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Journalism of Courage
Muneer8217;s story made it onto the inside pages of a couple of national newspapers for one day last week. It is a terrible story that reflects the stupidity and ugliness of the Indian state in all its horror but, because us political pundits like to ponder and pontificate on more serious matters than the pointless suffering of an innocent 13-year-old Pakistani boy, Muneer8217;s story inspired no editorials, no intellectual breast-beating.
By next week it will be forgotten unless our civil rights groups are powerful enough to get him freed from the Rajasthani jail in which he has been cruelly confined for a month. His crime? He accidentally crossed an invisible border drawn in the sand of the Rajasthan desert and so must pay. Pakistan is an enemy country and we like to show that we can treat our enemy with brutality even if it means that children suffer.
That he should have been arrested at all is a sad comment on the futile vigilance of a state that shows such a frightening lack of it when it comes to apprehending those who really need to be caught and killed. But, it8217;s that old, familiar story again. Our security forces are remarkably ruthless when it comes to dealing with children, civilians and women but let them confront terrorists and they are so powerless that suicide squads enter top security military camps and kill senior officers. How else to explain what happened in Tanda last week? How else to explain that other attack on a military compound near Srinagar a few weeks ago? What is going on? Why are suicide squads finding it so easy to enter high security military establishments?
Last time we were told it was because they hid in tall grass that surrounded the camp without anyone explaining why grass was allowed to grow that tall in the first place. This time we hear that a single suicide bomber nearly killed the GOC General Officer Commanding of the Northern Command and three other Generals because the killer managed to hide 8212; unnoticed despite a full attack 8212; in abandoned barracks. Why? How? Surely, explanations are in order.
Could it be that the reason for this inexplicable laxness has much to do with the fact that despite more than 20 years of terrorism we have come no closer to evolving a counter-terrorism strategy? As someone who visited the United States shortly after September 11 and then just over a month ago may I say that one of the things even visitors cannot fail to notice is that there is a clear strategy in place now that did not exist two years ago.
As part of this strategy, suspicious Muslims from certain countries find it harder to enter the United States than they used to, suspicious bank accounts have been frozen and a Department of Homeland Security has been set up to examine what other steps can be taken to ensure that there is never a repeat of September 11.
Compare this with it being nearly three years since IC-814 was hijacked from Kathmandu on Christmas Eve and we still do not have a strategy for action if something similar were to happen again. Nor do we have a strategy for dealing with attacks on military camps or government buildings despite innumerable attacks and despite it coming up to two years since the Lok Sabha was attacked. Could it be that the Home Minister has been too busy with Ayodhya and other matters related to the Hindutva cause? If so can we please have a separate department of Homeland Security that knows how to distinguish between terrorists and children?
Meanwhile, will someone please help Muneer go home? Could some of the emotion and media attention we have seen expended on little Noor Fatima be diverted towards releasing a little boy who has done nothing wrong except cross a border he probably never knew existed. Since there is currently such an outpouring of bonhomie that Pakistan8217;s leading Islamic fundamentalist could come here to a hero8217;s welcome, could we please at least agree to stop arresting children whether they stray across the border or not?
8212; Write to tavleensinghexpressindia.com
