ISLAMABAD: Britain’s Ofcom has fined Indian channel Republic Bharat £20,000 for statements made during a current affairs show that the media regulator deemed “expressions of hatred” against the Pakistani people.
The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the UK government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries. Republic Bhara broadcasts rolling news and current affairs to the Hindi-speaking community in the UK like dozens of other Indian and Pakistani news and entertainment channels.
In an episode of anchor Arnab Goswami’s show, Poochta Hai Bharat, broadcast on September 6, 2019, the presenter and some of his guests held the view that all Pakistanis were ‘terrorists’. Addressing Pakistanis, Goswami said: “We make scientists, you make terrorists.”
The program featured “comments made by the host and some of his guests that amounted to hate speech against Pakistani people, and derogatory and abusive treatment of Pakistani people. The content was also potentially offensive and was not sufficiently justified by the context,” Ofcom said in a statement.
“We considered these statements to be expressions of hatred based on intolerance of Pakistani people based on their nationality alone, and that the broadcast of these statements spread, incited, promoted and justified such intolerance toward Pakistani people among viewers,” Ofcom said.
“We concluded that this was a serious breach of our rules which warranted the imposition of statutory sanctions. These include: a financial penalty of £20,000 ... a direction not to repeat the program; and a direction to broadcast a statement of our findings on a date – and in a form — to be determined by Ofcom.”
Referring to statements by a retired major-general of the Indian army who had been a guest on Goswami’s show, Ofcom said the remarks “clearly threatened that the Indian military would attack Pakistani civilians in their homes, [and] were an expression of hatred and desire to kill by a figure of authority. In our view, the broadcast of these statements also promoted hatred and intolerance toward Pakistani people.”
“We also noted that Pakistani contributors were repeatedly interrupted and afforded little time to make points which may potentially have provided challenge or context,” Ofcom said.
UK regulator fines Indian channel £20,000 for airing ‘hatred’ against Pakistan
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UK regulator fines Indian channel £20,000 for airing ‘hatred’ against Pakistan
- In an episode of anchor Arnab Goswami’s show on Republic Bharat, the presenter and some guests held the view that all Pakistanis were ‘terrorists’
- Broadcast of these statements spread, incited, promoted and justified intolerance toward Pakistanis among viewers, UK media regulator rules
Three militants killed in intelligence-based operation in Pakistan’s southwest — military
- The operation was conducted in Panjgur district of insurgency-hit Balochistan province
- Sanitization operations being conducted to eliminate any other threat, the military says
ISLAMABAD: Security forces on Sunday killed three militants in an intelligence-based operation in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, the military said.
The operation was conducted in Balochistan’s Panjgur district on reported presence of “Indian-sponsored militants,” according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.
Three militants, including their local commander, were killed in an exchange of fire during the operation, with security personnel recovering weapons, ammunition and explosives from the scene.
“Sanitization operations are being conducted to eliminate any other Indian sponsored terrorist found in the area,” the ISPR said in a statement.
There was no immediate response from India to the statement.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land area bordering Iran and Afghanistan, has long been the site of a low-level insurgency involving Baloch separatist groups, including the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF).
Pakistan accuses India of supporting these separatist militant groups and describes them as “Fitna Al-Hindustan.” New Delhi denies the allegation.
Earlier this week, Pakistan’s counterterrorism police said they had killed five militants, who were planning to block the Quetta–Sibi highway and target security forces.
Officials found seven hand grenades, five sub-machine guns with live rounds and three motorcycles from the scene, according to a CTD statement.
“Search and combing operations are underway to apprehend the fleeing terrorists and dismantle the remaining network,” it read.
