Is Media Escalating India Pakistan Tension? Gaurav C
Sawant
November 4, 2013 by Team SAISA 2 Comments
I want to begin by playing out a one minute long clip of a question I
posed to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on board his special flight, when he
was returning, after a 5 day two nation tour of Russia and China on 24th of
October.
Question (Gaurav C Sawant, Editor Headlines
Today/Aaj Tak): Its been over three weeks since you met Pakistan’s Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif in New York. Firing, Prime Minister, has not only increased at the
LoC but also along the international border, are you disappointed with Nawaz
Sharif and if Pakistan continues to fire, how should we respond Prime Minister?
Answer (Prime Minister): Let me say
that I am disappointed, because in the New York meeting there was a general
agreement on both the sides that peace and tranquillity should be maintained on
the border, on the Line of Control as well as on the international border and
this has not happened. It has come to me as a big disappointment. We had agreed
at that meeting that the ceasefire which was made effective in 2003, if it has
held ground for 10 years, it could be made to hold ground later on also. The
fact that this is not happening, is something which is really a matter of
disappointment. I sincerely hope that at this late hour Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif will recognize that this is a development which is not good for either
of the two countries.
Dr Manmohan Singh as you all acknowledge has invested a lot in peace
with Pakistan. And he is a disappointed man. So is the nation. And
we in the media, only reflect public opinion in general.
I want to ask a couple of questions –
By reporting Ceasefire violations along the LoC and IB and its impact on
soldiers and civilians are we, the media, escalating India-Pak tensions?
Or are those who violate the CFA (ceasefire agreement) escalating tensions?
By reporting that in August 2013 Hafiz Mohammed Saeed was
leading the Eid prayers at Gaddafi stadium in Lahore and that he is the
mastermind of a series of terror attacks across India, are we escalating
India-Pakistan tensions? Or are those who turn Nelson’s Eye and are seen to be
encouraging Saeed’s anti India activities escalating tensions?
It is Pakistan’s worst kept secret that Dawood Ibrahim wanted
in India for 1993 blasts that killed 257 innocent Indians lives like a king in
Karachi. Are we escalating tension by exposing Dawood and Pak double speak or
are those who harbour terrorists like Dawood and Indian Mujahideen’s Bhatkal
brothers escalating tension?
Ladies and gentlemen in my 19 years as a journalist I have covered
almost all major terror attacks in India. Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Jaipur,
Ahmedabad, Bangalore….the smell of burnt flesh, the sight of charred remains
and wailing families are something I have seen and reported on.
I reflect public resentment at Pakistan’s double cross and our
government’s unnecessary accommodation of Pakistani sensitivities and
engagement with Pakistan at all costs.
SOCIAL MEDIA
If you think TV is bad, twitter and face book are a good barometer to
gauge public opinion. While some may be fringe elements, not all on twitter
represent the fringe. From prominent voices in the country to the aam admi,
just search India-Pakistan and you will see media is just telling you what the
nation feels.
My information is not based on documents leaked by the deep state –
propaganda against Pakistan – but on solid evidence that has been processed
through courts of law in India and abroad.
I was in the Chicago federal court day in and day out covering the
Tahawwur Hussein Rana trial and David Coleman Headley confessions. The FBI
exposed the role of Pakistani state in the activities of Rana and Headley – not
just in terror activities in India but also in Denmark.
It is in Pakistan’s interest to investigate those who dealt with
Headley. Did Pakistan do so?
26/11 probe was a text book investigation. From Kasab’s confessions, to
intercepting telephone conversations, to the Yamaha engine being sold by Japan
to Pakistan to interrogation of Abu Jundal, deported from a friendly Arab
country.
Pakistan recently tried to stop the extradition of a terrorist from a
friendly gulf country – going to the extent of producing a Pakistani passport
and family in court. The Indian government then had to produce DNA samples to
prove he was an Indian.
That is how much Pakistan cooperates in the war on terror.
I want to ask one question:-
When your house is on fire what do you do?
Do you politely, with a glass of wine and caviar in your hand mumble
apologetically terror should stop or do you scream from the roof top?
That is exactly what we in the media are doing. Screaming from the roof
top – wake up. Stop this Pakistan sponsored terror.
