Pak former PM sent back to exile (and Sayed Naqvi's comments)

Earlier this week, Pak former PM, Nawaz Sharif was sent back to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia by Musharraf. It was quite a dramatic event. Nawaz Sharif had announced long time back that he planned to come back to Pak in an attempt to participate in elections (to restore democracy). His plane landed in Islamabad - he was at the airport for a few hours but was not able to come out of the airport. He was boarded on another plane which was supposed to take him to Karachi, but took him to Jeddah instead. Thousands of supporters of Mr. Sharif were arrested even before he arrived to avoid any problems. Of course, we don't really know the exact sequence of events. But it happened the same day as the 'Iraq report' was being presented by General Petreaus.

The Pak news was shown constantly on Aaj Tak. They interviewed a Pak reporter, Sayed Naqvi, and asked him questions about what exactly was going on at the airport when Sharif's plane landed etc. This was the first time I saw a Pak reporter on TV. Mr. Naqvi seemed somewhat irritated when questioned by Aaj Tak. I don't know if it was because he was just frustrated/disappointed by the dramatic events going on in his country or by the fact that it was being aired on Indian TV. In any case, it was a short interview but a memorable one (for me). I don't remember his exact words. But he said something like this: 'I will answer your questions by asking YOU some questions. The drama thats been created in Pak is to divert your's and our attention from the 'Iraq report'. You should go and see whats in that report rather than airing whats going on in your neighboring country. Just because this is happening in your neighboring country, you are airing it. No other country is showing it - everyone is focused on Iraq right now. I believe in fearless journalism. You should ask, what's America's role in all of this? What do people around Musharraf want? Sharif doesn't have the kind of support Bhutto had - do you know ISI helped Butto to get into Pak? You should always put things in perspective. This has nothing to do with restoring democracy - this is all drama. I tell them to not get distracted by all this and look at whats happening in India, their progress and learn from them...'

He basically went on and on. In the end the Aaj Tak reporter just said 'ok to sum it up can you tell us a sher describing the current situation in Pak'? Well, Mr. Naqvi tells a sher in Urdu which he translates as: 'the situation is like that of a sick man - on one side its God who says I will take you away, and on the other there is the doctor who says I will definitely cure you.'

Couple of things ran into my mind as I was hearing this short yet brilliant interview. Mr. Naqvi said some pretty thought-provoking things. What he said about perspective was right on! Putting things into perspective is very important not just in journalism but also in real life. Whenever we discuss about a specific topic, person, situation we should not lose sight of the big picture. But Mr Naqvi totally didn't practice that because he seemed to not like the fact that it was shown on Aaj Tak. What happens in Pak is immensely important for India (and I am sure vice versa). In general, every country keeps an eye on whats happening in their neighboring country. And they should. In the US, the Iraq report was more important that day so CNN was airing just that the whole day. But they did have a caption running at the bottom about Pak news too! In fact, this news was so big that it was in all major newspapers around the country, including New York Times, Washington Post etc.

I could tell from seeing a brief clip that Mr. Naqvi must be one of the top or at least one of the most experienced reporters in Pak. So when I searched for Syed Naqvi, I found that he was the only reporter to travel with AB Vajpayee on the bus to Lahore! Pretty cool, haan?

The other thing that came to my mind was that the Aaj Tak reporter didn't really have much to say after Mr Naqvi threw so much at him. May be it was that they were running out of time or something, but to listen and analyze what the other person says, and then to follow-up appropriately must be a hard thing for reporters. I believe that most of these news channels are relatively new but definitely this is something the Aaj Tak reporters can improve on. For once, they should always take notes - which I don't see them do a LOT of times. Second, if it isnt, this should be part of their training.