Who is Christine Fair: Renowned political scientist and American professor Carol Christine Fair amassed much support online over the weekend after a BBC anchor was accused of cutting her off during an interview discussing Pakistan and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Fair has expertise in counter-terrorism and Asia-based research.
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Clips from the BBC interview going viral show British journalist Philippa Thomas allegedly "shutting" Fair off mid-claim of Pakistan harbouring "petting zoos of terrorists." Pakistan would "firmly deny" Fair's arguments, Thomas said interrupting her, saying, "We have given you space to put your point of view, but we are going to leave it now."
Fair rebuts, "You are doing their propagandist work," before the camera cuts to Thomas in the studio.
Quite gross from @BBCNews: our "impartiality" doctrine was used to basically shut down @CChristineFair when she explained #Pakistan's jihad policy in #Afghanistan that has brought us all to this catastrophe — an issue on which there is no "balance" or "other side", factually. pic.twitter.com/FSzXKLMExN
The episode has faced severe criticism world over from journalists slamming the BBC for alleged "bias" on grounds of impartiality.
Fair on Twitter tagged Thomas,
@PhilippaBBC Afghan lives matter more than Pakistani diplomats' faux feelings. I have reems of primary data backing up my claims. What do you have? Pakistan has sought to render Afghanistan a vassal since the late 50s. Do YOUR job...not that of Pakistan-hired obbyist. #DoBetter
— (((Christine Fair))) (@CChristineFair) September 4, 2021 "I have reems of primary data backing up my claims. What do you have? Pakistan has sought to render Afghanistan a vassal since the late 50s. Do YOUR job...not that of Pakistan-hired obbyist."
@PhilippaBBC Afghan lives matter more than Pakistani diplomats' faux feelings. I have reems of primary data backing up my claims. What do you have? Pakistan has sought to render Afghanistan a vassal since the late 50s. Do YOUR job...not that of Pakistan-hired obbyist. #DoBetter
SheThePeoplereached out to Fair regarding the incident with Thomas. She said, "Pakistani officials are routinely interviewed by the BBC and no anchor has ever shut them down for lying or offering the comment. 'Well, if we had a scholar of Pakistan's strategic culture here, she would reject what you are claiming as false.' What if we were discussing ISIS, would she object because we lacked an ISIS spokesman? Also, she was empirically incorrect. Pakistani officials, on the BBC no less, have admitted to providing their unrelenting support to the Taliban and to groups like the Haqqani network and the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. Without any actual subject-matter expertise, why was she doing the job of the Pakistan foreign ministry? Surely she knew that I primarily work on Pakistan's support of terrorism using Pakistani documents."
"So essentially she did a "both sidesism" when the other side in question is a state sponsor of terror. She could've asked me about the evidence for my claims if she wanted to understand the empirical underpinnings of my assertions. So in this case, her badgering me seemed to reflect something else other than an "impartiality" argument because what I said is pretty much the academically accepted understanding of Pakistan's behaviour."
Know Who Is Christine Fair And Why She Is In News
On whether she thinks a male academic interviewed in her place would have been cut off as she was by Thomas on the BBC, Fair tells us, "Frankly, I do not think she would. But in the scheme of things, I am actually glad for this opportunity to expose this side of the BBC which I hadn't previously encountered. I've been looking at articles written by BBC writers in English and Urdu, and it's really clear to me that they are carrying water for Pakistan... I think it has to do with the political power of Pakistani Britons and the fact that the BBC is publicly owned. The UK has long tiptoed around this community even while it knows that this community harbours some radical elements."
Educated in the United States, Christine Fair is a senior researcher and scholar who has worked with the United Nations on their Assistance Mission to Afghanistan and with think tank RAND as a political scientist.
Fair made headlines in 2018 after her luggage was picked out for "additional security screening" at Frankfurt airport, according to The Washington Post, following which she was accused of calling security officers "Nazi police" and was sued for the same. Fair, in a HuffPostpiece, denied the accusations, saying instead she was "framed, arrested and robbed" by German police and Frankfurt airport.
Her work and research around Asia offer a point of contention in academic circles, particularly her commentary about the effectiveness of drone strikes in Pakistan, contained famously in an article she co-authored for The Atlantic in 2015. The article at the time prominently prompted several rebuttals, such as by journalist Conor Friedersdorf who criticised its "interventionist worldview" and historian Sarah Waheed who dubbed it "propagandistic writing."
Among Fair's most popular works are Pakistan's Enduring Challenges, Political Islam and Governance in Bangladesh, and The Madrassah Challenge: Militancy and Religious Education in Pakistan. She has appeared as a speaker on platforms Al Jazeera, CNN, Reuters and CBS.
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