BBC report helps Pakistan media talk openly about MQM

A BBC report about Altaf Hussain, the London-based leader of a Pakistani political party, seems to have emboldened the Pakistani media to talk about the party more openly.

On 10 July, Newsnight reported that the leader of the Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was being investigated by London's Metropolitan police for money-laundering and incitement to violence.

Although the BBC Two report by Owen Bennett-Jones was only accessible in the UK, it was given substantial coverage in the Pakistani media. Dawn, the Karachi-based English newspaper, published a detailed news item about the report on its website on 11 July, entitled "The UK news programme that took on MQM". 

Dawn followed it up with a second news item, "MQM chief facing probe: London police", in its print edition on 12 July, attributing the entire content to the BBC programme.

The News, the English newspaper of Jang Group, carried a report "MQM chief being probed for money-laundering, hate speech: BBC", filed by its London correspondent Murtaza Ali Shah on 12 July.

The programme also created ripples in social media and triggered a debate about the politics of the MQM and its leader Altaf Hussain.

The opening portion of Newsnight was uploaded to video-sharing sites and viewed more than 33,000 times. More than 10,000 viewers saw it on YouTube, apparently using proxy servers, despite an official ban on the site in Pakistan. The remaining viewers accessed it on DailyMotion. 

As expected, there was opinion was divided on Facebook and Twitter about the merits of the MQM investigation. Supporters of Altaf Hussain accused the BBC of undertaking tabloid-style programming. The disgust expressed by Hussain's supporters was best summed up in a cartoon published in Dawn on 18 July in which MQM leader Farooq Sattar, who tried to defend his leader on Newsnight, was shown holding a placard featuring the words “Bullshit Broadcasting Corporation”.

However, other bloggers and social media activists viewed the BBC report with enthusiasm and described it as an example for the Pakistani media to follow: "instead of asking why it took #BBC 20 yrs to talk abt #MQM, maybe Pakistanis should be asking why Pakistani press STILL doesnt talk abt MQM?" @M_Tarar, a prominent Pakistan blogger, tweeted soon after watching the report on 10 July.

"MQM has been trying to spin this BBC segment so hard... now Altaf Bhai's chaddi [underwear] is wrapped around his neck," Arif Rafiq, a Pakistan expert at the US-based Middle East Institute tweeted.

The BBC programme has a special significance for the Pakistan media because it followed reports of an organised campaign by the MQM to silence media with the help of defamation notices.

The BBC report was discussed on a number of prime-time talk shows in Pakistan. Hamid Mir, the leading anchor of Geo News talk show Capital Talk, travelled to London to discuss the allegations against Altaf Hussain on 17 July. His programme featured Labour peer Lord Nazir Ahmad, MQM leader Mustafa Kamal and Nauman Javed, a legal expert.

The police probe was a major item in Aaj Kamran Khan Ke Saath (Today with Kamran Khan), a popular programme on Geo News TV channel, which was shown on 16 July.

And the report was a topic of discussion on the Express News talk show Live with Talal on 12 July. Analyst Zahid Hussain, Karachi Union of Journalist leader GM Jamali and Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, a senior official from the ruling PML-N party, were invited to discuss the allegations. Various clips of the Newsnight report were played in the programme amid live discussion by the panellists.

This level of open debate on the role of MQM is surprising for observers of Pakistani media, as any mention of the party was largely deemed taboo before the BBC report.

"Today, both print and electronic media outlets seem to be pushing the envelope as far as local standards are concerned by carrying stories related to allegations of political violence and strong-arm tactics that have long swirled around the Muttahida," Dawn stated in its editorial on 31 July.

Some journalists, such as GM Jamali, are still apprehensive. "Journalists working in Karachi are sitting on a 'heap of gunpowder' and they have to face the consequences in the city," he said on the Express News talk show.

It is yet to be seen whether the newly found boldness of local media will last. Nevertheless, the role of the Newsnight report as a catalyst in helping the Pakistani media break the shackles, even if only temporarily, cannot be overestimated.