Pratik Sinha, Founder-Editor, Alt News, in an exclusive interview with Newsclick.

Interview with Pratik Sinha
Interviewed by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta Produced by Newsclick Team,

The WhatsApp armies of political parties, especially the right-wing ecosystem, have become hyper-active in the run-up to the elections, says Pratik Sinha, Founder-Editor, Alt News, in an exclusive interview with Newsclick.

Courtesy: News Click

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Image Courtesy: AFP
 
As the reports of Indian Air Force’s pre-emptive strike on the Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camps inside Pakistan territory came, there was a sense of gratitude among ordinary Indians who felt that the terror camps must be destroyed at all costs. But the media and those who want to use these bombings to take advantage of the political climate are using all their energy in chest thumping as if it was they who did it.
 
Political reactions were mature and in line with their policies. All complimented our forces for their bravery but the prime minister and BJP leaders claimed it as their victory. It is the same people who, during the Uttarakhand tragedy or attack on Taj, did not give credit to the government but made every effort to suggest that the government was different than the army and forces.
 
Today, all the political parties across the spectrum have supported the strike which is a good sign and BJP and its leaders must desist from taking credit for these claims. Secondly, these issues are of utmost importance and therefore it is important to leave the army and the Indian diplomacy to deal with the issue and not convert it into another hate propaganda back home. India must face this together and in unison, as many attempts to divide us will be created.
 
The biggest casualty during the ‘wartime’ is the truth, particularly when media become part of the propaganda machinery of the governing. India and Pakistan media are competing with each other when it comes to who can stoop to the lowest level of ridiculousness. We are not even allowing the army and the requisite Ministry to handle it.
 
After Pulwama, we felt proud of the way CRPF officers sent their categorical message to the country that their Jawans did not die to create religious polarisation and hatred in the country. I can say that the Ministry of External Affairs Press briefing was also mature and balanced. Of course, the claims and figures mentioned are only as per the ‘information’ received. The best part was when the Foreign Secretary Mr Vijay Gokhale spoke in a fairly measured way about ‘India’s ‘non-military pre-emptive strike’ which clearly mean that for India it was not a war against Pakistan but the specific target of ‘eliminating’ the terrorists’ camps and outfits.
 
Now, it is another matter whether those camps, terrorists, hatemongers or Jihadis have been killed and whether the threat to common Indians from these terror outfits is now finished. Frankly, it was not a press-conference but a statement of India’s position after crossing the LoC or International Border.
 
Now the ‘entertainment’ channels are reporting from ‘sources’ that over 300 terrorists were killed including Yousuf Azhar, brother in law of Masood Azhar, the chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad. The point is how do our news reporters come to the conclusion about the deaths and the individual when the entire operation was carried out in the night and just confined to the bombing of a particular target without any ground operations? Why can’t the media keep quiet when the military establishment has not spoken about these things.
 
The problem is that war or military can be used for short term process to control situations to a certain degree but ultimately, we all have to resort to using the political process. India and Pakistan cannot absolve themselves from the political process as there is no other option. There are however, people on both the sides who think of eliminating or deleting communities and countries from the world map. Added with idiotic fulmination and hateful jingoism being played by the corporate sponsored TV channels who celebrate these stories of war when people want peace.
 
During a war, the level of rhetoric grows and all this is highly patriarchal, talking of machoism and creating a false narrative of your ‘strength’. An example of this is Pakistan and what it is facing today because of fanatic Islamic groups who are extra-state actors and think they are the law unto themselves, with the army actively backing them. It is these fanatics whose shout is more audible than the common person in the street who wants friendly relations with India.
 
The danger of extra-state actors destroying democratic and constitutional values in India is equally powerful. We should be more worried because whatever form of democracy was here, it is better than any military or dictatorial regime. We all know who are the forces taking law in their hand and abusing people at their will. Democracy there was always fragile and under control of the military but we can’t have the same in India. Our forces have shown an extremely professional approach on the issue of being non-political but for the last few years, we are witnessing the political leadership trying to reap the political benefit of a military action. The soldiers die for the country and the politicians want to benefit politically.
 
Geopolitical war games are difficult to understand. It is surprising that India did not speak anything about the suicide attack on Iranian Revolutionary Guards in which 27 of these guards were killed and the Iranian Defence Minister blamed Pakistan based militant groups.
 
Why was India silent about this and did not attempt to find a common thread of Pakistani support for these extra state actors. It is also strange that we were more than eager to blame the Saudis who did not even bother to condemn the Pulwama killing through an official statement. Was India’s decision of ignoring Iran because of the fear of Americans who want to isolate Iran? Where is the independent foreign policy? Even Afghanistan has blamed Pakistan based Jehadi groups trying to destabilise their government but it is surprising we do not have any common strategy with these countries.
 
President Donald Trump and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un are meeting in Vietnam, which gives a new hope to the world that ultimately the nations will have to speak to each other and take a clear stand against forces that have state patronage to destabilise their neighbours. Each country today has problem points and they need to resolve them by creating better circumstances and building confidence among people.
 
