British media: the radical within


The murder of prominent Pakistani politician and governor of the Punjab Province Salman Taseer in January 2011 over his support for a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy sent shockwaves across Pakistan. What shocked mainstream opinion even more was the praise and huge admiration his killer, police officer Mumtaz Qadri, received from supporters, including hundreds of lawyers, who showered the murderer with roses on every court appearance.

Salman Taseer with Christian woman Asia Bibi 

Taseer’s tragic assassination at the hands of his own security guard and the subsequent developments highlighted the widening gap between Pakistan’s liberals and its radicals. This division of ideologies in Pakistan has not spared the Pakistani diaspora either.

One may try to understand and perhaps, even digest the blatant support for such atrocities in Pakistan, a country plagued by religious extremism since the early 80s, but it is an entirely different experience to see Mumtaz Qadri being  praised as a ‘man of faith’ by a British TV channel.

Advocating extremism

Um e Adil

On 5 January 2011, the day after Taseer was assassinated, the programme host of Manchester-based DM Digital TV described Qadri in exactly those words and belittled Taseer’s humanitarian stance saying he had ‘caused provocation’. The programme was later uploaded on the anchor’s channel on You Tube.

In her introductory sermon, programme host Um e Adil said that: "A Muslim with even the lowest degree of faith is always prepared to sacrifice his life, wealth and everything else for the honour of the Prophet [Muhammad]. When Mumtaz Qadri took the decision to take revenge, to kill Governor Salam Taseer, he first decided to put his own life on the line - he would sacrifice his own life because the governor had said that this law about the Prophet Muhammad [blasphemy law] is a draconian law!"

Police officer Mumtaz Qadri, who was commissioned to protect Taseer’s life, pumped 27 bullets into him roaring ‘God is Great’ before voluntarily surrendering to his colleagues. Taseer’s only fault was that he had expressed support for the Christian woman Asia Bibi, saying that the blasphemy laws were being misused to persecute religious minorities.


Qadri later said in court that he had been inspired to murder Salman Taseer after hearing speeches on blasphemy by Pakistani Islamists Qari Hanif and Ishtiaq Shah.

Mumtaz Qadri surrendered voluntarily

Watching the DM Digital TV’s programme disturbed me immensely, for I am a witness to Pakistan’s gradual but highly organised radicalisation. In the 80s, military dictator Gen Zia ul Haq forced the ‘Islamification’ of Pakistan, and radical views including sectarian tensions started emerging in mosques and in the media. Even schools weren’t spared and children were forced to learn Arabic and, in many cases, wear the traditional Pakistani ‘shalwar qameez’ instead of trousers and shirts. Some thought of it as just another dictator’s madness. Others viewed it as a transgression. But given that the gentle hand of the Pakistani secret services was always around the corner for a tap on the shoulder, most chose silence.

It is that very silence which has led Pakistan to its current predicament.

Glorifying terrorism

DM Digital’s Um e Adil openly justified Taseer’s murder in her programme by calling it ‘the effect’ and ‘the result’ of his ‘provocations’. One of her viewers, a woman who introduced herself as Rani Malik from London, phoned in during the programme in response to Um e Adil’s sermon, saying: “Every Muslim’s heart wants to do it, if you are a true Muslim. Even the heart of a woman like me wants to die or kill any person who would say anything against Islam!”

Rani Malik wasn’t alone. Most of the viewers who phoned in agreed with Um e Adil, except a man calling himself Wazeer Ahmed from Nottingham, who asked, “how many other Islamic countries apart from Pakistan have this blasphemy law and how many people have been prosecuted and killed under such laws?”

Mourners light candles in front of Taseer's portrait in Lahore

A very angry Um e Adil replied: “Well it’s obvious that we are from Pakistan and have to speak with reference to Pakistan as our concern is with Pakistan. And as far as other countries are concerned, like Saudi Arabia et al, well let anyone dare try something like this [commit blasphemy]. They don’t waste any time. They chop off a common murderer’s head within six months [of the crime being committed] in Riyadh!”

I shall spare you further details and quotes from the programme as I have edited, compiled and subtitled the main bits here for your viewing but do note how the angry host snubs and interrupts studio guest Waseem Chaudhry for his feeble attempts to defend humanity. You can also access the original programme in its entirety on Um e Adil’s You Tube channel here.

Evolution of terror

Mumtaz Qadri’s actions on 4 January 2011 also brought to light another, far more frightening development. The terrorist now no longer needs to carry out suicide attacks to achieve his/her goal. Ever since the Islamist suicide attackers started making headlines around the globe, governments everywhere have spent millions on developing counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation strategies. ‘Moderate’ Muslim clerics have issued fatwas against suicide attacks saying Islam forbids suicide. And to some extent, this approach might have even helped some Muslim youths from being radicalised. But then came Mumtaz Qadri.

Qadri responds to cheering supporters

Qadri’s voluntary surrender following Taseer’s assassination challenged this main argument which moderate Muslim clerics living in the West could use to prevent youths from radicalisation. All you have to do now to protect the honour of Islam by means of terrorism and emerge as a hero is to eliminate your target and surrender willingly to the authorities.

One could only imagine what Um e Adil’s sermons could mean for the safety of the likes of British author Salman Rushdie. Have we forgotten the furore over Rushdie’s Satanic Verses which Islamists see as blasphemous? Rushdie, whose life is still in danger, was recently forced to withdraw from the Jaipur literature festival after a warning from the Islamists in India.

According to DM Digital TV’s website, the channel “is available to over 17.1 million UK households and to over 30 million households in Asia, EMEA and via JadooTV in the US. DM Digital creates and broadcasts programmes in 6 languages via Sky and Asia Sat platforms which is available to viewers as a Free to Air channel in over 180 countries”.

And what really amazes me after seeing Um e Adil’s programme is the website’s claim that DM Digital TV “has effectively brought the Asian and English cultures closer by integrating its people, the cultural diversity, communities and the economy”.

According to the media watchdog Ofcom, DM Digital TV which changed its name from DM Islam Television Limited in June 2006, holds a ‘general entertainment’ licence.

UK’s response to terror and radicalisation

The government has organised its counter-terrorism strategy CONTEST using a four-pronged approach:

• Pursue: to stop terrorist attacks
• Prevent: to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism
• Protect: to strengthen our protection against terrorist attack
• Prepare: where an attack cannot be stopped, to mitigate its impact

The Prevent strategy is based on the conclusions of the Prevent Review published June 2011 and aims at challenging extremist ideas that are conducive to terrorism or are shared by terrorist groups.

According to the Home Office, one of the three objectives of the Prevent strategy is to “work with a wide range of sectors (including education, criminal justice, faith, charities, the internet and health) where there are risks of radicalisation which we need to address”.

Apart from DM Digital TV, there are more than a dozen Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian religious channels broadcasting from Britain with some fanning sectarian hatred among UK Muslims. I will explain in another piece the role UK-based Islamist TV channels are playing in bringing the Shia-Sunni war to these Islands.

One could only hope that the government would also include TV channels in its Prevent strategy and that British broadcasters such as DM Digital TV will be prevented from transmitting programmes which not only justify terror but also glorify religious extremism.