As Published in the Express Tribune
Unlike the Pakistani media that reported the hanging of
Ajmal Kasab sparingly, the Indian media featured the story very prominently all
day yesterday. I can vouch for the fact that for Indian television and online journalists
it was a busy field day. Literally, all angles of the story were covered – the
actual hanging, the mercy petition, 26/11 survivors, 26/11 martyrs and the
Kasab’s last wish.
One of the reasons that got many elders in UP and Delhi to
watch television news was the invincible dumbing down spirit that India TV, a
24 hour Hindi news channel, exhibits time and again. They were true to their
reputation yesterday as well, in an attempt to explain to the Indian public the
nuances of hanging a terrorist they said, in a hurried toe, “Faasi ke waqt
Kasab bhi maujood” – a piece of information that an average Indian was quite
unaware of and was very hungrily seeking!
The English channels, catering to the intelligentsia, were
only slightly more measured in their theatrics. Times Now had a 2-minute promo
that called Kasab a “butcher” more than 4 times! As much as we all agree that
Kasab was a terrorist who came to the country to kill people in cold blood,
there is little need to rekindle the wounds of the victims of the dreaded night
of November 26th.
Now that my usual amount of criticism has been meted out, I
want to go on record to say that yesterday was a day when I also saw some good,
balanced reporting done. There will always be channels that went overboard,
reporters that got emotional and reportage that were opinions. But, an overall
picture of the reporting done on Kasab’s hanging was better than the usual
jingoistic, loud reporting.
Even as many in the media began sounding triumphant, there
were people whose heads were placed firmly on their shoulders. Kafila, an well-known team blog, carried a piece
on how a Mumbai
terror attack victim sympathises with Kasab - sensible and level headed
commentary on why people like Kasab are made and why shouldn’t lose sight of
the other side.
On rediff.com, independent journalist, Shivam Vij, asked, “Rejoice,
fellow Indians. Ajmal Kasab [ Images ]
has been hanged. But please excuse me, I am not joining you. Your cheering and
hooting and hurrahs feel like a medieval lynch mob celebrating the death of the
sinner and not the sin. 'Barbaric' is the word that comes to mind.
This isn't merely about the morality or aesthetic of capital
punishment. I want to ask you: What did we just achieve? Ten terrorists had
come to kill and be killed, to cause maximum damage of the sort that they
surely knew they'd be killed. Nine of them were killed in direct encounter. Did
we hail their deaths? Do we say their deaths were justice? So if we killed
Ajmal Kasab four years later -- 'with due process' -- what exactly have we
achieved?”
Several senior journalists congratulated him on the piece
and several others were concerned about the impact that this would have on the
India-Pakistan relations.
And, the social media was rife with several journalists
showing their frustration about the Pakistani establishment, but to their
credit they targeted their anger towards only the authority. Divya senior
journalist with NDTV said “And can Pakistan stop looking away? Such
pathetic leadership really.... I feel sorry for the common man there.”
I am not sure it was a triumph of the Indian state by
killing a man they had in captivity, but it surely was a triumph of Indian
media for the way they handled the story.
