Exploring the human angle

IN Media Monitoring | 22/04/2005

Exploring the human angle

In the sea of regulation stories a few stood out, reflecting a different sensibility, often connected more directly to their audience.

Indo Pak Monitoring-III

The Hoot has been running a series on how India and Pakistan cover each other based on month long monitoring exercises. This is the third part, based on monitoring done between July 15 and August 15 2004. The monitoring was done by the Centre for Advocacy and Research in India, and Media Solutions in Pakistan. This is second of two articles on this period.

Mannika Chopra

It’s easy to make ungenerous assumptions about journalists. How they cluster around press conferences, how after they are spoon fed by officials they regurgitate and retread information provided to them to fit an ever-demanding news cycle. Easy, but not strictly true. If one examines the overreaching arch of stories that appeared in The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Jansatta, Dainik Hindustan, Daily Jang and Dawn from July 15-Aug 15, 2004 peeping amidst the sea of reports on the Kashmir dispute, cross border dialogues, strategy and diplomacy were a spate of stories that had a different sensibility woven in.

Although fewer in number as compared to the mainline reports, they reflected the voices of people more accurately. At times full of zest and lament, at other times humour and bile, these stories often connected more directly to their audience rather than the reams of sponsored reports that ensured that readers were over fed but remained under nourished.

From May 9 onwards The Indian Express diligently followed up the travails of Lance Naik Jagsir Singh and Sapper Mohamed Arif. Deputed to clear the mined hillocks during the Kargil conflict of 1999, both had been declared deserters by the Indian Army when they did not return to their posts. Investigations revealed they had been captured by the Pakistani army and had been kept as prisoners of war (PoWs). In a systematic campaign, entitled Honour and Home, the Express followed their case and pressurized officials for their release on both sides of the border through their newspaper.

By mid-July this drive was nearing fruition although it had some minor setbacks. Sister publication, Jansatta in an Express News Service report (July 15) suggested that despite agreeing to free these two prisoners of war in exchange for Pakistani PoWs, Pakistani authorities were not being helpful. The director of Pakistani Army Operation placed the blame on the Pakistani home ministry saying he had not given any orders in this regard.

In a Chandigarh dateline story, Sourav Sanyal on the National Network page (July 21), wrote in the Express. " Rifleman’s Jagsir Singh’s mother urged President APJ Kalam, through the media, to bring back her son from the Haldia, Central Jail, Rawalpindi." The mother, said the correspondent, had gone through mental torture for five years at the hands of the Punjab police who had harassed her husband and her. Her husband eventually died. The black and white single column picture of Chottu Kaur holding on to Jagsir’s four year-old daughter had the desired impact.

As the day of release neared the reporting in the Express got more frenzied. A front-page report on the issue, datelined Amritsar and Kot Bhai, in Himachal Pradesh, home to Jagsir Singh, appeared as second lead. Ironically, though correspondent Sanjeev Chopra, detailed the scale of celebrations in Kot Bhai and in Meerut, home to Arif, little appeared about the four Pakistanis (one soldier and three civilians) who were being exchanged for two Indian PoWs.

On August 9 it was D-day. A front-page article by Sourav Sanyal from Wagah, where the exchange was scheduled to take place was placed prominently in a box, headlined, ‘Welcome HOME’. Under it were pictures of two slightly, bewildered looking Indian POWs. Continued on page two, the sting of the report was in its tail: The army, said the reporter, refused to comment on how Jagsir and Arif had been officially declared deserters. " It is not appropriate to answer questions which pertain to the ministry of external affairs and ministry of home affairs," said the army spokesperson waspishly.

Using the peg of the release, The Indian Express carried a heavily slanted Op-Ed piece by Anil Bhatt, a security analyst who, said the description, was also editor of WordSword Features and Media. ‘Unknown soldier in war, invisible prisoner in peace ‘ in a grey shaded box detailed how badly treated Indian armed personnel languishing in Pakistani jails were. "In comparison, " said the author who is a former spokesperson for the armed forces, the Indian Army has treated its Pakistani PoWs, " humanely and repatriated each of them in a healthy state and with a packet of sweets to boot. " He ended on a reflective note. " Now that the borders between the two countries are silent, it is a golden opportunity for Pakistan to prove its sincerity and win the goodwill of many Indian families. "

The prisoner exchange was a made for TV event but Dawn in its internet edition (August 6) said that authorities did not allow media personnel where the swap was taking place… "The prisoners returned to Pakistan were whisked away in two jeeps which passed by reporters and photographers with such sped that nobody could take a snap."

