बीबीसी वेबसाइट पर इस ख़बर के जारी होते ही पाकिस्तान के मुख्यधारा के चैनलों ने इसे 'ब्रेकिंग न्यूज़' की तरह चलाना शुरू कर दिया और जल्दी ही विशेषज्ञों के साथ लाइव फ़ोन-इन लिए जाने लगे. एक रिपोर्ट में पत्रकारों और विश्लेषकों ने बीबीसी को एक 'विश्वसनीय' स्रोत करार देते हुए कहा कि अगर संस्था (बीबीसी) को लगता कि यह ख़बर ग़लत है तो वह इसे नहीं चलाते.
पाकिस्तान के विपरीत भारतीय मीडिया ने इस खबर को कोई तवज्जोह नहीं दी. आमतौर पर भारतीय प्रिंट मीडिया ऐसी खबरों पर ध्यान देता है. खासतौर से हमारे अंग्रेजी अखबारों के सम्पादकीय पेज ऐसे सवालों पर कोई न कोई राय देते हैं. पर आज के भारतीय अखबारों में यह खबर तो किसी न किसी रूप में छपी है, पर सम्पादकीय टिप्पणियाँ बहुत कम देखने को कम मिलीं. हिन्दी अखबार आमतौर पर ज्वलंत विषयों पर सम्पादकीय लिखना नहीं चाहते. आज तो ज्यादातर हिन्दी अखबारों में शहरी विकास पर टिप्पणियाँ हैं जो मोदी सरकार के स्मार्ट सिटी कार्यक्रम पर है. यह विषय प्रासंगिक है, पर इसमें राय देने वाली खास बात है नहीं. दूसरा विषय आज एनडीए सरकार के सामने खड़ी परेशानियों पर है. इस मामले में कुछ कड़ी बातें लिखीं जा सकती थीं, पर ऐसा है नहीं.
बहरहाल बीबीसी की रपट को लेकर आज केवल इंडियन एक्सप्रेस में ही सम्पादकीय देखने को मिला. इसमें दोनों देशों की सरकारों से आग्रह किया गया है कि वे एक-दूसरे से संवाद बढ़ाएं. हालांकि पाकिस्तानी मीडिया में इन दिनों भारत के खिलाफ काफी गर्म माहौल है. वहाँ की सरकार अब वहाँ होने वाली तमाम आतंकवादी गतिविधियों की जिम्मेदारी भारतीय खुफिया संगठन रॉ पर डाल रही है. इस माहौल में जिन अखबारों के सम्पादकीय अपेक्षाकृत संतुलित हैं, वे नीचे पेश हैं-
The Express Tribune
The plot thickens
The dramatic BBC report detailing how the MQM has allegedly received training from India in the use of weapons and also funds from that country, has naturally created a major stir in Pakistan. Yes, such allegations have surfaced before — in April from SSP Rao Anwar in Karachi, and from others before that date. But as a credible, independent news source, one is forced to admit that the BBC report carries some weight.
The statements in the report that MQM officials, talking to UK authorities, had stated that the party received funding from India, and a Pakistani official revealing that MQM mid-level operatives had allegedly received weapons training in India a decade ago followed by more junior level members of the party, come at a time when relations between Islamabad and New Delhi are already tense. India has categorically denied the charges as has the MQM. But the entire saga will not end so quickly. The BBC has also reported that an itemised list of weapons available to the party was found on one of the premises of the MQM raided in London, following the investigation into the murder of senior party leader Dr Imran Farooq.
The BBC report has come at a time when an operation continues in Karachi against criminal elements backed by political ones, and it is now understood that the security establishment has sought a treason case against the MQM leadership. The government will be under pressure to pursue the matter. Receiving funds and weapons from India, as well as training on its soil, will obviously be considered the gravest of offences. There is a need to proceed sensibly and on the basis of rationality rather than emotion. The MQM is a major party with a huge following in Karachi. It needs to be asked to explain its position given the seriousness of the allegations. While any criminal elements within the party must be apprehended, it is also important that every action taken must fall within the framework of the law of the land so that due process can be followed and the allegations made, properly investigated. This whole saga will have vast political implications for a country already facing a degree of political turmoil. All concerned need to proceed wisely.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 26th, 2015.
The Dawn
MQM’s alleged links
The MQM response has been as predictable as it is inadequate.
THE surge of allegations against the MQM continues, this time the BBC chipping in with claims that have been heard before elsewhere though perhaps not in the detail revealed on Wednesday. Two things in particular stand out about the BBC report alleging links between the MQM and the Indian state: one, that the claims were made by members of the MQM themselves; and two, that a list of weapons — many of the items being of a kind no peaceable political party anywhere could possibly have any interest in — has been recovered from an MQM property in the UK. The MQM response has been as predictable as it is inadequate: the few party leaders who were willing to brave the cameras and microphones on Wednesday dismissed all allegations and hinted at yet another unspecified plot against the MQM. With more claims and stories almost sure to follow in the days and weeks ahead, perhaps it is time for, first, the federal government to revisit its strategy and second, the MQM to do the same.
