Anwar Ahmad

Most Indians must have heaved a huge sigh of relief at the peaceful passage of VHP's March 15 march in Ayodhya to mark the construction of Ram Mandir. Most relieved, however, would be the Indian Muslims. Having fled en masse from Ayodhya, the next-door Faizabad and even Delhi, said the Indian Muslim leader Syed Shahabuddin, the agony they endured the night before was beyond description. It must indeed be terrifying to be a Muslim in India today, as the Indian author and doughty activist Arundhati Roy so poignantly observed.

Relief was also felt in Pakistan, for the trauma of Indian Muslims touches a raw nerve here as well. There was/is also the worry of a backlash against the Hindu minority. Or, the terrorists using the charged atmosphere to target Hindus in the hope of triggering more chaos for them to thrive in. For the present at least, these fears can, hopefully, be laid to rest. The next Mandir deadline by the VHP is June 2. But, perhaps, the horrors of Gujarat, continuing communal violence and the great threat the genie poses to India would knock both sides into a Masjid-Mandir compromise.

Until now, and for good reasons, the Pakistani media has focused almost entirely on the dark side of the Indian state and society. It is time now to look at the brighter side as well and, more crucially, learn some much-needed lessons from how India has responded to a potential cataclysm. The greatest credit for saving the immediate situation must, of course, go to the Indian supreme court. It not only barred the VHP from holding any ceremony on or near the ruins of the Babri mosque but also mauled the BJP government for its continuing duplicity. Attorney General Soli Sorabjee had pleaded that the Hindus be permitted to hold a "symbolic prayer ceremony" on the disputed site. An irate Justice B N Kripal shot back: "If you allow Puja, will you allow Namaz tomorrow on that land? Are you not escalating the situation?."

That silenced Sorabjee, scuttled BJP's attempt to salvage a symbolic victory for the VHP and gave a big stick to BJP's political opponents, allies and the media to beat it with. Even so, the supreme court has done the BJP a big favour and India a great service. Had it permitted a "ceremonial prayer" at the disputed site, the "festering wound", as premier Vajpayee has described Ayodhya, would surely have become poisonous.

It would have added fuel to the communal fires still burning across India. And, coming amid anger at the BJP government's brazen collusion with VHP zealots in destroying Muslim lives, property, mosques and dignity, a Puja-permission by the supreme court would have eroded Muslim confidence in the judiciary as well. Since the substantive Masjid-Mandir dispute is still in court, it might have become a pre-judgement on that case also. Muslim alienation from the Indian state would, then, have been far more difficult to bridge.

Thus, at a very critical time, India's supreme court again demonstrated its fairness and independence of any government influence. This contrasts sharply with the Pakistani experience where the judiciary has time and again bent to the wind, willingly or on the lame pretext that, otherwise, the institution would have been broken. This "pragmatism" is a major contributor to the sorry state where, over half a century after independence, we are still rudderless -- without a constitution, and wondering about the future.

An equally important role was played by the Indian media. We have good reasons for believing that the agony of the Kashmiris is ignored or underplayed by much of the Indian media, and Pakistan saddled with far greater villainy than it may deserve. But during the current communal carnage, it were the Indian media reports which revealed the horrors that befell the hapless Muslims of Gujarat. Some investigative reports in the foreign media, like the Washington Post story revealing the obnoxious conduct of the VHP goons on the ill-fated Sabarmati Express, were also filed by Indian (Hindu) journalists.

While the internet is a window into the Indian media, we are, unfortunately, denied access to the Indian TV news-channels. This visual void was felt most acutely during these trying times. But, even otherwise, Pakistani viewers are savvy enough to sift facts from Indian fiction on Kashmir and Indo-Pak relations in general. Our patriotic cable-operators need, therefore, to withdraw their "voluntary" ban on Indian news-channels -- while retaining it, certainly, on the "entertainment" providers. Our own PTV, as the new Information Minister conceded, is dishing out enough trash.

The graphic exposure of the Gujarat horrors is a testimony to the freedom of Indian media. They were dealing with events described by Premier Vajpayee as a black-spot on the nation. Yet, by the sugar-coating the bitter truth, they helped not Indian society to grasp the cruel and shameful reality. The resulting groundswell against the insanity forced the BJP-VHP zealots on the back foot and, cumulatively, created the right environment for the supreme court to pass its crucial verdict.

Without a free and vibrant media, Indians could easily have marched on to destruction. They now have information and awareness of the dangers to save Indian secularism and democracy from the jaws of Hindu zealotry. Whether Indian leadership, particularly the BJP, can do that is, however, another matter.

Like the judiciary, the media scene in Pakistan makes a sorry contrast with India's. Take, for instance the treatment of the seemingly endless sectarian and other targeted-killings. For months now, the press has been carrying daily doses of bad news, particularly from Karachi, accompanied by an occasional lamentful editorial. Considering, the trauma through which the targeted groups -- Shias, doctors, other professionals -- are passing, the news is under-reported and downplayed.

For the state-controlled electronic media, the issue does not even exist. The killings find little or no space on it, barring the occasional massacre like the attack on a Shia mosque in Rawalpindi. Unfortunately, even the fledgling private TV channels seem to be taking a cue from their official counterpart. They focus more on India- and Israel-bashing -- generally well deserved, and necessary too -- than on domestic issues. By ignoring or downplaying the simmering trauma caused by the targeted-killings, the media are failing to build public pressure for a more proactive government action. This is a great disservice to the nation.

Likewise, the explosive canal water-issue is not attracting the attention it deserves. For over two years now, Sindh and Punjab are at loggerheads over water-sharing. To Sindh's stinging charge that Punjab steals its water has been added the grievance of the Rs 30-billion Greater Thal Canal to irrigate southern Punjab. Sindh says this will worsen its water-shortage. This is no brotherly tiff.

Last year, water protests were taken to the streets by the Sindhi nationalists. This year, the PPP has also joined them. Like last year, only after these protests threatened to become violent, Punjab has been asked to sacrifice its water for Sindh. But why isn't a just and fair water-sharing arrangement made and enforced? Despite presidential instructions of a year ago, why is the telemetry water-monitoring system still doing the bureaucratic rounds? Why has a political consensus not been sought on the contentious Thal canal? Why is it being pushed forward in a democratic vacuum? What's the hurry?

Such questions should be dominating the media. The print media has given news and editorial coverage to the water issue. But there have been few, if any, investigative reporting on the myth and reality of the debilitating water-theft allegation. Neither has the water issue been debated, or even reported, on the public or private electronic media. Why? What are we hiding? What are we afraid of?

A similar flight from reality in the face of powerful perceptions had led us to disaster in 1971. Yet, our little emperors appear incapable of learning any lessons. It is for the independent media and the civil society to tell them that have no clothes on, to force reality into their ivory towers. Not just about sectarian killings and water-sharing, but also the political bog we seem headed into. And, the meaninglessness of it all of more and more poverty and powerlessness is to be the fate of more and more people. We have to discover the purpose of our collective existence.

The writer is a freelance columnist

aa52pak@hotmail.com