The talk show “Talk Shock”, hosted by journalists Asif Bashir Chaudhry and Azaz Syed, has been discontinued for an indefinite period, and its latest episode has also been removed from YouTube.
Senior journalist Mohsin Raza Khan first revealed the development in a post on X, writing that the programme had been halted without a clear timeline for its return. Translating his post, he wrote that “Asif Bashir Chaudhry and Azaz Syed’s Talk Shock has been shut down for an indefinite period and the last programme has also been removed from YouTube.”
Sources privy to the matter told The Friday Times that in a recent show, Syed had claimed that the DG-C of Inter-Services Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Faisal Naseer had been given new assignments for his brilliant performance in counterterrorism after the failure of the concerned officials in preventing the recent attack in Islamabad on an Imambargah.
He had also revealed in the show that Faisal Naseer would get a promotion in the coming month after having been overlooked last April and then in October.
Sources also said that 'powers that be' were not happy about Azaz Syed revealing in a recent show that a delegation led by Fazalur Rahman Khalil to Afghanistan had met senior officials in the Afghan Taliban hierarchy and that, despite denials from Pakistani officials, the delegation was in fact carrying messages from Pakistan aimed at lowering the temperature between the two countries.
YouTube channel Talk Shock had been set up by senior journalist Azaz Syed, along with his The News/Geo colleague Umar Cheema, but had later come under Geo's umbrella, while Umar Cheema had set up his separate YouTube channel.
The show is known for its independent stance on local and international politics, with top investigative journalists Azaz Syed, Fakhar Durrani, and Asif Bashir Chaudhry currently associated with it.
Talking to The Friday Times, sources said that the channel management was in contact with the concerned authorities and was hopeful the channel would be back on air soon.