[sacw] [ACT] sacw dispatch #2 (2 Feb 00)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch #2.
2 February 2000
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#1. The media's role during the Kargil crisis
#2. Appeal for peace in South Asia
#3. Press Statement by India's United Christian Forum for Human Rights
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#1.

The Nation,
1 February, 2000

THE MEDIA'S ROLE DURING THE KARGIL CRISIS
by Rashed Rahman

The Indian Airlines hijacking incident once again brought to the fore some
long standing and inherent tendencies in the South Asian media's coverage
of the Pakistan-India relationship. The media on both sides of the
Pakistan-India border, electronic as well as print, could not resist the
pressure to play the patriotic card at the expense of objectivity. Some
justification for this may be sought by certain circles by employing the
argument that the two countries are in a state of undeclared war since the
Kargil crisis in the summer of 1999. Truth being considered the first
casualty of war, it would be argued by this school of thought that since
those fateful days in May last year, the media was justified in hitching
itself onto the bandwagon: 'My country, right or wrong.' The fact that
objective reporting, considered traditionally to be the one of the raisons
d'etre of a free press, was sacrificed for security and propaganda
purposes, would not trouble the conscience of the adherents of this
philosophy.

However, there is room for disputing this (inherently) cynical view of the
role of the media in civilised societies. Truth, no matter how bitter, no
matter whether considered in some circles to be 'detrimental' to the
national interest, can only be discarded or distorted at considerable risk
to oneself. In Pakistan's history, two examples in particular serve to
illustrate this argument. The first is the role of the media during the
crisis in East Pakistan in 1971. The second is Kargil and its aftermath.
Concerning the first, suffice it to say that the people of Pakistan were
misled throughout the political crisis in East Pakistan and the military
operation that followed. The withholding and distortion of truth reached
absurd proportions by the time the denouement arrived in December 1971. The
stark reality of military defeat, the foundations for which were laid over
many years by the injustices and oppression inflicted on the people of then
East Pakistan, proved unacceptable to a shell-shocked public opinion. The
attempt by the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, newly inducted into power
by the military after the surrender in Dhaka, to show a film of that
ignominious ceremony on television, raised a storm of protest. The film
showing had to be cancelled. That one incident sounded the death knell for
any open and healthy discussion of what had transpired to alienate the
Bengalis to the extent that they perforce had to break away and re-emerge
as Bangladesh. To this day, that issue lies buried in the suppressed
Hamoodur Rehman Commission Report and the official record.

Of course it could be argued that the media then, and subsequently for many
years, was less free than it has been in the last decade or so. By the time
that relative freedom of expression was achieved, memories of the 1971
debacle had been overtaken by many fresh disasters, not excluding the dark
and long night of Ziaul Haq's dictatorship. But that excuse will not
suffice to explain the behaviour, at least of the ostensibly independent
print media, during the Kargil crisis, and arguably since. The Kargil
operation burst into the consciousness of the Pakistani public out of the
blue when the presence of guerrillas on the Kargil heights was revealed by
India around May 9, 1999. Indian intelligence appeared to have been caught
napping, and the response that followed owed much to the attempt to cover
up the embarrassment to the caretaker BJP government of that lapse. India's
strategy of concentration of overwhelming force to winkle out the well
entrenched guerrillas in highly defensible positions while avoiding opening
up of a wider or cross-international border front was predicated on the
advantages on the diplomatic front to be gained from a show of 'restraint'.
The Indian media, including unfortunately so-called independent television
channels, was reduced to a propaganda mouthpiece for the Indian state.
Jingoism, chauvinism, and an appeal to militant patriotism, characterised
the coverage of the conflict from across the border.

