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Fighter jets up in air, news not on
our pages
Dilwala Singh
For days on end,
Pakistani fighter jets are bombing villages, markets and people in North
Waziristan.
On just
October 9, 50 people are reported killed. More than 200 were
reported wounded. Two planes made six sorties around 3pm and dropped
12 bombs on Ipi village, three kilometres east of Mirali, that
mainly targeted the small market. The village is the birthplace of
the Faqir of Ipi, famed for leading an uprising against the British.
It was the
deadliest attack since fighting began between security forces and
militants in the tribal region. Reuters news agency said families
were streaming out of Mirali town of 50,000 people and outlying
villages, making their way on foot, in tractor trailers and cars.
And that 80 to 90 per cent of families of Mirali have gone.
Pakistan army is
saying that bombing had targeted militant hideouts, but the fact
remains that every day the fighter jets are out in the sky and
people are out of their homes rushing to save lives. In India, the
news failed to make to page one on even a single day in any of the
nationalist press.
Instead we had
cricket. Lots of cricket.
The skirmishes
and bombings are also witnessing the fight of the primitive.
Mutilation of bodies, some of which were decapitated and burnt, has
been noticed. But the Pak army officer's words had no consolation:
"Locals should ask those who fire on security forces, carry out
ambushes and roadside bombings and then hide amongst them," Gen
Arshad said.
Undeclared
curfew on Mirali is adding to the woes. But the point is what is
wrong with the Indian media. How can you not report on the front
page what is happening in the next door country even when fighter
jets are up in the air. What have you become? Accomplices in the war
against terror turned into war against whom?
10 October 2007
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