Tell us are we wrong on FACTS?
I completely reject the theory it is a TRP game. This is far
more serious than TRPs. 167 dead in Mumbai, over 100 ceasefire violations in
two months alone, we just lost a lieutenant colonel in Samba, a JCO in Uri
yesterday. This is not TRPs – at least not for me or the group I work for.
We demand accountability from our own government and as citizens of the
world – from the Pakistani government. And we are glad our counterparts in
Pakistan are doing the same. Asking tough questions. It was
after all a Pakistani channel, Geo News, that first reached Kasab’s village and
proved it to the world that he was a Pakistani terrorist.
India has changed. Something snapped during 26/11. Now we want answers.
We don’t want war. Nobody is war mongering but it cannot be business as usual
without the real perpetrators of 26/1 being punished and terror machinery aimed
at India being shut down.
There will be no war. But the media will continue to expose you..and
embarrass you…there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
And it is happening already. The recent arrest of Yasin Bhatkal has
given even more information on the role that Pakistani deep state has played in
sponsoring terror.
We must remain engaged is good. But is the media wrong when we ask
what’s the goal?
Pak says TALK Kashmir. Ok so what on Kashmir? Can Pak take Kashmir by
force? 1947, 65, 71, Kargil, terror – it is not happening by force and as you
now realize, each time it hurts Pakistan even more.
Hot pursuit, surgical strikes, covert action – when media talks about
options on the table – even our own government is critical of our debates. But
it is good there is awareness in the masses and that brings more accountability
from the system. Ours for sure, yours hopefully.
But at the same time nobody should have that Asha that
ads in newspapers will bring aman. Even if you have full
page aman ki asha ads, they ring hollow when the the
front page is all about innocent Indian civilians or soldiers killed in Pak
sponsored terror attacks.
CONCLUSION
1. Accept the fact every time there is a terror attack,
media will ask tough questions.
2. Such is the nature of the beast that the questions
will be biting and will hurt.
3. Media is not war mongering. Media does not want war
at the same time media also does not want perpetrators go unpunished.
4. All options on the table, surgical strikes, drone
attacks, covert operations are being discussed – at media level not government
level. We have war gamed a surgical strike in Pakistan in our studio and told
our viewers it will not bring a long lasting solution.
5. If you dismiss evidence that convicted Kasab &
Headley as hear say and literature – you expose yourself – your own lack of
will or inability to deal with the real issue.
6. There is total transparency in India – from LoC to
Samba to beheading – we ask our government tough questions. I hope one day you
in Pakistan will also ask your army and government the same tough questions.
Why is Pak aiding, abeting and spreading terror across India, and Indian
interests in Afghanistan.
WAY FORWARD
1. ENGAGE WITH AS MANY JOURNALISTS ON BOTH SIDES AS
POSSIBLE.
2. LET THERE NOT BE A COSY CLUB OF LIKE MINDED
JOURNALISTS LIKE SOME ORGANISATIONS HAVE BECOME. OTHERWISE YOU ARE ONLY PREACHING TO
THE CONVERTED AND ENJOYING GOOD WHISKEY.
3. SEND TV JOURNALISTS TO EACH OTHER’S ORGANISATION. SPEND A MONTH OR
TWO IN EACH OTHER’S ORGANISATION. THEN YOU APPRECIATE THE OTHER BETTER.
4. HAVE SEGMENTS OF NEWS FROM EACH OTHER’S
COUNTRIES – GOOD & BAD. HAVE THEM ANCHORED FROM THEIR STUDIOS – EXPENSIVE –
BUT DO-ABLE.
5. Terror & talks cannot happen simultaneously. Go
after elements that spread terror. Like Dr Singh told the Chinese premier Li
Keiqiang – the friendship will grow but has to be built on the foundation of
peace and tranquility along the Sino-Indian border.
We have to have peace at the borders and ensure Jihad tap is turned off.
Then sky is the limit.
And we could actually be reporting on a cricket match or an Indian movie
being shot in Lahore and there’d be no resentment to Pakistani artists in
Mumbai.
The author is Editor Headlines Today and Aajtak. This is summary of his
speech made at an India Pakistan Peace debate with a similar title at Dubai
recently.
No comments:
Post a Comment