What of the Pakistani media? The electronic media, being state controlled,
was not expected to say anything different from the officially certified
truth. The independent print media, however, was expected to acquit itself
differently. By and large, the print media relied on official handouts and
fed information, hardly any effort being mounted to discover the true
situation on the ground through visits to the front lines, etc. This was
entirely in keeping with past practice, in which the print media is
reluctant to tread on hallowed ground reserved for the security
establishment of the country. Unless this reluctance is overcome, now and
in the future, the print media could justifiably be accused of failure to
fulfil its inherent duty to inform the public truthfully concerning issues
of burning cruciality. The effect of reliance on the officially churned out
analyses and assessments of the fluctuations of war on the Kargil front was
the print media by and large (honourable exceptions aside), and the Urdu
media in particular, falling prey to the temptation to arouse unrealistic
expectations of the operation. This was naturally reflected in the public's
exaggerated estimations of the tactical victories on that front. In fact,
the tactical nature of these victories was wholly lost sight of. The media
is culpable for having helped create that perception. Why it is important
to understand this is because it is the only way to comprehend the depth of
disillusionment and the sense of betrayal which attended former Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif's hurried visit to see US President Bill Clinton and
the Washington accord which followed. The 'tactical' retreat from Kargil,
having extracted all that was possible from the given situation in that
theatre, proved unacceptable to public opinion. This was because precisely
of the unrealistic expectations that had been fuelled by exaggerated
reporting and comment in the print media, on which public opinion tends to
rely more than on the state controlled electronic media.

It is of course a different matter that the general public did not respond
to the efforts of the right wing, religious and jehadi organisations to
whip up sentiment against the Nawaz Sharif government for having accepted
the 'humiliating' Washington accord, which enjoined all sides to respect
the sanctity of the Line of Control. That public indifference, despite the
heightened expectations from Kargil, owed a great deal to relief at the
avoidance of an all-out war, with its horrendous nuclear implications. It
was also a tribute to the basic good sense of the Pakistani public, which
implicitly accepted the limitations of the Kargil operation once they
became visible. There are lessons to be learnt from the past, which we
ignore only at our own peril. The commonality of lessons from the two
examples quoted above, media treatment of the East Pakistan and Kargil
crises, despite being divided by years in between and the difference in the
status and role of the media, revolve around the responsibilities of the
media to the truth and posterity. Had the public been adequately informed
and prepared for the East Pakistan debacle, the shock would not have been
so great and the trauma could have been dealt with by bringing it out into
the open. As it is, we have buried it deep in our subconscious, with
incalculable consequences for our mental health as a people. Kargil is
another case in point. Had the media properly prepared the people for what
could be seen even from a distance as the inevitability of winding up of
the Kargil operation by one means or another, with the limited gains well
understood and appreciated, much of the angst which followed the dashing of
utopian hopes could have been avoided.

We tend to be an emotional people, wedded to myths and illusions that
seldom survive the confrontation sooner or later with reality. To change
these habits of thought in the interest of a healthy and mature view of the
world we live in, requires an input from the media, and the print media in
particular, to which attention needs to be paid in the days to come. If to
such introspection regarding past sins of omission and commission on the
part of the print media is added a plurality of electronic sources of news
and information, as is being debated at present, the effect of diversity of
news, views and opinion can only impact positively on the collective
consciousness of the country.

In the short run, it seems obvious, it is the print media which has to rise
to its historic duty and play a role in this endeavour. The past is not
another country, it is merely the same country unrecognisable because of
the prism of distortion of fact and history which unfortunately attends so
much of our intellectual self-deception. Unless and until we learn to face
the bitter realities squarely, as a state and society we will be unable to
learn the appropriate lessons from the past, deal objectively with the
present, or face the future with confidence in our ability to overcome the
very serious challenges that confront us in the new millennium. When we
yearn for freedom, let us also recognise that it is only the truth, and
unflinching adherence to it, that can set us free.

_________

#2.

[TamilNet, February 01, 2000 17:14 GMT]

