ISLAMABAD: After juggling work and the External Publicity (EP) wing for more than two months, the only two Indian journalists stationed in Islamabad (and the entire Pakistan) have been told to pack up and get out.
The ‘exit’ call came late at night on Tuesday to Snehesh Alex Philip of The Press Trust of India (PTI) and Meena Menon of the Hindu newspaper.
“Both of them were told to leave the country by Tuesday, May 20 [within a week] as their visas would not be renewed. The caller added that the official communication with this message would be delivered to their houses later that night,” said someone who had spoken to them both.
The calls came around quarter to ten at night; the letters were delivered later.
The calls for friendship and aman notwithstanding, India and Pakistan officially only allow two of the enemy hacks within their respective borders. Pakistan doesn’t bother to send someone to experience the Indian hospitality but the Indian press does – the Press Trust of India and the Hindu newspaper both post a correspondent each to Islamabad to report on the madness called Pakistani politics and a bit more.
Menon and Philip had arrived in August 2013, sometime after their predecessors had been summarily asked to leave also.
However, what they did not realise was how short their own stays would be.
Meena and Snehesh refused to speak about the matter but their visa travails were the talk of Islamabad’s hack community for days now. They both arrived on August 17, 2013, and were granted a three month visa, which when it expired in November, was renewed up to March 10, 2014 in January 2014.
Their abrupt marching orders have once again focused the limelight on the PML-N government which has – despite its rhetoric to the contrary – has not been able to cover itself in glory where press freedom is concerned.
In March, Prime Minister Sharif had told Kati Marton, the widow of late Richard Holbrooke and the Executive Member of Council for Protection of Journalists (CPJ) that “I want to make Pakistan a journalist-friendly country where not only local but international media feels safe and secure during their professional assignments."
The domestic situation is a disaster to put it mildly – two journalists have been killed and three media workers (from Express TV) have lost their lives since Sharif came to power, according to the figures available on the CPJ website.
In addition, the attacks on Raza Rumi and Hamid Mir sent shockwaves across the world – in fact the latter has kicked up a political storm in the country.
But despite the government’s lack of ability to check the violence against journalists, no one expected that Sharif, with his declared policy of better relations with India, would allow two Indian journalists to be kicked out – and in this manner.
“While the country’s media is already facing a raging storm after Mir’s shooting, the authorities have bluntly used their powers,” said a senior journalist, who declined to be named.
Just consider.
Dawn was told that Philip was dropped a hint as late as Tuesday afternoon that he didn’t need to pack (Menon had been told a couple of days earlier to pack her belongings even though she had been given nothing in writing).
Philip, as someone who is aware of developments, thought it to mean that there was hope. Around six hours later, he was told to leave.
So hurried was the decision that no one seemed to have realised that while Menon and Philip have been asked to leave on the 20th, the flight out of Pakistan to India leaves on the 21. The government, generously, has offered to address this discrepancy.
That the government is aware of the shabby manner in which the matter has been handled is evident from the fact that no one is willing to talk about the issue or accept responsibility.
Talking to Dawn, the concerned official in the EP wing said that “they were on a facilitation desk” and that the decision about the visas had been made by the interior ministry.
“Whatever is forwarded to us is conveyed to the concerned person and now they have been told to get the visa till May 20 from the passport office in G-8,” the official said.
On the other hand, an official of the interior ministry said that the visas for media people are “made on the recommendations of EP wing”.
“There must be some reason for asking them to leave because Nirupma and Rezaul Laskar (earlier Indian correspondents) stayed for more than five years,” the official added.
Undoubtedly, he is right. There must be a reason but the least the government of the peace loving Sharif can do is give a reason.
Rezaul Laskar, the former PTI correspondent in Pakistan, who too was made to leave the country in a similar fashion in June 2013, said that the media should not be made part of any political tussle between the two countries.
The spokesperson for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has called the expulsion regrettable and unfortunate.
“Not allowing independent journalists to function is a retrograde step especially as free flow of information between India and Pakistan has long been recognised as an important confidence building measure,” the MEA statement said.
Battling as it with the Geo controversy, which many are predicting will end in a temporary suspension, the abrupt departure of Menon and Philip is going to be another black mark against the Sharif government that will not be easy to erase.
Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2014