• March 11, 2013
• Media Ethics
• Web Desk

By: Ahmad Noorani

ISLAMABAD: Apparently to neutralize the results of recent surveys showing majority support for opposition parties, in a dubious and mysterious move a German organization issued a statement on Thursday based on a months old survey, already published many times.

The statement gave an impression as if a fresh survey had been conducted which showed the ruling PPP enjoying support of majority of voters.

In a more inexplicable act, PPP government controlled news agency APP took no time in issuing the same statement to the international and some local media outlets simply few days before the announcement of election schedule.

Both the German organization as well as PPP government’s controlled APP have admitted that the survey was an old one.

The German organization Heinrich Boll Stiftung (HBS) issued a press release declaring that in according to results of a survey conducted by it, ruling PPP enjoyed support of some 29 percent voters, whereas 24.7 percent voters supported PML-N and only 20 percent supported Imran Khan led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI).

The findings of the survey were considered interesting in the background of worst ever corruption, plunder and bad governance during last five years coupled with a law and order situation in complete mess which has pushed everything on the verge of collapse.

However, as this German organization has properly issued a statement which was later officially issued by government of Pakistan through Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), the news was carried in leading national dailies.

However, when the issue was probed on Friday, it was divulged that no survey whatsoever was ever conducted by this German organization HBS.

On being contacted, relevant officials of HBS in Pakistan confirmed this fact.

In fact an organization Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) had conducted this survey a few months back in collaboration with a media organization and this German organization HBS had only funded this exercise. The survey was conducted on many other questions and was reported by national and international media at the end of January this year.

It was astonishing as to why a German organization, believed to have close liaison with some PPP government functionaries, issued this statement, showing it as fresh, simply nine days before the announcement of next general elections.

Mr Ashfaq, an official of German HBS, while talking to The News admitted that the said survey was conducted by SDPI some months back and that it was already published.

Asked as to why a statement giving the impression as if a fresh survey had shown the ruling PPP as leading a party for upcoming elections, Ashfaq said, “Same was done for the “media review”, a term unknown to this scribe.

Ashfaq tried to explain that his organization HBS headquartered in Berlin is conducting a conference on March 20 on this survey so we have issued this press release for “media review”.

There was no logic in Mr Ashfaq’s claim and he was making a baseless assertions. On repeated questions of The News, Ashfaq stuck to his claim that PPP government has nothing to do with his organization’s issuing of this press release and it was issued by HBS at its own.

When The News approached APP chief Khalid Sarwar, he claimed that none of the government functionary had asked APP to run this old news as a fresh survey report.

However, earlier APP had released the same report showing it as a SDPI survey whereas now the same report was released by the government agency showing it as a survey conducted by HBS.

However, MD APP, Khalid Sarwar said that if this news was reissued by his agency, he will order a comprehensive probe into the matter immediately.

He said initial investigations were underway right now (at 2100 hrs on Friday) and an inquiry will be ordered after results of the preliminary probe.

Later on Saturday, Britta Petersen, head of German HBS in Pakistan, in an email response to The News queries, shifted the blame of issuing this press release on German Press Agency but admitted that it was not mentioned that Survey was carried out by SDPI.

Relevant part of Petersen email reads: “We never issued a press release on the study that was carried out by SDPI with our support.

We just informed the German press agency about it and in their text they left out the name of SDPI because apparently they thought it is not relevant for the German public. That text by the way does not state that we carried out the study but that it was commissioned by us.

This study is a joint effort by us and SDPI and Dr Abid Suleri will be presenting it on March 20 at a panel discussion in our Headquarter in Berlin”.

SDPI officials also confirmed that the survey was conducted during October to December 2012 and report was released in the first week of February 2013.

Source: The News