Thus far the PML-N government’s response to every new twist and turn in the widening and deepening case against the MQM has been either to reiterate its support for government agencies (if the allegations emanate from military-backed quarters) or to pledge to investigate (if they originate in the media or elsewhere). So it is hardly surprising that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif yesterday directed Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan to apparently investigate the claims made in the BBC report. If that is unsurprising, it is also thoroughly unacceptable: the BBC report suggests that at least one unnamed Pakistani official is aware of the alleged MQM-India nexus — should therefore the government not be informing the country about what it knows rather than pretending that it is in the dark and committed to finding the truth? Repeatedly in recent weeks and months, the interior minister has hinted at knowledge about the MQM’s alleged illegal activities — but always baulked at revealing what his ministry is aware of for unspecified reasons. Are Pakistanis forever destined to remain a population that its own elected representatives withhold the truth from?
The other aspect to consider here is the MQM’s inadequate response to the growing list of allegations against the party. The essential point is that none of the claims are particularly new or surprising: the MQM’s connection to violence and militancy; the MQM’s foreign linkages to various states; the MQM’s economic exploitation of the cities in which it rules — everything has been alleged over the years and it is commonly accepted that most of the allegations have at least a kernel of truth to them. What the MQM — which still has a large support base as the April by-polls- in Karachi showed — needs is an overhaul of its politics and internal organisation. It must clean out the worst elements, admit to a flawed past and lay the ground for a people-oriented future.
Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2015
Pakistan Today
Not as simple as it seems
The BBC report regarding the shenanigans of the MQM depends entirely on information provided by unspecified authorities in Pakistan rather than on direct British intelligence sources. This could lead some to conclude that elements hostile to the MQM in Pakistan might have concocted the story as they did the Jinnahpur episode on 1992 only to admit later that it was a fabrication. The strength of the report however lies in the fact that it has been filed by a reputable media organisation. What is more, in view of Britain’s stringent anti-libel laws the BBC would not have published the story without confirming its authenticity.
The charges levelled against the MQM are highly damaging. They include receiving funds from India and getting hundreds of terrorists trained in the neighbouring country. Intriguingly, the number of the trainees increased after 2006 during Musharraf era when the party was a close ally of the military ruler. The story should be embarrassing for the country’s security agencies who have been caught pants down a second time within five weeks after the Axact affair. If the governments are to come to know about scams and conspiracies that are highly damaging for the country’s reputation and security through American or British reporters, what are our own agencies meant for? If the Pakistani agencies had any inkling into MQM’s alleged misdeeds, it was their duty to collect actionable evidence and take those involved to the courts. With all the facts at their disposal they could have provided the same to the government to enable it to raise the issue of India’s direct involvement in terrorism in Pakistan at the relevant UN agency.
The government and the agencies cannot ignore the report. They have to determine on the basis of the evidence available the level of complicity of those found to be involved. The government should then take the culprits to court instead of conducting the media trial of the MQM which despite its peculiar ideology and style of work remains the most popular party in urban Sindh.
Indian Express
Virtue of restraint
MQM funding controversy in Pakistan is only latest reminder of dangers of chauvinist hysteria on both sides of border.
By: Express News Service | Published on:June 26, 2015 12:41 am
Ever since Wednesday, when allegations surfaced that Karachi’s controversial Muttahida Qaumi Movement had received Indian funding, Pakistani television news audiences have had little to watch other than ever-more-fantastic claims about their eastern neighbour’s plans to vivisect their nation. The evidence for the allegations is thin, at best: we still do not know to whom Indian money was purportedly paid, when and for what end. It remains unclear, too, why a party known to have made a fortune from organised crime in Karachi would need to dip into RAW’s relatively meagre coffers. The tenor of the television discussions tells us, of course, that some anchors, just like their Indian counterparts, aren’t overly concerned about the distinction between news and agitprop. Like other media storms, this one will pass — but it would be a mistake to laugh it away. The truth is that the impasse in the India-Pakistan political engagement has strengthened chauvinist hysteria. For the nuclear-armed neighbours, this holds out grave risks: when publics bay for blood, there’s always a danger that leaders will oblige them.
For weeks now, official Pakistan has fuelled anti-India sentiment — a desperate bid to ward off the relentless Islamist assault on its legitimacy and credentials. In May, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif asserted that the Research and Analysis Wing was working “to wipe Pakistan off the map of the world”. The Pakistan army, in turn, expressed serious concern about “RAW involvement in whipping up terrorism”. India, too, has done its bit to stoke the flames. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar threatened to use terrorists against Pakistan-backed terrorists. Last year, India claimed to have warded off a 26/11 style attack — a claim for which the evidence, investigations by this newspaper showed, was insubstantial.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s disinclination to engage Pakistan until it demonstrates seriousness on terrorism is understandable. Frustration with Islamabad’s unwillingness to act against groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba runs deep. Yet, it’s plainly dangerous for the two countries to disengage altogether — something which opens the prospect of lurching into a situation neither wants or can afford. In the meantime, leaders on both sides of the border need to understand the virtues of restraint. The tiger of public opinion might be fun to mount — but the ride is likely to end sprawled out on the ground, possibly to be devoured by a beast that cannot be controlled.
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/virtue-of-restraint/#sthash.6VHC9Lj2.dpuf
एमक्यूएम को भारतीय मदद के बारे में बीबीसी की रिपोर्ट
बीबीसी की टीवी रिपोर्ट
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muQbDRUAH64
पाकिस्तानी अखबार द न्यूज़ में मुर्तज़ा अली शाह की रिपोर्ट
स्क्रोल में आयशा सिद्दीका का लेख
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