Indian media: toeing the government line on Pakistan?
Barring rare exceptions, there is a complete resonance between the Pakistan policy of the government and that of the media.
B. Muralidhar Reddy
"Strangely enough the Indian media, both print and the electronic in New Delhi, did not consider the meeting between President General Pervez Musharraf and India`s opposition
leader, Subramanium Swamy, President of Janata Party last week newsworthy enough to report. Could it be that the New Delhi media has bought lock, stock and barrel South Block`s version of its conflict with Pakistan and therefore, has willingly succumbed to manipulation by the government in this particular case? Or may be the media in New Delhi believes that positive stories about Indo-Pakistan relations do not sell in the atmosphere now obtaining in India vis-a-vis Pakistan.
"Whatever the reason, India`s new mindset is really intriguing. The Gujarat mandate has perhaps made even the saner Indians suffer from self-doubts and therefore, the unstoppable rise and rise of Hindutva, which thrives on the hatred of Pakistan, and of Indian Muslim. In fact lately, the RSS backed BJP has started making the Indian Muslims pay for what it believes to be the `sins` of Pakistan. The worldwide propaganda against Muslims and their depiction as terrorists by influential countries seems to have accorded a kind of respectability and justification to the on-going atrocities being perpetrated by the extremists in India`s majority community against its Muslim minority".
Thus wrote M. Ziauddin, Resident Editor, of the Islamabad edition of the prestigious Pakistan English daily, Dawn, in his widely read column `view from Margalla`. He could at the most be guilty of `over-generalisation` but there could be little doubt about the sincerity of his anguish. Ziauddin is a rare editor who retains his penchant for first hand reporting and perhaps one of the few in South Asia who could write with equal felicity on the most complex economic and political subjects.
He has been a bitter critic of the successive military regimes in Pakistan and unsparing in his attack on various experiments thrust on the country by Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Ziauddin was among the very few in Pakistan who questioned the `conduct` of Gen. Musharraf and his entourage at the Agra Summit in July 2001. He wrote in so many words that Pakistan had squandered a golden opportunity for a new beginning with India.
Such an elaborate explanation, one felt, was necessary to read the message of Ziauddin in a perspective. What has made him so cynical about the India media? Is there a grain of truth in his anguish? Has twelve-thirteen or what is referred to by the Indian establishment as India`s nine-eleven (December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament) numbed the media from asking searching questions?
As an Indian correspondent functioning from Islamabad Ziauddin`s thought piece provoked me into introspection. And I feel sad to realise that perhaps there is a great deal of truth in his observations. My own personal experiences particularly in the last few months have left me baffled me about how much the Indian media has come to reflect the government line at least vis-à-vis Pakistan.
I could be completely wrong and I would only be too happy to be proved ignorant. Not for a moment am I getting into the merits of the government policy and approach in dealing with Islamabad. But what has intrigued me, barring rare exceptions, is the complete resonance between the government`s Pakistan policy and that of the media.
I am troubled often by questions on what appears to be lack of initiative or interest on the part of the media to make an attempt for an independent effort to collect `facts` on major events. Parliament attack is a case in point. Here is an incident that occurred in the heart of New Delhi with profound consequences for the sub-continent.
One wonders if the media in
New Delhi has been successful in getting at the `bottom of the story`. I doubt if there is clarity to date about the identity of the attackers. Police had said they were sure from Pakistan but belonged to either Jaish-e-Mohammad or Lashkar-e-Toiba. Has it been settled? The court case against the three accused has thrown up so many questions.
In the absence of anything contrary to what the investigative agencies and police have said and leaked, no doubt one can not refute the official line. But it should not be forgotten that the agencies and police are also human and could err. They could err without any motives or for political reasons. The case of Iftikar Gilani, journalist of Kashmir Times, best illustrates the point.
After all the same agencies and police had made the case against Gilani. The charges against him were very serious even if they do not match the dimension of the Parliament attack case. Remember he was accused of being in possession of a document about deployment of Army in some sector! Poor fellow had to spend seven months behind the bars though it became known within a week that the so called document was no more than a paper prepared by an Islamabad institute several years back. He is out of jail due to the `magnanimity` of the establishment and not because the court ordered his release.
And whatever happened to the Ansal Plaza shoot out case? One can go on. There is one classic instance where again I believe media was uncritical of the government. This was just a few weeks after the army build up and the `diplomatic sanctions` imposed by India on Pakistan in December 2001. These included recall of the High Commissioner and snapping of rail, road and air links. The Indian Railway Ministry actually wrote a letter to its Pakistani counterpart sometime in the later half of January 2002 asking about resumption of freight traffic. Much to the embarrassment of New Delhi Pakistan went public about it and said there could be no freight traffic without restoration of snapped links. When queried about it the answer of babus in Delhi was that ``freight traffic has not been banned``! The media let off the babus lightly.
Take the latest example of India`s decision to stay away from South Asian Federation games scheduled in Islamabad from March 29. There have been innumerable assurances from Delhi that Indian contingent would be there. The decision in my view is nothing short of cultural assault on sports persons. One wonders if India and Pakistan could play cricket in South Africa world cup, why can`t athletes and others from India take part in SAF in Pakistan. Only the other day a squash player (a pretty girl) won the big trophy in Islamabad.
The Jalil Abbas Jilani episode is another one. The leading newspaper in Delhi, which prides itself as being the market’s pulse, wrote an editorial endorsing the Delhi police version, hook, line and sinker. Ironically it is worth recalling that Mr. Jilani was the honoured guest of the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, at the high tea he had hosted on the occasion of Republic Day two weeks before. The man who was guest of the first citizen was asked to pack up and leave in 48 hours on charges of funding separatists in Kashmir for terrorist activities and espionage!
Now, some of my recent experiences. On December 14, 2002 I get a call from one of the popular television channels wanting a `phone-in interview` on the order of the Lahore High Court to release the Jaish chief, Maulana Masood Azar. The anchor begins by a statement that the "Azar has been ordered released a day after the first anniversary of December 13". I tried to explain that it was not the government but a court that has ordered his release and it has no connection with December 13 anniversary. Subsequent bulletins continued in the same vein. The Pakistan government is undoubtedly guilty of promoting the Maulana and using his ranks for `jehad` in Kashmir. But to establish a link where none existed is unethical if not immoral.
A week later I was in for another shock from the same network. There was a church blast in the Punjab province and the western agencies had quoted the local police as saying that Jaish recruits were behind it. The anchorperson this time stumped me by asking me if Jaish has stepped up attacks after the release of the Maulana. I rattled off "court has ordered the release but he is yet to be released. Government is reportedly considering a fresh case against him. So the question of Jaish stepping up attacks in the wake of release does not arise". The item went missing in the subsequent bulletins!
Has the India media bought lock, stock and barrel South Block`s version of its conflict with Pakistan? The question posed by Ziauddin has not stopped ringing in my ears.
B Murlidhar Reddy is the Hindu correspondent in Islamabad. Contact: hindibd@comsats.net.pk
