On A Blind Date In Pakistan

0

Tweet

After reading the above header many may try to link it to Sania Mirza or any other famous stories of cross-border nikah. Sorry to disappoint you folks but this is not the truth.

It's a brief tale of an Indian journalist's journey to Pakistan sniffing for an exclusive...ofcourse sitting in India!

My regular interaction with friends in Pak media leaves me under the impression that most of the time it's not just the infamous Taliban from whom they face the threat but from their own men. I think surviving as a journalist in Pakistan is also an accomplishment that journalists don't get credit for

The Big brother is always watching a journalist...his international calls are traced. All this above the fact that he services bombs that could do off anywhere, anytime.

Many would ask why no channel has travelled from Tahawuur Rana's village (Chichawatni) to Kasab's village (Faridkot). Both these places are barely few kilometres apart. Why is Headley not a headline in Pakistan media. So let us try and get the answers.

During the recent course of investigation done by me and my colleague, Sumon, we realised it was not an everyday assignment but rather a more difficult story to probe, especially, when you don't have physical access to that area.

First, the people who were helping us in getting the visuals of the temple faced a stiff resistance from the goons of Jeay Sindh. If that ordeal was not enough, our friends started getting unwanted calls who started preaching them nationalism. Jeay Sindh is a radical political outfit that has grabbed the temple land.

Let us face it, minority rights or human rights violation happens everywhere, though I am not defending such incidents, but we should understand that generalising any country as racist, anti-minority may not be good. And, for those who are keen to jump on any conclusion should look at the flip side too. However, any intention by overzealous people to cover up such things will, obviously, make anybody feel suspicious and anxious.

Another country that regularly tagged as racist is Australia. However, that is just part of the truth. There is actually more to it, Indians regularly ignore MEA advisories, visit placed they are not supposed to and give calls not to Australian media but to Indian media to scale up the matter. In fact there have been instances when same people tell Australian media that they don't have time to talk.

Those who want to quickly jump on conclusion should also understand that such attempts to generalise also jeopardises the life of an ordinary Indian residing there. Remember, it's not just our own reporters but people in Pakistan and Australia who help us to probe and bring such facts to light. Because barring very few print houses none of them have permanent bureaus in Australia and Pakistan.