LONDON: Several religious Urdu channelsmay be forced by the communications watchdog Ofcom to stop broadcasting on British platformafter the watchdog found that these channels were in serious breach of the rules regulating broadcasts. At least four Urdu channels have landed in trouble after having been accused by the Ofcom that Muslim preachers on these British channels have spread hatred against non-Muslims, advocating the killing of “apostates”. The watchdog has told these channels that their platforms were used to broadcast “inflammatory” material, unchallenged, in breach of rules which forbid extreme opinions gaining a platform on British television. The stations were found to have committed serious breaches of the broadcasting code by allowing the extreme opinions to be aired unchallenged. A spokesman at the Ofcom told The News: “All licensed channels – regardless of the content they produce or the audience they cater for – must comply with the Broadcasting Code. The majority of Islamic channels comply with our rules. However where we identify issues through our monitoring or complaints, we investigate fully and take firm enforcement action. Ofcom takes its duty to protect audiences from harm extremely seriously and is considering taking statutory action against a number of channels following recent breaches of the rules. This action may be substantial, including financial penalties or the revocation of a channel’s licence to broadcast.” The findings by Ofcom raise serious questions about the extent to which scholars from different Islamic sects can go in preaching their version of Islam and how intolerant it can be, especially in view of the fact that at least a dozen new free-to-air channels, broadcast on the satellite provider Sky platform, have sprung up in the last few years and those Imams who were confined to their mosques now have access to tens of thousands of viewers through their channels, most of these airing religious content. Ofcom found that on March 8, 2012 Dr Zakir Naik, who is banned from entering Britain but co-owns at least two channels (known as Peace TV) in Britain and has other business interests too in Britain through proxy organisations, said that if he, a Muslim, became a non- Muslim and propagated his new faith then he should be put to death. The broadcaster ruled: “In Ofcom’s view it is potentially offensive for any service to broadcast comments suggesting that it is acceptable to apply a ‘penalty’ and kill any individual for renouncing their faith. Broadcasters must ensure that material which may cause offence is justified by the context.” On May 3, 2012 Muhammad Farooq Nizamimade “inflammatory” comments about the killings of non-Muslims which the Ofcom ruled were “serious breaches of the code”. The watchdog said: “Ofcom is very concerned that Al Ehya [Noor TV’s parent company] still does not appear to recognise the very serious issues raised by the broadcast of Mr Nizami’s comments.” A Noor TV spokesman said: “We have appointed some new directors and implemented a whole range of new training, including having the Ofcom rules translated into Urdu.” Noor TV is also shown across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia and in 2011 it was fined £75,000 by Ofcom for a number of breaches of the code, including soliciting £1,000 donations in exchange for prayers which it said would improve health and good fortune. A renowned Sunni scholar Abdul Qadir Jilani on October 9, 2011 said on DM Digital: “Under the guidance from Islamic texts it is evident that if a Muslim apostatises, then it is not right to wait for the authorised courts; anyone may kill him. An apostate deserves to be killed and any man may kill him.” Ofcomruled that these statements “did amount to direct calls to action and were likely to incite or encourage crime or to lead to disorder.” The channel owner has maintained that that the Ofcom has bias towards ethnic minorities and said the comments were taken out of context.
