The ongoing conflict between the Pakistan Tennis Federation and The Nation took an unexpected turn recently. Following a meeting between PTF President Delawar Abass and Shireen Mazari the Editor of The Nation Islamabad, the PTF withdrew its case against the Nation while it continued the case against The Nation's sports columnist. At the same time, The Nation's lead sports column was stopped. Evidently a deal had been made between Abbas and Mazari. Surprisingly, however, the PTF, while withdrawing its case in court, testified that the Nation had apologised and promised not to publish any more sports columns. This statement was published in the judgement of the court. The PTF then proceeded to hand out copies of the judgement, bragging that they had finally brought The Nation to its knees.
On the other hand, The Nation denied any apology but could not explain the sudden stoppage of the column. Obviously, Mazari had done a deal. But had she given a written apology? The Nation denies but cannot explain the stoppage of the column. This has left PTF Secretary Rashid in a difficult situation of being accused of perjury, because there is no evidence to back up his statement of The Nation's apology. The situation is fluid.
