LONDON: The late Senator Mushahidullah Khan has won a defamation complaint in the UK against a private TV channel over a programme in which the channel’s analyst had made false allegations against the PMLN’s late Senator that he used Pakistan International Airline’s money to stay and get treatment in London.
According to details, the private channel aired a news programme on 24th June, 2020 in the UK about the findings of a report into a PIA plane crash in Karachi in May 2020.
The private channel’s employee claimed that Mushahidullah Khan was ‘treated’ and stayed at a hotel in London at the expense of PIA. Mushahidullah Khan complained that he was treated unjustly or unfairly in the programme. He challenged the private TV to present any proof and prove him guilty and told Ofcom that he was ready to face any penalty if allegations against him could be proven true or any witness or evidence could be shown.
The late Mushahidullah Khan told Ofcom that the anchor was pro-government and maligned him to support the narrative of his favourite party but had no evidence to back up the libelous claims. The private TV employee has said: “How PIA was operated during the government of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) that should also be brought in front of us. At that time Mushahidullah (the complainant) was there and he was treated in London at the expense of PIA. He stayed in a PIA hotel in London. All these matters are there for everybody to see.”
Mushahidullah complained to the UK media regulator that the allegation suggested that, if there were faults with PIA’s operation, it was because people like him had been “fleecing” the airline and were “responsible for its current woes”. He added that the allegations were false and that he had never received or used “state funds or money”.
The private TV said in its defence that the programme was aired following a press conference from the federal minister of Aviation, highlighting issues including the alleged granting of fake licences to pilots and “arbitrary appointments” within PIA by previous government representatives. The channel also quoted speeches by Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhary as well as allegations of corruption published against Mushahidullah on websites but Ofcom rejected this defence and said there were no proofs to back up the claim.
Ofcom declared that the analyst’s comments about Mr Mushahidullah Khan had the clear potential to materially and adversely affect viewers’ opinions of Mushahidullah in a way that was unfair to him. Ofcom said: “The broadcaster did not take reasonable care to satisfy itself that material facts had not been presented, disregarded or omitted in a way that resulted in unfairness to Mushahidullah.
