MQM received funding from Govt of India!! - BBC

[Pakistani E]

In the course of the inquiries the UK authorities found a list itemising weapons, including mortars, grenades and bomb-making equipment in an MQM property, according to Pakistani media reports that the BBC believes to be credible. The list included prices for the weapons. Asked about the list, the MQM made no response.

Everything in this article is based on information provided to the same journalist by Pakistani media or officials. This same journalist has been on MQM's case for years. I can't stop laughing at people who are trying to use BBC to legitimise their concerns about MQM when the article clearly states that information of Indian involvement is based on information from Pakistani officials or media.

 

[Spectre]

There is some ambiguity regarding the sourcing. While OBJ does claim that the Pakistani source is credible, one can't expect people (especially Indian apologists) to just accept that 'credibility' without question. I would agree with the Indians here, and were this an Indian allegation against Pakistan, I would take the same position they are.

Now, what adds another dimension to these allegations is that the 'credible Pakistani source' quoted some specifics related to these 'confessions' being made to UK law enforcement. I would hope that OBJ obtained unofficial/ off the record confirmation of said claims from the relevant UK authorities before going public with this story, which would make these claims much more credible. That said, if the confirmation from UK authorities to OBJ was off the record, that means the UK government will not come out publicly with confirmation, especially given the fact that the Modi led BJP government will throw the world's biggest temper tantrum and whine-fest. So the audience then has to rely on the history and credibility of the journalist claiming he obtained corroboration from UK officials.

I would like to wait and see if OBJ says he corroborated the claims, by Pakistani officials, from UK government/LEA sources.

I completely agree.

What kind of rep does this OBJ chap has? If he is has good journalistic cred then his sources are probably real and people would pay attention to his report otherwise off the record conversations are really dicey.

The journalistic integrity is really in the gutter these days. India and Pakistan both regularly plant stories in international media even BBC and NYT through their lobbyist to discredit each other and world has wised up to this.

Till we see a statement for UK home or foreign office its really difficult to ascertain the truth of these allegation.

 

[Alpha BeeTee]

This is just conspiracy - We all know only only the Afghan's agents work for India .....
It is they who have Karachi hijacked ....

Either you are joking or else you are high on Jam e Shereen.
:3

 

[Pakistani E]

The same journalist accuses army of being corrupt and full of nepotism in his books etc. But now he says something that fits your world view so you latch on to it like a hungry maulvi on halwa. Well what can I say, hypocrisy runs deep in this country.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

I completely agree.

What kind of rep does this OBJ chap has? If he is has good journalistic cred then his sources are probably real and people would pay attention to his report otherwise off the record conversations are really dicey.

The journalistic integrity is really in the gutter these days. India and Pakistan both regularly plant stories in international media even BBC and NYT through their lobbyist to discredit each other and world has wised up to this.

Till we see a statement for UK home or foreign office its really difficult to ascertain the truth of these allegation.

OBJ is a long time South Asia watcher and has a pretty good reputation for being objective, so in my view his credibility, in terms of being a journalist who will not fabricate his own 'facts', is excellent. If he says he obtained off the record corroboration from UK officials then I see no reason to doubt him given his past work and reputation.

Official UK confirmation, as I said in my previous post, is highly unlikely given the diplomatic ramifications.

 

[pkuser2k12]

 

[Pakistani E]

OBJ is a long time South Asia watcher and has a pretty good reputation for being objective, so in my view his credibility, in terms of being a journalist who will not fabricate his own 'facts', is excellent. If he says he obtained off the record corroboration from UK officials then I see no reason to doubt him given his past work and reputation.

As far as I know, someone passing him information about what was said in those interviews before it is presented in court is actually illegal...

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

MQM=Raw Agent, PPP=Shia Iran agent, BLA=Indian Agents but not a single Punjabi party on foreign pay roll? You see the pattern developing here? Who is making Pakistan's foreign policy? what qualifications these idiots have?

You forgot PMLN = Saudi Wahabbi Agents, so yes, pretty much every major party from every major province is covered.

As far as I know, someone passing him information about what was said in those interviews before it is presented in court is actually illegal...

Not necessarily - jurisdictional questions come into play (interrogations allegedly in UK but disclosure by a Pakistani official in Pakistan). The disclosures from the UK side might have been made at a diplomatic level, so different rules could apply there, and the officials in the UK side would argue that it was a government to government exchange of information relevant to terrorism and/or transnational organized crime, and that the UK officials could not be held responsible for Pakistani officials disclosing the information to the media.

Terrorism, transnational crime and diplomatic exceptions could make these kinds of restrictions on G2G disclosures of information hard to enforce.

 

[pak-marine]

MQM must clear this up by taking bbc to court ...

 

[Spectre]

OBJ is a long time South Asia watcher and has a pretty good reputation for being objective, so in my view his credibility, in terms of being a journalist who will not fabricate his own 'facts', is excellent. If he says he obtained off the record corroboration from UK officials then I see no reason to doubt him given his past work and reputation.

Official UK confirmation, as I said in my previous post, is highly unlikely given the diplomatic ramifications.

Ok, I googled this guy there are a few websites who say he has a thing against MqM and his prior reports on BBC concerning MqM have all been anti MqM with none of the stories having named sources.

On the other hand he has won quite a bit of awards and he has written four books/full featured stories on Pakistan so can be called an expert on Pakistan and most probably has sources over there.

Don't quite know what to make out of this but benefit of doubt seem to be with him.

 

[The_Sidewinder]

What a load of bias.

 

[Zarvan]

MQM must clear this up by taking bbc to court ...

These traitors will never do it they know everything said is truth

 

[Pakistani E]

You forgot PMLN = Saudi Wahabbi Agents, so yes, pretty much every major party from every major province is covered.


Not necessarily - jurisdictional questions come into play (interrogations allegedly in UK but disclosure by a Pakistani official in Pakistan). The disclosures from the UK side might have been made at a diplomatic level, so different rules could apply there, and the officials in the UK side would argue that it was a government to government exchange of information relevant to terrorism and/or transnational organized crime, and that the UK officials could not be held responsible for Pakistani officials disclosing the information to the media.

Terrorism, transnational crime and diplomatic exceptions could make these kinds of restrictions on G2G disclosures of information hard to enforce.

Nope, a BBC journalist or anyone not connected to the case will definitely not be privy to what is said in the recorded interview, not even a diplomat.

This is the law regarding recorded interviews:

Tape Security
Paragraph 6.2 of the Code of Practice (E) deals with the procedure to be adopted when it is necessary to gain access to the master tape. This requires a CPS representative to be present at the opening of the master tape if there are proceedings pending. A police officer has no authority to break the seal on a master copy.

It clearly states that once recorded, a random person can't just have access to what was said during the recorded interview, the only thing that's left is if someone who did the interview told this journalist, which again would mean a breach of the defendants confidentiality. Whatever way you look at it, the people conducting the interview has no business telling this journalist or a diplomat of what is said in the interview.

But he is stating a Pakistani source told him, I can only laugh at that.

 

[pak avatar]

one has to realize the BBC has some standards, not like pak media. they know if they BS , they will be taken to court and made liable for damages especially when accusing a foreign govt like India.

 

[pak-marine]

These traitors will never do it they know everything said is truth

lets see molvie saaab