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May '99 Vol 3 No 5 Reg No.SS-346 |
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Chief Patron
Board of Editorial Advisors Panel of Contributing Editors Panel of Columnists |
Dear Readers, DJ is deeply grateful to JOHN GAYLOR for allowing us to print chapters pertaining to Pakistan from his fine book 'JOHN COMPANY AND SONS' about the predecessor units of the Pakistan and Indian Army. Among the first chapters he printed, I have deliberately chosen the '16th Punjab Regiment' as my father late Lt. Col. (Retd) Abdul Majeed Sehgal belonged to Saat Solaah (7/16) i.e. the seventh battalion of the 16th Regiment before he moved to Kurmitola, Dhaka in 1949 to raise 2 East Bengal as a Major, a unit he later commanded 1956-58. In Pakistan today, the government has reacted in a ham-handed manner to criticism in the Press by the 'midnight knock' affecting some known editors/journalists. I wrote an article for The Nation on Saturday 15 May 1999 entitled 'FREEDOM OR LICENCE', is appropriate enough to be quoted here in full. 'All good, functioning democracies need a strong media, in the face of almost obsessive state control over the electronic media, print takes on a special monitoring role in the Third World. It remains almost the only restraint to absolute power, an instrument of accountability in an environment that tends increasingly to be authoritarian in the absence of the checks and balances that any healthy democracy envisages. Over the past two weeks, events in the country affecting press freedom have created an uproar. Some known editors/ journalists have been arrested, some have been harassed. In the process objectivity has become a casualty. An official media campaign has been aggressive in its bid to cow down opposition in the press, the government has also been boorish in defending the action of its marauding minions. While the press of any country takes freedom of expression to be its God-given right, the functionaries of government (as in all governments eventually) take it as licence. The same standards that applied when the elected people now in government were in opposition do not seem to be applicable anymore, 'inoperative' in American parlance. Without going into specifics there is room for debate, one that can generate a consensus on what constitutes freedom and what constitutes licence. For all issues there are two points of view. Our media has repeatedly shown its inability at being mature enough for an objective analysis and presentation thereof on issues of consequence. The right to disagree is a fundamental prerogative and one has to respect that right. However there must be logic and force arguments, they must simply not be a vehicle to confuse issues by the coalescing of emotions. Within the journalistic community exists a healthy spirit that not only accepts that those with opposing views have a right to express them but are vocal about defending that right. One's best friends are among those with whom one has constant disagreement on almost all issues under the sun, that does not detract from one's respect for each other. As far as governments are concerned they should realize that being in power they are to be held accountable by the print media in third world countries like Pakistan. In the pursuit of truth, feathers will be ruffled, in the ultimate analysis both are on the same side, the side of the people in their search for social and economic emancipation. The two sides should not forget that criticism must be done in good faith, at seeking improvements in the prevailing situation, rather than for denigrating something or maligning somebody. The problem for third world democrats entering into the mode of governance of a country is that they forget that bureaucrats they inherit remain the same as for their opponents, despite some shuffling in the upper reaches of hierarchy theirs is a consistent policy of suppressing the freedom of the press. The leopard may try to hide it's spots, it cannot change them. Bureaucracy has an inborn hatred for the media which is not within its control. As such whoever comes into governance soon succumbs to their well rehearsed arguments about press freedom actually being used as a licence that knows no bounds, an enemy without frontiers. If they had heard about John Milton they would have quoted from his 'Tenure of Kings and Magistrates' as 'none can love freedom heartily but good men, the rest have not freedom but licence'. How to differentiate freedom from licence? Let us take the recent sorry example of Najam Sethi, alleged to have fulminated against the basic ideology of the country while giving a lecture in New Delhi at a platform provided by former Indian PM Gujral's think-tank. For his part Najam states that he had earlier given the same lecture in the National Defence College (NDC), Islamabad and that he was given the highest rating by students, fairly senior Armed Forces officers aspiring for two-star ranks and more. One may or may not accept Najam's viewpoint on a great many issues, one has to defend his right to express them or report them. Najam's problems arises from the fact that the venue was atrocious given the sensitivity that one feels about one's neighbours. While one must respect that he has every right to express his views, the venue of stating those views becomes questionable when they were expressed in what constitutes 'enemy' territory. One can rant and rave in one's house but to go and complain to a neighbour is a way out situation and that also with whom one has a bitter and bloody ongoing quarrel is certainly not palatable and gives a ready excuse for the closet 'patriots' to yell 'subversion'. However Najam states that his speech has been read out of context and should be read as whole before assigning such labels. One begs to disagree with him about many of his views in his speech, one has to agree with him that the full text of his speech gives a different thought to the content as a whole. Unfortunately one has to be careful as our 'patriots' are past masters in focussing on what they can fabricate as 'evidence' to condemn a person without batting an eyelash. Those in power have to be careful on their part not to let these 'patriots' loose in attempting to control the freedoms in our society as we know it. As to the mode of Najam Sethi's arrest, one has to take exception to that. In a civilised society what was the reason for the crude, brutish behaviour of the 'raiding party' that went to arrest him? First they beat up and injured an innocent private security guard who did not resist them. Next, they misbehaved with Ms Jugnoo Mohsin, Najam's wife, and one has no reason to doubt Jugnoo's version, viz because (1) she has undeniable credibility and (2) we all know how brutish our police and intelligence agencies tend to behave whenever they find a 'soft' target. One could have easily asked Najam to give his point of view about the 'offending speech' in New Delhi and based on his answer proceeded against him. There was no reason to resort to such behaviour but in the environment we live in that is to be expected. A few days earlier Hussain Haqqani and his brother, a senior Colonel in the Army, were taken into custody when they were walking on the street at night, for some time it seemed like a kidnapping before the brother was released a few hours later and confirmed that Hussain was in the hands of some 'agency' or the other, for some reason or the other. The suspicion is that 'evidence' may be created to 'discipline' his printed views. All this gives the government a bad name and those in power would do well to come down like a ton of bricks on such behaviour, it is not in keeping with their image or what one knows of them. Mian Nawaz Sharif should remember that these are the same people who tried the same things with his father and family when he was out of power. I personally spoke to Mian Sahib on telephone in PIMS, Islamabad that night when his father was critically ill because of the excesses and I remember how charged up and emotional he was, as he had every right to be. In third world countries we cherish our freedom but we must pay a price for it and that is to be circumspect within the parameters of that freedom. Democracy has still to take roots and the elected representatives must be careful not to be led away by the advice of those who do not care for it but oppose such freedoms as dangerous licence. Objectivity on the part of journalists demands compliance to self-imposed ground rules about sensitive issues and where and when to air them. On the other hand governments have to differentiate between freedom and licence, those in power reframing from becoming over-sensitive to issues. In short it is only the gnomes within bureaucracy who can effortlessly continue the miracle of making a mountain out of a molehill, converting the entire concept of freedom into a licence to be ruthlessly stamped out.'
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The views, opinion and recommendations expressed in the articles published in this magazine are entirely that of the author of that particular article, this magazine serves only as a neutral platform for healthy debate where contrary thoughts in print are considered an important cornerstone of the freedom of expression enshrined as the essence of democracy.
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