The Facts, the Fictions, and the BBC

All Parties Conference (APC) to counter the terrorism situation in Pakistan was postponed due to Imran Khan’s visit to UK.  The terrorism situation has destroyed the economy and taken thousands of lives in Pakistan and KPK province is among the worst hit by terrorism. He attended the Ball party arranged by Prince and Mrs. Charles for some charity support. During his stay BBC2 aired a documentary on the investigation that involves MQM and its Chief, Altaf Hussain in London.

The documentary wasn’t balanced but mostly against Hussain and MQM, based on the allegations, which Khan is already talking about since he has lost the election in Sind and Punjab. He alleged Hussain for Zahra Shahid’s murder; a senior member of PTI who was working for the party for 17 year but was sidelined by PTI for junior members due to some internal party issues; which Fauzia Kasuri admitted. Two days before the documentary, PTI social media team was promoting it like they knew the whole story.

This is not the first time BBC has made documentary on Pakistani politicians or institutions. The documentary on Nawaz Sharif titled “From Pakistan to Park Lane” was about the money laundering cases.  The second most alarming documentary which BBC broadcasted was against Pakistan Army and its role in “war on Terror”. In the documentary called “Secret Pakistan: Double Cross” which alleged Pakistan Army as “deceiving the West and America by supporting Taliban through weapons”. One guest in the documentary alleges Pakistan Army of evacuating Taliban in their aircraft from Qandoos to Pakistan and accused them of causing deaths of NATO and US forces.

The recent documentary on Hussain aired on July 10^th 2013 on “News Night BBC” had no new material but some journalistic enthusiasm and wishful thinking, which weren’t expected from a responsible corporation like BBC. The investigation failed to mention anything about the killings of political workers in Karachi because we know that MQM has lost three MPAs by extremists’ organizations and Taliban and there are many MQM workers abducted by extremists’ organizations. It also failed to mention the overwhelming support it received by the people of Karachi in the last election even when TTP destroyed the political process for election.

Then the appearance of former MQM worker Naeem Ahmad is also a question mark on the investigative journalism of BBC. Naeem got political asylum in Belgium on behalf of MQM and now his stance against the party, is raising question on the validity of his asylum case. The BBC journalist was failed to inform the public whether the person left the party on his will or was expelled from the party because of disciplinary issues?  Again the journalist informed the people that Hussain was booked in 30 murder cases which is not new  but he didn’t tell the viewers that Hussain was  in London while then government booked him in those cases.

The main issue which was highlighted in the documentary was the money laundering in which BBC documentary alleged that Scotland Yard has recovered 400,000pounds from Hussain’s compound. But the point is that SLY hasn’t released any statement to the media nationally or internationally about the exact amount of money recovered.  The information of Hussain’s properties and money recovered which were speculated by Pakistani and British media does not match. One channel in Pakistan reported that there were 20 properties under the name of Hussain and they have acquired papers of some of his properties but BBC2 denied.

Again some UK government officials who are always been the part of Lobby against Hussain and been very vocal against him didn’t appear in the documentary which is a sign of non-credible materials showed in the documentary otherwise they wouldn’t have spare any chance against Hussain.

BBC is a global name in broadcasting organizations and such documentaries against Pakistan Army previously and now against MQM is shocking. Pakistan Army and MQM has been fighting against TTP, and Army has lost many soldiers while MQM has maintained a fundamental politically stance against extremists forces like TTP. While MQM has been the voice of millions of Pakistanis that are against terrorism and extremism, this documentary from BBC does not do justice and undermines the sacrifices that MQM and Pakistan Army has been making to fight terrorism. In the last election, MQM’s campaign was a clear threat to TTP because MQM has always proved that their agenda is to make Pakistan a tolerant society. Now the documentary against them which failed to prove any credible material will not damage MQM but the credibility of BBC worldwide.

Not to forget that News Night BBC has already apologized on misleading and unfair reporting to its viewers about two reports called “Help for Heroes” and “Child Abuse”.