BBC Broadcasting House Image Credit: Zizzu02/Wikimedia Commons
Reputed for allowing dissident voices to express their views on its broadcast platforms, the BBC has long been facing criticism from dictatorial regimes.
But this week, the British Broadcasting Corporation came under fire for deleting remarks of a democratically elected Pakistan leader. In an interview Asad Umar speaks about an Indian spy who has confessed to involvement in stoking terror in Balochistan.
After reports emerged that the BBC TV did not air the portion of Finance Minister Asad Umar on Indian spy Kulbushan Yadhev getting sentenced in a military court following his confessions, Pakistani government leaders, activists and journalists questioned the BBC’s glaring omission.
For its part, the BBC said the portion was taken out of the TV version as a technical matter since the interview was too long and that the portion was played in the radio version of the interview.
“The reason Kulbhushan Jadhav’s name was deleted from the TV version of the HARDtalk interview with Asad Umar has a simple technical explanation,” said a tweet. “The recorded interview was too long for our broadcast slot and so had to be edited.”
His name was omitted from the TV version. This was not an act of censorship, but clearly confusion has been caused, so we are happy to restore that short section to the TV broadcast and we’ll give the new programme an extra airing tonight as well as tomorrow morning. 2/2 https://t.co/STjcCKsWGt
— BBC HARDtalk (@BBCHARDtalk) December 13, 2018
But before that statement, the Pakistan’s Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari took a swipe at the BBC, alleging that it censored the interview and deleted the part about Jadhav.
Shameful how BBC censored and chopped off Asad's mention of Indian spymaster Jhadav! Typical bias of BBC! https://t.co/sw1ReRmeJj
— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) December 13, 2018
The radio version runs the portion in which Umar is asked about threats to Chinese investment in Balochistan and the “anger” generated by it among some people in the province.
In response, Umar tells the BBC:
“This is not anger of the people of Balochistan, these are activities of sponsored terrorists who receive training, funding [and] material from outside Pakistan. And is there a serious attempt to try and destabilize Balochistan and through that, try and subvert CPEC [China-Pakistan Economic Corridor]? Of course, there is. There is a concerted effort to do that.”
The sentence taken out of the TV version of the interview goes this way:
“Pakistan arrested a senior operative from India, his name is Kulbhushan Jadhav; he is in the custody of Pakistan and he gave details of how the Indian intervention in Balochistan and others parts of Pakistan is taking place“
