Dear All, 

The appearance of ex-PM Nawaz Sharif’s finance minister (and samdhi), Ishaq Dar on the BBC interview show HardTalk two weeks ago created quite a splash in Pakistan. Supporters of the PTI and the Imran Khan government praised the interview and gleefully declared that it proved that the ex-finance minister and senator was corrupt and a liar. But it was critics of the interview —rather than the interviewee — who were then subjected to the most abuse and intimidation.

The reactions to this interview reveal a lot: not just about Ishaq Dar or the interviewer or the decline of the quality of BBC news output but also about the pressures the independent media faces in Pakistan today as well as the setup that encourages trolling, bullying, intimidation and side-lining of any journalists who might be critical of Imran Khan’s party or its patrons.

From a journalistic point of view there was a lot wrong with the actual interview: the host, Stephen Sackur’s tone was bullying and the brief he was given (by somebody evidently just pretending to be a researcher) was substandard. I mean, Sackur couldn’t even get the pronunciation of Dar’s name right and he kept calling him Ish-aaq rather than Iss-haaq, a mispronunciation that is shocking at an institution like the Beeb where there used to be so much emphasis on getting things right. But more importantly, he seemed to be completely ignorant of the issues he was discussing, he misquoted the Election 2018 EU Observers’ report and scoffed at the idea that the NAB had a reputation for harassment and victimisation of political opponents. He only really piped down when Dar managed to get in some facts and figures about how robust he claimed the economy was under Nawaz Sharif (perhaps Sackur only piped down because he didn’t really have the relevant information in his poorly prepared brief). Sackur also kept talking over his guest even though it was clear that Dar was not totally fluent in English.

Of course, the former finance minister did himself make it quite easy for Sackur to attack him. He too was inadequately prepared and he kept replying as if he were talking to a Pakistani news channel — rather than an international news broadcaster — bandying about terms like JIT, Panama Papers and NAB. He was far too polite as well, he never corrected Sackur’s pronunciation of his name or properly put him right on any of his aggressively articulated assertions. In fact, when Dar did try to point out the interviewer’s ignorance it was by telling him “If you google things you will have all the detail”. And when Sackur asked how many properties he owned, Dar initially replied “I haven’t got too many properties’ before going on to insist that he owned only one and that it had been attached by the NAB.

Many people may have also thought what I did when I came to know of the interview: that the programme must have bid for an interview with Nawaz Sharif but, for whatever reason, had ended up with Ishaq Dar. But what is especially interesting to note is how much allowance BBC journalists continue to make for Imran Khan: they are still unable to comprehend the extent of the PTI leader’s religious, right wing and regressive position or his promotion and protection by ‘the powers that be’. Whether this is because Khan continues to impress the British press with his blunt, anti-corruption rhetoric and (relative) good looks or whether it’s because he went to Oxford and was a regular at Annabel’s Nightclub or whether it’s because of the connections and media influence of Khan’s friend and ex-brother-in-law Zach Goldsmith (now Lord Goldsmith) — remains unclear.

But anyway, let’s look at the wrath incurred by one Pakistani news outlet that dared to point out the problems with the interview and the very different way HardTalk seems to treat Imran Khan as compared to any other Pakistani politician. That outlet is Naya Daur, an independent social media forum which attempts to make its coverage rational, balanced and factual. Factual is important because facts are not really very popular with the PTI social media army so when, the day after the HardTalk interview, one female Naya Daur editor did a Fact Check segment elaborating on what the EU observers of Pakistan’s 2018 election had actually said in their report (as opposed to what Sackur said they had), this army attacked with all its might. The young woman was abused and vilified and all sorts of offensive material featuring her was put out on social media. Naya Daur also interviewed Dar later the same day and this riled up a lot of critics as well even though it was interesting to hear from him the agreed parameters of the BBC interview, how much was edited out etc. But, of course, on the basis of this contextualising effort Naya Daur was labelled as PML-N funded, US-funded and part of 5th generation warfare, etc.

The demonisation goes on and on but what is especially worrying is that these attacks on journalists and the media are made by entities representing the ruling party — or as Naya Daur wrote in its editorial “Not only was our female editor abused and threatened on social media but it was done with the full support of the party’s official handle and that is the worrying part of the story, it is difficult to separate the regime and its trolls now.”

Worrying indeed.

Best wishes,

Umber Khairi