The imperfect nature of reporting revealed itself more readily in the regular reports that appeared on the presence of Pakistani ‘spies’ in India. Such reports were mostly long on conjecture but short on facts. Inevitably, to establish their nefarious designs, the police always discovered an incriminating map of Delhi Cant on the ‘spies’ ‘ Pakistani ‘spy’ held with Delhi Cantt plan, ‘ stated The Indian Express (July 26) in an Express News Service report accompanied with a black and white picture of the secret agent looking unfazed. Similar coverage by Hindustan Dainik (July 27) said that, according to police, the ‘Pakistani army spy’ Mohamed Qureshi had been taught professionally to spy by using the internet and ATM machines.

Talking movies

Inevitably news about films—directly or indirectly-- formed a formed a staple diet of entertainment reporting in Pakistani newspapers. A snippet on the back page of the Daily Jang (July 21) picked up from a report in an Indian newspaper that the Indian first lady, Krishnan Kaur had said that she had never seen any film 2with ‘doctor saheb.’ In a Karachi datelined report the same paper (July 27) presented cold hard facts about a soft subject again by using secondary sources. A Khaleej Times report enumerated the money that Indian actors received as fees. According to the report, Aamir Khan was the highest paid actor getting Rs 7 crore per film followed by Hrithik Roshan who was paid Rs 3 crore.

On page 5, of Jansatta (July 27) an interview with well-known Malayalam director, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, to PTI’s Hindi service, Bhasha, bristled with jingoism. The director said that he did not agree to the demand that Pakistani people should not be shown as anti-India or its soldiers as merciless and cruel. He said, " they (Pakistanis) show our people in the same manner " implying therefore that is was all right to do the same.

Similarly far fetched was a Jansatta report (July 28) on page four which said that two brothers on a Pakistani invalid visa were arrested along with their families. The report suggested that the brothers were suspected for spying although one of the accused said, rather plaintively, that after his seven-day visa expired he applied for an extension at the Ghaziabad passport office. Failing to get an extension he stayed on illegally. Hindustan Times in a single column report on the same day carried the same story on its city page. It did not make such direct allegations but said the accused had a "fifteen day "visa which had expired.

Far more corrosive coverage appeared in a report in Hindustan Times on its city page (August 11) with the heading, ‘ Pak nationals held with explosives. ’ A careful screening of the short story revealed that the Indian railway police arrested four Pakistani nationals who were carrying 450 kg of fireworks on the Samjhauta Express bound for Lahore. Fireworks, unfortunately for the police, did not come under the Explosives Act and so the couriers were, " arrested under the Railway Act for carrying inflammable material on train, sleuths probing the case said. "

On two consecutive days, Hindustan Times on its nation pages carried reports by a Jammu based state correspondent on infiltration and exfiltration. " From Bangladesh to Pak via India’ (August 2) specified how Bangladeshi nationals used " launch Bangaldeshi and Mynamerese nationals into Pakistan." The ultimate destination for these exfiltrators was Karachi where they would board a ship bound for Saudi Arabia where they would work as labourers.

The following day a boxed article stated ‘Pakistan militants recruit young boys to reinforce base in J&K ’. " Boys in the 13-15 age group are being enlisted by militants to infuse fresh blood into the low intensity conflict," said the report, not quoting any sources—anonymous or otherwise. Typically, it ended with a grand conclusion: " With so many top terrorists commanders eliminated… and juniors reluctant to take up senior positions, the militant top brass across the border is worried."

But sometimes the print medium appeared as an angel of public interest as it did in the case of Hafsa Aman --- an Indian doctor who married a Pakistani doctor, Aman Khan. Eight months pregnant authorities in Peshawar were threatening to deport her. ‘Indian Doc waits for Pak papers, ’ said The Indian Express using a PTI report sent by KJM Varma from Islamabad. (July 19) Two days the deportation got a stay. In a similar report Dawn examined the case of another Indian, Aqila Durrani whose grandparents were Pakistani nationals. Durrani was being denied citizenship even though she married a Pakistani on the ground her father had migrated to Mumbai in 1961 (July 26).