India has said that it carried out the ‘non-military pre-emptive strike’ on Pakistan because there were specific intelligence inputs that Jaish had planned to carry out more suicide attacks in India. Should we think that now, we will not have any further escalation? Will Pakistan keep quiet or respond? Will they act against the terror groups? Saying that it does not exist, when they raise open threats, is basically a blatant lie and will justify Indian action given the situation world over when nation states have to take care of their people and protect them. The only thing is whether the threat to people at large will be reduced or end.
 
It is time for all of us to stop with this jingoism and let the forces and the diplomats handle the issue. We are not afraid of the government taking a decision to protect people but our problem is the fanatics back home trying to wage a war against our own people simply because we may not follow their political ideologies. Armed forces will protect us and may win us a war but our biggest threat is from the jingoism and hatred being spread on the silver screen by the corrupted media which divides people and is creating war hysteria.
 
We have trust in the maturity of our forces but zero trust on these loudspeakers who have no sense of accountability and responsibility towards the people. We hope good sense will prevail and diplomatic efforts will isolate the terror outfits and hatemongers not only nationally, but also internationally, so that we can wage a decisive war against poverty, superstition, discrimination and illiteracy as defeating them will make us a great nation and a big power.

The views expressed here are the author’s personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sabrangindia.
 

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Just like the arms race between Indian and Pakistan accelerated after the nuclear tests, even though the social indices of the two neighbours are the worst compared to other neighbours in South Asia, consuming invaluable resources which should have been spent on making basic necessities of life available to its citizens, competition in acquiring material for mutual destruction would receive a similar fillip after the Indian surgical strike. It would be underestimating Pakistan if we think that it would be discouraged from carrying out its regular incursions in future because of our surgical strike. The problem with the arms race is nobody knows when it’ll end. With technological advancement more sophisticated and dangerous weapons become available. If one country acquires a certain weapon then it becomes mandatory for the other to acquire something which is of equal destructive potential.
 
We are told that weapons are acquired for one’s security. But they actually increase the feeling of insecurity. First we worry only about our security, then we have to worry about the security of our weapons too. For example, countries possessing nuclear weapons have to worry about their security too. It is a matter of grave concern for US that the Pakistani nuclear weapons should not fall in the hands of Islamist extremists.
 
Currently India has created a situation which will trigger another round of arms acquisition between the neighbours. Countries which will benefit are US, Israel, Russia, Britain, France, China, etc., from whom India and Pakistan will buy their arms. The money which should have been spent on education, health care, food security, housing, sanitation, to ensure that no child is malnourished and no women is anemic, will now be spent on purchasing weapons. Hence, even building an atmosphere of war is a crime against the poor people of both countries.
 
Rajnath Singh, India’s Home Minister has declared that the 3,323 km long India-Pakistan border will be sealed. Boundaries are made by humans and they have a history of being ever-changing. People and material will keep moving across India-Pakistan border because people on both sides have relatives and their religious places on the other side. People want to travel across the border. The two countries have cultural affinity. Nowhere else in the world, the language spoken in large part of north India, known as Hindi in India and Urdu in Pakistan, is understood so well as in Pakistan. At a time when European countries have made borders irrelevant we are talking about sealing our borders. West and East Germany demolished the wall between them. We want to build one between India and Pakistan. If there are governments in the two countries in future who decide to make peace then the money spent on sealing the borders will go waste. Hence, the effort should be to open the borders, not seal them. An impregnable border is a sign of animosity, an open border is sign of friendship. Enmity is short term, non-permanent, friendship is long term, stable. Hence the decision of Indian government to seal borders lacks wisdom and is anti-people. It is a waste of public resources. Is there a guarantee that sealed borders will prevent terrorists from invading?

Aerial attacks and through sea, like the one in Mumbai, can still take place. Worse, they can infiltrate borders both physically and mentally. How will the sealed border prevent somebody inside India from being radicalized? We should look for solutions so that terrorists stop coming and people stop becoming radicals. It requires deeper introspection than a symbolic gesture of sealing border.
 
People die in wars. It is not always the terrorists or combatants who die. As we saw in over three months of protests in Kashmir, the bullets of security forces killed children, women and old too. Even the family of soldier doesn’t want him to die. They want to see him return alive. His job is to protect the border. He sacrifices his life in very special circumstances. It is the governments which create situations in which the soldier may have to sacrifice his life or he may remain safe. If the governments are not able to solve their problem with neighbouring countries then soldiers may have to sacrifice their lives. If the governments show a real intent of solving the problem then our soldiers may not be required to risk their lives. War is a sign of failure of the government to solve the problem with neighbours and peace is a sign of success. A government which is concerned about its citizens will never want to go to war. On the contrary, a government insensitive towards its citizens will put their lives in danger.
 
To create war hysteria in the country is not patriotism but anti-national, as it will lead the country to disaster. It is not a sign of a responsible government, a government which thrives on the politics of jingoism. The government and the Bhartiya Janata Party may temporarily gain from the war or building an atmosphere of war, but the citizens stand to lose in the long term.
 
(The author, a former Magsaysay awardee is also Vice President, Socialist Party (India))

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