Indian visitors and Pakistani electronic media http://www.dawn.com/weekly/dmag/dmag9.htm
By Sabih Mohsin
During the Summit, on July 15 an Indian TV channel anchor person asked one of the Pakistani participants, Sheema Kirmani, as to why Pakistani visitors belonging to the fields of performing arts and literature were given good coverage by the Indian electronic media, but Indian visitors were ignored by Pakistani radio and television? Her reply was that when such Pakistani personalities themselves were ignored by the official media, what could be expected from them in respect of Indian personalities?
While Sheema Kirmani’s resentment was largely justified perhaps she was not aware of the fact that apart from their general apathy towards art and literature, Pakistani radio and television had another reason for ignoring the Indian visitors: they have specific instructions not to invite Indian nationals in their programmes unless permission has been obtained from the competent authority.
These instructions were, most probably, issued in the early years of Pakistan. But none of the succeeding governments cared, or perhaps dared, to withdraw them. Consequently, while the Indian electronic media, particularly the Urdu Service of the All India Radio, has been generously projecting even those visitors from Pakistan who hardly possessed any credentials for being dubbed as a “renowned literary figure from Pakistan”, the Pakistani media has been standing aloof even in the case of genuine personalities from India, creating a very unenviable impression of the Pakistanis as hosts.
At the same time, this unwise restriction has often placed those working in the official Pakistani media in an awkward position. Whenever there are any such visitors from India, the radio and television staff are approached by their local admirers or hosts for a coverage but they are neither in a position to accede to the request nor to disclose the reason for the same. I can recall one such incident in which I was myself involved.
If I remember correctly, the year was 1976. A Jashn-i-Ameer Khasrau was being celebrated on the official level to mark the 700th anniversary of the great poet and musician, Ameer Khasrau. Syed Sabahuddin Abdur Rahman, a scholar and the Nazim (administrator) of the well-known Islamic research centre Darul Musannafeen in Azamgarh (UP), was among the delegates invited from India to address the seminar and to attend other functions held during that festival. It may be mentioned that this research institute was established by Maulana Shibli Nomani and Syed Sulaiman Nadvi in the earlier decades of the last century. As a result of the research carried out there, hundreds of books on Islamic history and other topics of interest to Muslims were brought out by the Darul Musannafeen. These included the classic work Seeratun Nabi, the biography of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
A number of these books had been pirated by Pakistani publishers who paid no royalties to the Darul Musannafeen. Since the institute depended largely on its income from its publication, the situation was of great concern to those who ran it but they were helpless. After the festival was over, Sabahuddin Abdur Rahman took up the matter with the Government of Pakistan and Maulana Kausar Niazi, who was then the minister for religious affairs, found a solution. The National Book Foundation was directed to purchase the rights in Pakistan of Darul Musannafeen’s publications, 150 in number, for an amount of Rs1,500,000.
Sabahuddin Abdur Rahman was very happy because the deal had solved a problem which had appeared to him to be insurmountable. On his way back to India, he came down to Karachi from Islamabad to meet his relatives. When I went to see him, he narrated the whole story as to how the deal was struck with the help of Maulana Kausar Niazi for whom he was all praise. Then, remembering that I was working in Radio Pakistan, he asked me if I could arrange for him to give a talk over the radio just to thank the Government of Pakistan for that kind gesture. I promised to let him know the next day.
When I went back to my office, I rang up my director in Islamabad, told him about the Nazim of the Darul Musannafeen and the purpose for which he wanted to give a talk on the radio and then asked for permission.
“But I am not the competent authority,” he said. “The matter will have to be referred to the ministry of information and broadcasting.”
“Then, sir, kindly do so immediately because he is due to leave in two or three days,” I said.
“Since how long have you been working in the radio?” the director asked me. I did not know how to react on this apparently irrelevant question.
“For about 20 years,” I told him.
“That is long enough to know that it is useless to approach the ministry. No one there would take the risk of taking a favourable decision on such a matter.”
Then he advised me to invite the Indian visitor to the studio, record his talk and even make the payment but not to actually broadcast the recording.“You can tell him that since no time slot was available immediately, the talk has been scheduled for the next week. By that time he would be in far away Azamgarh where your station can not be received.”
I had no option but to use that stratagem. The guest left satisfied but I still feel the pinch for having lied to him.
During Zia-ul-Haq’s regime things went another step further. Instructions were issued that the names of Indian nationals were not to be mentioned on radio and television programmes related to art and literature. The then director general of the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, in his effort to be more loyal than the king, ordered that these instructions would be applicable to radio publications as well. Incidentally, the issue of the radio’s fortnightly journal Ahang, which was then in the press, carried an article on the evolution of the Urdu short story. It mentioned among others, Krishan Chander, Rajender Singh Bedi and Ismat Chughtai - names which could hardly be avoided while discussing the Urdu short story. So, there was no alternative but to withdraw that article.
It is now high time that such stupid restrictions and instructions are withdrawn.