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Pakistan in Sacha
Sauda?
Within hours of the
Dera Sacha Sauda cult head Ram Rahim indulging in an activity
nefarious in its very inception, the whispers in the press room in
Chandigarh’s Civil Secretariat had started talking of the role of
the ISI. Mature journalists and political scientists now have a
theory that whenever Indian intelligence agencies become proactive,
they routinely start flinging around the name of the ISI.
Within the next couple of days, a lot of senior journalists,
miraculously all of them sitting in Delhi, understood an entire
elaborate game plan. Unrelated to each other, and belonging to
different newspapers, it was surprising how they could reach the
simple, linear narrative of argument, each deducing a clear ISI or
Pakistan hand in it.
However, it seems not all journalists gorge themselves on the
goodies dished out at informal get-togethers by senior mandarins of
the Ministry of External Affairs or Home Affairs.
On
Sunday, The Asian Age ensured that the cat was not only out of the
bag, but should also be well-identified and tagged. The Asian Age
editor M.J.Akbar began his weekly column, Byline, (famous for being
brilliant, every time without exception):
"A
sectarian simmer in Punjab bursts into violence; in the patterns of
that fire, the shadows of an old ghost begin to dance. Slogans of
Khalistan are heard, albeit from the margin. But that is sufficient
for a very senior officer of the Ministry of External Affairs in
Delhi to invite some journalists for a briefing. Pakistan, he
whispers, is behind all this. The official will not permit his name
to be disclosed.
"A
killer bomb, activated through a cell phone, goes off during Friday
prayers at the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, the largest mosque in
Asia. Even before the echo of the blast has ebbed, "intelligence"
officers of the police are talking to the media, once again on an
off-the-record basis. Where do their fingers point? All the usual
suspects, please, line up. Pakistan, take your place at the head of
the line.
"Media in either country doesn’t waste any time in turning an
unattributable whisper into a screeching headline...Why does a
senior official of the MEA in Delhi or Islamabad choose the comfort
of anonymity when blaming the other? If he has serious evidence of
complicity, he should hold a news conference. The Delhi official
isn’t blaming his own Prime Minister, so why the secrecy?"
Clearly, now we know why so many of the pen-pushers were pushed to
thinking the same thought on the same day in Delhi, hundreds of
miles away from the scene of action. And how each one of them had
missed the simple fact that every time the CBI case of murder, in
which the top sleuthing agency has held that Gurmit Ram Rahim was
the prime accused, comes to a decisive stage, the dera head
undertakes such tactics to arouse passions.
Last time when there was tangible possibility of the CBI arresting
the dera head for questioning, he had spilled thousands of his
followers into Chandigarh, blocking traffic for nearly the entire
day and putting up a power show which sent the appropriate signals.
Now, after the CBI was rapped on April 16 by the Punjab and Haryana
High Court and asked to file the final report on May 28, a chain of
events followed which should have aroused the suspicions of any
journalist worth his ink.
Within a week, someone broke a pillar by a roadside in Malwa.
Disproportionate protests followed, vehicles were damaged and
property vandalised. Then, the amrit-style ceremony was performed.
Still it did not make it to the media. Finally, press kits were
prepared and sent to all reporters in Bathinda. Desperate, Gurmit
Ram Rahim chose to insert the advertisement only after all
provocations failed.
He
is one man who must be happiest with the reaction of the Sikh
community. This is exactly what he wanted. Something to throw a
spanner in the works of the CBI lest a final report comes before the
court.
Unfortunately, politics is not linear business and many forces join
in a situation. That is exactly what seemed to have happened. But
the way the media went to town, virtually projecting Sikhs as
"violence loving" and the dera head as a man who only wanted to turn
his disciples into “insaan”, was a clear example of "communication
mistreatment" of the Sikhs.
In
such waters do the agencies play.
The
moment the Punjab waters turned troublesome, the unknown faces in
the MEA start pouring hot cups of tea and presumably more thought
inspiring brews in the evening for know-all hacks who next day pen
weekly columns sure in the belief that they have got the dope from
reliable sources.
Akbar's solution is simple, and brilliant: "Vigilance is the price
of liberty, true. But vigilance needs three eyes, only one of which
looks across the border. Two must look within."
What Akbar missed mentioning, I am sure because of his innate
politeness, is the fact that the blind men of Hindoostan don't even
have the use of a construct called 'eyes'. They sit in cozy rooms
and decide what they want to see. Then they call over the
journalists and share their vision. Once the enemy is 'sighted',
they all pat themselves on the back at the achievement. Till of
course it is time for some hindsight. Something this nation hardly
indulges in.
23 May,2007
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