A Window To Perceptive Journalism

Pakistan in Sacha Sauda?

S P Singh

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.■

May 21, 2007

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