Ruling family baulks at legal action against BBC

Insiders say Sharifs have been advised to exercise caution and stick to public denials

ISLAMABAD: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has been seemingly deterred from pursuing legal action against the BBC over a recent report on the Sharif family’s property in London, fearing such a move would backfire and open up a Pandora’s box for the party both nationally and internationally.

Informal talks with PML-N sources suggest the party leadership, while thoroughly reviewing the BBC Urdu report which stated that the Park Lane apartments have been in the Sharifs’ possession since the ’90s, is not keen about suing the British media group.

“It could backfire,” a key confidante of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity. “In a country like the UK, unless you have solid grounds, you are doomed if you legally take someone on.”



The legal teams of Prime Minister Nawaz and his family members have advised them against pursuing the matter legally and suggest that they stick to ‘public denials and condemnations’ of the BBC report, the insider said. “It is difficult to determine if we would be able to win such a case. In a situation like this, the best option is to exercise caution and restraint.”

Another source with direct knowledge of the matter said the BBC report is being minutely examined by the government to find loopholes and contradictions. “Playing up the contradictions, if any, could help face saving.”

BBC Urdu reported on Friday that the properties owned by the Sharif family in London’s upscale Park Lane neighbourhood were purchased in the 1990s. According to official documents available with BBC Urdu, the Nielson and Nescol offshore companies purchased the flats in the 1990s and there has been no transfer of ownership ever since. Citing an official record of companies doing business in the UK, the report also stated that Premier Nawaz’s son Hassan Nawaz gave the address of the Park Lane apartment while setting up Flagship Investment Ltd in 2001.



Speaking to The Express Tribune, Prime Minister’s Adviser Ameer Muqam said no decision over initiating legal action against BBC Urdu has been taken so far. “Any decision would be taken after thoroughly reviewing the matter while weighing all pros and cons.” He criticised the timing of the BBC report, saying it surfaced just as the Supreme Court is hearing the Panamagate case against the premier.

“Why such a story has appeared when this matter is pending in court? This needs to be investigated,” he said, adding that elements “who leak incorrect information to the media to weaken the government will not succeed.”

Asked if he meant opposition parties, especially Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, were behind the story, Muqam said, “I can’t say who is behind it but whoever it is, is not doing any good to this country.”

PML-N Chairman and Leader of the House in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq also thought the timing of the story meaningful. “At a time when the matter is being dealt by the honourable court, the surfacing of this kind of news is a factor of concern for us regardless of what is written in it. Such news also surfaced in the past and were proved wrong.”



Haq, however, avoided responding when asked if the Sharif family, ruling party or federal government had any plan to move court in the UK against the story. “I am not privy to developments at legal side.  Any decision would be taken after looking into the matter in detail.”

Political analyst and former ECP secretary Kanwar Dilshad said strict defamation laws in the UK virtually do not allow the publication of baseless news. “If you have something ‘rock solid’ backed by concrete documentary evidence and all verified facts, only then you go about publishing something as sensitive as the report BBC Urdu has published. I have gone through the story and I can say that the government would be in trouble. It will affect the government given that a related case is pending in the Supreme Court. If Sharif family or government or PML-N makes the mistake of waging a legal battle against BBC in the UK, it would be brewing more problems for itself.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2017.