APPEAL FOR PEACE IN SOUTH ASIA

In a joint statement issued by the participants for the South Asian
countries who attended the Neelan Tiruchelvam Commemoration Program in
Colombo have made an urgent appeal to the leaders of India and Pakistan
to take decisive measures to defuse the tensions before it is too late
and to revive the Lahore process so that both Indian and Pakistan along
with other South Asian neighbours march together building a vibrant and
prosperous south Asian community.
The first signatory of the statement is a former Indian Prime Minister
I. K. Gujral. Several other prominent personalities from Pakistan, Sri
Lanka, Bangladesh and India have also signed the statement.
Excerpts from the statement are given below:
At the 1999 Lahore Summit, the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan
initiated a process for peace and co-operation. They demonstrated their
political commitment to transcend the burden of their tension ridden
relations of the pass fifty years.
The people of both countries and indeed of all South Asian countries
were heartened by the historic development and perceived that a new
dawn of hope and harmony will usher in the new era of prosperity and
well being. Within less than a year the vision for a better and
peaceful future has become a distant dream. Peace is once again in
peril in the subcontinent raising grave apprehension of the imminent
danger of outbreaks of armed conflict between India and Pakistan. Such
a path will result in unimaginable human and material destruction not
only in the two neighbouring countries but also in the entire region.
South Asia is already marginalized in the world community and an armed
conflict will only retard ,if not reverse even the faint hope of the
South Asian people , who constitute one-fifth of the total world
population, to respond to the challenges of the emerging interdependent
and globalized world community.
Time has come for South Asia to make a critical choice between war and
peace, destruction and development, poverty and prosperity.
Therefore, we the participants for the South Asian countries who have
assembled in Colombo to honour the memory of a colleague who sacrificed
his life for peace, make an earnest appeal to the leaders of India and
Pakistan to take urgent and decisive measures to defuse the tensions
before it is too late and to revive the Lahore process.
[TN/2000020103] =A9 TamilNet 2000
Reproduction of this news item is allowed when used without any
alteration to the contents and the source, TamilNet, is mentioned.
source
www.tamilnet.com
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#3.
United Christian Forum for Human Rights
CBCI Centre 1 Ashoka Road New Delhi 1100092
National Convenor: John Dayal
Email: johndayal@v...
Mobile: 9811021072

URGENT PRESS STATEMENT
New Delhi, February 1, 2000

Relief at Dara Singh's arrest; but Governments must also stop those
spreading hate, preaching violence against Christians

United Christian Forum for Human Rights national Convenor John Dayal has
issued the following statement on the arrest of Dara Singh

The United Christian Forum for Human Rights is relieved that Dara Singh,
wanted in the ghastly murders of Graham Stuart Staines, his sons Timothy and
Philip, Catholic priest Fr Arul Doss and Muslim trader Rehman in the
Mayurbhanj-Baripada districts of Orissa in 1999, has at last been arrested.
That the man, with the a three year history of terrorising the Muslim and
Christian populations of the Tribal belt of the State could evade arrest for
so long, while he had made himself available for interviews with media
organisations in his hide-outs, speaks for itself.
The Special Enquiry Team of the Wadhwa Commission of Enquiry, which probed
the burning alive of leprosy medicare worker Graham Staines and his innocent
sons, established beyond doubt the long criminal record of Dara Singh as
well as his political affiliations. The Wadhwa Report, with all its
infirmities, also recorded in clinical detail the rise of this killer who
came from Uttar Pradesh with a definite agenda to polarise the tribal area.
The arrest of Dara Singh does not end the campaign of hate and calumny. Dara
Singh is a product of a particular political ideology that preaches communal
hatred and dictates a creed of violence against those who do not fit into
its thesis of `one people, one culture, one nation'. This continues unabated
even in Orissa.
In this context, we are alarmed at reports emanating from several `Ghar
wapsi' programmes in the tribal areas of Orissa in Sundergarh District in
January 2000. Ghar Wapsi is itself a heinous campaign organised by
politically powerful communal and feudal elements to coerce, under threat
of violence, Tribal Christians into renouncing their faith. At such
meetings, political leaders have given an open call to `Attack Christian
Priests and Nuns on sight'. Orissa newspapers "Samajaya" and "Sambad" in
their editions dated 21st and 24th January 2000 from Rourkela, have
reported this in detail. This is a blatant incitement to violence, the sort
of message that legitimises murders such as those by Dara Singh. It
violates the law of the land. And yet the official machinery has not moved.
Instead, even in Orissa, the nefarious Freedom of Religious Bill has been
enlarged and is being moved against the Christian community.
In Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, Christian religious persons
and institutions are being harassed and hounded under official patronage. In
Madhya Pradesh, the official machinery looks on while criminal elements
intimidate social workers. Christian Newspapers are being singled out in
several states for punitive action, their postal accreditations have been
cancelled without notice.
We demand an immediate end to such harassment as we call on State and
Central governments to do their duty in the many cases of violence against
Christian during 1998 and 1999 where the guilty still evade the law. Dara
Singh's arrest must be the beginning of a visible process of action against
all those who will act to damage and destroy the secular fabric of this
country and the guarantees that the Constitution makes to India's many
minority communities.

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SOUTH ASIA CITIZENS WEB DISPATCH is an informal, independent &
non-profit citizens wire service run by South Asia Citizens Web
(http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex) since1996.