Much more prominently placed were a wave of feel good stories about Pakistanis needing medical treatment. Saving or curing Pakistanis, especially children, equalled instant publicity for the institutions. Inevitably, the subtext of such stories was that medical facilities in India were far more advanced than in across the border. A six column lead runner on the front page in Hindustan Times by HT correspondents from new Delhi/Hyderabad (July 30) shouted, ‘IA DIVerts flight, saves Pakistani baby." Faced with a ten-day old baby turning blue on his flight the IA pilot Sandeep Marwah made an emergency landing to Hyderabad instead of carrying onto Bangalore where the boy was to be admitted into hospital. A Express News Service report in The Indian Express was more muted carrying the same story on page 3. ‘ Pilot DIVerts plane to save Pak baby’ accompanied by a picture of the IA pilot. Explaining his response the pilot said, " I have a six year old daughter I know what it feels like when your child is sick.’’

The successful removal of a tumour in 16-year-old Pakistani girl, Ayesha Khan by neurologists in Apollo hospital also received good coverage. ‘ Paralysed Pak kid gets new lease of life in city, ’ said the headline of a Hindustan Times report by Sanchita Sharma (August 2). "Ayesha needed complicated surgery to remove a brain tumour but the equipment needed for the operation was not available in Pakistan, " stated the second para. After a complicated surgery using a "computersied guidance system called OTS" success was achieved. A coloured picture of a smiling but bandaged Ayesha along with her parents garnished the report. Meanwhile on Independence Day, a liver transplant of Iram Naz, a Pakistani citizen was successfully carried out in Sir Ganga Ram hospital said Hindustan Dainik (July 23).

Amid the people oriented stories were some well-known extraordinary tales. Like those of Malik Mohammad Khan from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s village, Gah now in Pakistan. Malik, a cobbler, sent his childhood friend a pair of shoes Jansatta (19 July). Or the feature on the ‘Great Divide ‘, in the Review section of Dawn (July 20) describing the atmosphere on the Wagah border. "The newly developing friendship notwithstanding, an encounter with India is still a novelty and the erstwhile hostility between the two countries make the ceremony more compelling." The author was surprised to find, " families on the Pakistani side broken up with the women sitting on one side and the men on the other. Glancing on the Indian side, one could see that both sexes sitting together."

Talking business

This month’s coverage received greater DIVersity with the inclusion of reports on the implications of increasing commerce and trade relations between the two neighbours. In an exclusive front page story, headlined ‘Step on the Gas’ Sunday Express (July 18) scooped a letter written by petroleum Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in which he radically proposed a gas pipeline through Pakistan to Iran. "Aiyar used the catchiest of phrases as a starting point, " said Amitav Ranjan in an Express Exclusive. ‘Conversation without commitments’ was the phrase Aiyar used to press on the Indian Prime Minister the need to initiate a dialogue with Pakistan on this issue.

In a Karachi datelined report, the Daily Jang (July 22) on its business pages, said that under a Rice Wheat Consortium Plan, Pakistan, India and Australia had agreed to cooperate from each other’s experiences in the agriculture sector.

In contrast to India, said Pranab Dhal Samant in The Indian Express (July 27) where the level of Foreign Direct Investment in core areas like power "sparks vociferous political debates…. Pakistan’s power policy demands at least 20 per cent minimum private investment…..Actually you can invest upto a hundred per cent in this sector. We have no cap or ceiling, " said the managing director of the Private Power and Infrastructure Board.

In the Daily Jang Indian trade secretary, Deepak Chatterjee, stated that direct trade between the WTO countries would favor both countries.Trading through a third country only helps the middle man." He further added that Pakistan should open the Wagah border to increase trade. Jansatta reported that Pakistan would not gave India a Most Favoured Nation status till political issues were resolved between the to countries." Under a SAARC draft India has already given MFN status to Pakistan but it wanted to link all issues with Kashmir before any such negotiations start.

In a bid to earn to more money for the state and perhaps an equal measure of goodwill, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed wanted to ‘Encourage Pakistani tourists to visit the Valley" reported Arun Joshi from Jammu in Hindustan Times (August 6). Typically, Pakistani visitors are not allowed into the Valley for security reasons. "Even Pakistan official delegations don’t visit the Valley as they think a trip would be regarded as accepting India’s sovereignty over the region."

Contact: mannikachopra@yahoo.co.in