When objectivity becomes purely subjective

Objectivity in India & Pakistan is essentially subjective conditioned by political climate and by extremist tendencies

I never miss Shivam Vij’s articles in The Express Tribune. Not only does he write about the shenanigans of the politicians, he also comes across as a sane, balanced writer who on occasion slips a postcard through the slit in the front door that suggests that Pakistan might have a point of view on a contentious issue and ought to be heard. Above all, from the tone of his epistles, he appears to be constantly striving to achieve what passes for objectivity in the world’s largest democracy. I know I’m treading on thin ice here when I say that objectivity in both India and Pakistan are essentially subjective issues which are not only conditioned by the political climate that exists in both countries, but also by extremist tendencies. If George Orwell had had a pint or two in the Willingdon Club in Bombay in the days when the sun never set on the Empire, he might have said — all journalists are born to be objective, but some are more objective than others.



However, before I drift away from this subject I would like to point out that in spite of the ethnic tensions and the bomb blasts, the intolerance and the presence of extremism; and the fable that the Central Intelligence Agency and the Inter-Services Intelligence are taking turns to listen in on every conversation that takes place in the land of the pure, I believe that in the current subcontinental setting there is still greater freedom of the press in Pakistan than there is in India. That, at least, is what I gleaned from Vij’s piece on the aftermath of the desecration of the Babri Masjid when Indian editors, caught up in the raging tsunami of religious fervour, not only forgot how to swim but also forgot the First Commandment of Journalism. As a consequence of the vandalism that ensued, and the subsequent targeted killing of Muslims in Gujarat many years later, while the chief minister of the province looked the other way, one just can’t help forming the impression that the Republic of India, that still carries on its currency the image of one of the greatest leaders of Asia, if not the world, has also drifted from its original secular moorings. Just as we appear to have in Pakistan.

In our neck of the woods there have been regular attacks on Christians and Hindus. But there have been considerably more attacks on Muslims in a variety of locations. In this morning’s edition, an arson attack on a temple in Hyderabad was reported and both Hindus and Muslims in strong protests condemned the treachery. In fact, I cannot recall a single occasion when a ghastly incident involving one of the minorities was not strongly condemned in the national press. Long before the advent of Ziaul Haq, who bequeathed to the nation the Hudood Ordinances, some miscreants had defiled a church in Peshawar. The editor of a certain newspaper confided to me that while he marvelled at some of the creative punishments that readers had suggested for the hooligans, which involved the indiscriminate use of certain delicate surgical operations, he had to tone down the censure in the interests of propriety. The problem is, the scoundrels were never brought to justice. I was greatly pained to read about the attack on Raza Rumi in Lahore, the fourth such assault on the Express Group and the freedom of the press. One can only hope and pray that sanity will eventually prevail in both neighbouring countries. Even if we don’t owe it to ourselves, we owe it to future generations.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2014.

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