Days after Islamists unleashed mayhem on the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) attempted to downplay the hate-filled religious motivation behind the targeted attacks.
The UK’s national broadcaster resorted to cherry-picking, selective ‘fact-checking’ and drawing false equivalences to give a political spin to the Islamist onslaught against Hindus.
An article to this effect was published by the BBC on Sunday (18th August). Titled, ‘Far-right spreads false claims about Muslim attacks in Bangladesh’, the vicious piece was co-authored by Jacqui Wakefield and Shruti Menon.
Despite more than 205 targeted attacks on Hindu shops, temples, and businesses, BBC sought to fact-check ‘some videos’ to whitewash the systematic cases of religious persecution in Bangladesh in its entirety.
“We found that many of the videos and claims shared online are false,” it had claimed. BBC pointed out how Sheikh Hasina’s party Awami League was targeted and that it comprised both ‘Hindu and Muslim members.’
The UK’s national broadcaster thus shrewdly laid the foundation to justify attacks on Hindus as an aftermath of political turmoil in the Islamic republic.
BBC gives political spin to religious violence against Hindus
In that way, people around the world voicing concerns about the plight of Bangladeshi Hindus could be accused of peddling misinformation.
As such, BBC did not disappoint when it claimed, “far-right influencers in neighbouring India shared false videos and information that gave a misleading view of the events.”
The idea was to shield radical Muslim mobs, which carried out violence in the first place by attributing a political angle to the attacks.
Demonises India for speaking out against atrocities in Bangladesh
Given that the Modi government supported Sheikh Hasina’s regime in Bangladesh, BBC saw to it that India was frequently mentioned in the article.
It insinuated that ‘fake online videos’ about attacks on Hindus and their labelling as hate crimes was a larger ploy by India and accounts espousing ‘Hindu-nationalist values’.
This was one of the strategies employed by the BBC to give political colour to religious violence against Hindus.
BBC distraught after Hindus get global support
To further bolster its narrative, the UK’s national broadcaster roped in ‘hate speech expert’ Sayeed Al-Zaman. “Fear-mongering by these influencers is inflaming the tension,” he was quoted as saying by the BBC.
The UK’s national broadcaster was distraught by the fact that attacks on Hindus could not be swept under the rug despite levelling accusations of peddling ‘fake news’ against popular global handles.
“Some of these posts falsely claiming that Hindus have been targeted by Muslims have been shared by accounts far removed from either Bangladesh or India,” it claimed.
Difficult to assess motives behind attacks on Bangladeshi Hindus: BBC
While cherry-picking fake videos and selectively fact-checking them to whitewash genuine cases of atrocities on Bangladeshi Hindus did not prove fruitful, the UK’s national broadcaster claimed that assessing motives behind attacks was difficult.
“Working out exactly what has happened in Bangladesh over the last few weeks has proved difficult. Many real incidents and attacks have taken place across the country, but the motivations are difficult to assess: religion or politics,” it alleged.
BBC then immediately imparted a political angle to the attacks by claiming that Hindus were largely ‘supporters of Sheikh Hasina’ and that any attack on them was the consequence of their political affiliation and not religious identity.
It cited controversial ‘fact checker’ Qadaruddin Shishir to bolster its claims. “Right-wing Indian accounts are spreading these politically motivated attacks as religious ones,” he was quoted as saying.
The missing context and population demographics
“Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, a non-profit established to protect minority human rights, reported five Hindu people killed. Two have been confirmed as Awami League members. The AFP has put the count of Muslim Awami League leaders’ who have been killed at more than 50,” the BBC further pointed out to suggest that attacks on Hindus were devoid of religious motives.
The UK’s national broadcaster conveniently forgot to mention that Muslims constitute 91% population of Bangladesh.
It is thus obvious that Muslims form the bulk of the members of the ruling Awami League and have died disproportionately in political targeting by violent mobs comprising Muslims opposed to Sheikh Hasina.
As such, the death of only Hindu Awami League members as opposed to 50 Muslims does not disprove the angle of religious violence. BBC has not been able to explain why only Hindu temples and not mosques were targeted if the attacks were solely political.
Temple protectors have ‘religion’ but attackers don’t
To further downplay attacks on Hindus, BBC highlighted photo ops about Muslims allegedly protecting temples.
“When false claims about attacks on Hindus went viral online, some Muslim protesters decided to guard Hindu temples,” it claimed.
Interestingly, BBC did not explain who was endangering the Hindu religious sites or the religious affiliation of the perpetrators. It’s an interesting case where alleged temple protectors are identified with their religion but not the attackers.
Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair and Jamaat’s mouthpiece ‘Basherkella‘ had also engaged in similar rhetoric on social media to whitewash the Islamist onslaught against Hindus.
