Smear campaign against Mian Mansha costs ARY Rs44.8m

KARACHI: The ARY Network has agreed to pay 275,000 pounds (Rs44.8 million) as damages to Mian Mansha, a renowned businessman and head of a leading business group, for levelling false and baseless allegations against him following a settlement in the London High Court.

Mansha had filed a defamation suit against the ARY in the London High Court in April 2016, in which his counsels took the plea that the ARY TV network during November 2015 in its programme ‘Kab Tak’ tried to defame Mian Mansha by levelling false and baseless allegations against him. The ARY’s programme falsely portrayed Mian Mansha to have purchased hotels and clubs in London with laundered money and despite several attempts on the part of Mansha to seek corroboratory evidence, the television network failed to provide any. As an outcome of the case, the British Media Authority (Off Cam) on February 1, 2017, cancelled six licences of the ARY Network. On January 8, 2018, the London High Court Justice Nicklin ordered the case to be conditionally disposed of with the ARY channel paying Mansha 75,000 pounds as damages and 200,000 pounds as the legal cost. The order made it abundantly clear that ARY's allegations against Mian Mansha were false, which not only tarnished his reputation but caused mental agony to his family. The agreement strengthened Mansha's case and proved him right. The London High Court also warned of similar proceedings if any media outlet levels baseless allegations against Mian Mansha or attempts to cause damage to his family or business.

Mansha is the country's leading businessman, against whom the ARY spread negative propaganda. But he is not the only target of ARY's smear campaign. Previously, the ARY network also levelled false, baseless and unsubstantiated allegations against the Jang Group, the Geo TV Network and Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman in its various programmes. The channel went to the extent of labelling Rahman as an Indian agent and a traitor, who sought money from the US and India and other rival countries. The ARY also levelled serious allegations of corruption against him. To defend his reputation, the Jang Group, Geo TV Network and Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman filed defamation suits against the ARY in Pakistan and in London. The ARY lost the suit.

In the British Courts, the ARY not only suffered defeat and embarrassment, but the British court for the first time in the history of the world, ordered the ARY Network to telecast the court's verdict against it, on all its channels, besides ordering the network to pay Rs520 million as damages to Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. Furthermore, the court also revoked ARY's three licences for transmission in Britain. Exhibiting defiance, the ARY applied for bankruptcy to avoid paying the damages. Meanwhile, the same cases are pending in local courts for the last four years.