Sir: Two Indian journalists Reza-u-Hassan Laskar and Anita Joshua of Press Trust of India and The Hindu newspaper are posted to Islamabad whereas no Pakistani journalist is posted in India. These two journalists, sponsored by their respective employers, are very popular amongst the Pakistani journalistic community. They are not restricted to Islamabad only but can move around with the permission of the ministry of interior. Their interaction with local and other foreign journalists based in Pakistan, wherein feeding of information on sensitive issues is reciprocated, facilitate them to provide first hand/insiders’ version on sensitive issues to their respective agencies/government. Their prompt dispatch of reports on Pakistan’s sensitive events to their country makes headlines in not only the Indian electronic media but print media as well, though mostly negative. It is ironic that Pakistan’s news agencies have not thought of placing their journalists in India. For Pakistani media being run by affluent companies, placement of journalists in India should not be a problem at all. It will not only facilitate them with the latest news on India for their outlets but also generate goodwill in the Indian journalistic community.
The role of foreign media in Pakistan has been mostly reflective of issues that arise from the country’s diverse fabric of society. Their stories are mostly based on their respective perceptions on issues that time and again appear on Pakistan’s political, military and security horizons and are sometimes one-sided or often devoid of facts. John Pilger, the famous Australian journalist and documentary maker based in London says in one of his top-rated documentaries titled, The war that you don’t see that while “‘professional’ journalists, especially broadcasters, present themselves falsely as a neutral species, truth doesn’t stand a chance.” The field of journalism is vast and its effective exploitation has often changed the destiny of nations. In today’s volatile regional political and security environment, it is extremely essential that Pakistan also deputes two of its journalists to India on reciprocal basis, as jointly agreed in 1994 between the two countries. The placement will have innumerable benefits not only for the Pakistani journalistic community but also for the establishment of peace and tranquillity between the two countries. If our media tycoons cannot afford to place their journalists in India on their own, it is recommended that the state must pool in to co-sponsor journalists in India for the benefits are too many for all of us in Pakistan.
ENGINEER JAVED IQBAL
Islamabad