In conflicts, the truth is often suppressed by warring parties to give the situation a favourable spin. But brave journalists have displayed admirable commitment to their vocation and have resisted these pressures
In war, truth is the first casualty.
—Aeschylus
My generation was first-hand witness to the wisdom of this utterance, in 1971. The India-Pakistan war was in full swing and we had become accustomed to untimely trepidating sirens during the night, exhorting us to observe blackouts. I recall one particular occasion when, following the siren and the regular drill, we were apprised that Pakistani war planes had been sighted in Agra — less than two hours away from lucknow where we were stationed.
Those were tense times and there was not much by way of levity. Nearly all the conversation revolved around the way the war was progressing. There was no television in lucknow and the only sources of information were the newspapers and the radio. The state-controlled All India Radio was providing us more than enough reason to feel proud of our Armed Forces. The Indian newspapers were echoing similar sentiments.
Reassured and buoyed by their heroics, one afternoon my friends and I ventured out for a stroll through Hazratganj and stopped over at a stall facing Charbagh railway station for tea. One of us, carrying a transistor set, tuned into Radio Pakistan to acquaint ourselves of their take of the war, which was supposedly not going their way. The Pakistani newscaster announced in chaste Urdu: “Hamare Air Force ke bahaduron ne lucknow shahar par bambari ki aur Charbagh station ko barbaad kar diya (The brave soldiers of our Air Force bombed lucknow and destroyed Charbagh station). ”
All of us amuse ourselves recalling that moment even now! The immediate consequence was total erosion of credibility of the broadcaster. Through that war, we switched to Radio Pakistan whenever we needed light entertainment.
We had no means of knowing if the Indian media was being 100 per cent sagacious, but we knew that the other side was being mendacious. Sure enough, within a few days, we were treated to a national broadcast by a drunk Pakistani dictator announcing surrender.
A few years later, I bumped into Benazir Bhutto at Oxford, and, in one of her candid admissions, she confessed that the most difficult aspect of the humiliating surrender was that the national broadcaster had deluded them into believing that Pakistan was actually winning the war! According to her, that was the prime reason why people overthrew General Agha Yahya Khan.
Coincidentally, I was in Buenos Aires when the Falkland War broke out between the UK and Argentina. My flight to london was cancelled and I had to go to Rio de Janeiro to board for my return journey. On my flight, I glanced at a Spanish newspaper which displayed a picture of HMS Hermes, the flagship of the British task force, being hit by the Exocet missile, suggesting that the war was going the Argentine way.
No sooner had I arrived in london, I looked at the British newspapers where HMS Hermes was shown sailing unharmed alongside the picture in the Argentine newspapers. The military junta in Argentina had morphed the pictures and got the media to publicise it.
The Argentinians had the same experience as the Pakistanis; they were forced to surrender at the Falklands. Outraged, they deposed General leopoldo Galtieri, their dictator, almost instantly.
During my career as a medical relief worker in conflict-ridden countries, I have known truth being suppressed to give the situation a favourable spin. I have known brave journalists who have displayed admirable commitment to their vocation who have resisted these pressures. Kenyan photo-journalist Mohamed Amin, noted for his pictures of the Ethiopian famine, comes readily to mind. He risked his life more than once rather than compromise on his principles.
I am recalling this because we seem to be in a state of undeclared war with Pakistan and are witness to the grotesque spectacle on Indian television on a daily basis where the two sides are exchanging charges and trading insults.
Most Pakistani participants in these debates are emerging poorly. Some of them like Tariq Pirzada, with his insufferably conceited and artificial accent used to camouflage his absence of logic, richly deserve the indignity that is heaped upon them by the likes of well-researched and articulate Maroof Raza. But there are others like Air Vice Marshal Abid Rao and the personable Mosharraf Zaidi, whose bruising does concern me.
My own reading of the situation on our borders is that it is the result of decades of demonisation of the other side. And as long as that persists, we cannot expect realistic peace, even if the Kashmir issue is resolved in the next 48 hours. By and large, our own generation has emerged unscathed from that brand of covert brainwashing. We bear no animosity towards Pakistan. But, unfortunately, our Pakistani counterparts have not been so fortunate.