indulging into corruption while granting a tender to Omni Group for importing medical equipment from China.
Later on Wednesday, the government canceled the contract with Omni and decided to confiscate Rs. 50 million of its security deposit.
A day after the news went viral, Shiran Technologies Pvt. Ltd., the developer of Kathmandu Press Portal, removed the particular news from the backend after the online editorial department refused to delete it.
Biswas Dhakal, President/CEO at F1Soft International Pvt. Ltd., and Asgar Ali, Co-founder/CEO at eSewa Fonepay, allegedly pressured Ujjwal Maharjan, CEO of Shiran Technologies Pvt. Ltd., to illegally remove the story from Kathmandupress.com’ website. Shiran is the designer and developer of the news portal, while F1 Soft International owns eSewa and Shiran Technologies.
Editor-in-Chief of Kathmandupress.com, Kosmos Biswokarma, tweeted on Wednesday that the story was illegally removed from the news portal. He further stated that the company is investigating the illegal hacking of their website. It has been learned that the news portal was hacked for one and a half hours, from 11:30 AM – 1 PM.
Biswokarma came into the conclusion that it was removed by the software firm itself after confirming no such actions were taken within the editorial department of the news portal. He said that removing the content of a news portal goes against press freedom and freedom of expression.
“Ali and his team had a privilege to lodge a complaint at Nepal Press Council against the news. But they did not do so. They simply removed our news item from the website by hacking. This is intolerable and inexcusable. No software developer has the right to remove the news item from the online portal,” Biswokarma told Republica on Wednesday evening.
Asgar Ali (left) and Biswas Dhakal (Right). Founders of F1 Soft International which owns Shiran Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Ali strongly condemned his name for mentioning his name in the purchase of medical materials online. “This news of yours is directed towards my character and my astonishment. I challenge this media to confirm my involvement, as mentioned in the news”, Ali said. “If you can confirm the news, I am ready to wear a garland of shoes out in the open.”
Ali urged the editors of the news portal to confirm the news, warning them otherwise he would be forced to seek legal actions.
While Ali really has been an inspiration for youths in Nepal, he seems to have a tremendous amount of support from his followers on social media.
Post on Ali’s Facebook Wall
Many have expressed their opinions about the news saying pulling Ali’s name into unnecessary blame game is nothing more than the work of some propaganda machine.
Several prominent activists believe that if the news is confirmed, it would be a criminal offense. Senior Journalist Kanak Mani Dixit tweeted, “A service provider going into the website of a media house to delete content it does not like. The government must announce an immediate investigation rather than wait for someone to file a case.”
Meanwhile, The Kathmandu Press portal re-uploaded the story saying they do not want to disappoint their audience.
