The Media’s Negligence of the North-East

Face the fact – the media has always had a sloppy side in reporting whats happening in the north-east. The Indian Media, simply fails to actively report any incident thats happening in the North-Eastern parts of our country. The only time it ever appears in the news is for some ULFA bomb attacks or if one of the so called ‘famous’ politicians makes a visit. Apart from that the Indian Media seems to have no reason what so ever to report on the incidents of the north-east.

So what exactly is the north-east. The North-East, as its commonly known across India, consists of the 7 states located at the north-east part of India, viz., Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Tripura. Tough many people have heard about Assam in the news, the rest of the 7 ‘sisters’, remain in a total negligence from the media. Partially blame it on the political leaders leading the country. Though they have the time and money to go to every other state in the country, they just cant make it to the north-east.

manip 313 The Medias Negligence of the North EastI have friends who hail from that region, and i admit that, if it wasnt for them, i would have never even realized about this. The media, just feeds us with all the rubbish things from a shoot-out in Delhi to the local political party’s march in Cochin. These things are hailed and showcased as things of national interest, but not the killing of a law abiding officer and how it subsequently put a population into crisis. I’m talking about the killing of Dr Kishan, who was brutally murdered.

The sad part is that, when i got a mail from a friend asking me to help him report this event, i googled for it. The top results for – “Dr Kishan murder” – didnt even reveal any of the top news sites. Here are a few links -

It was indeed sad when, i was faced with the question, “We are also Indians, why are we treated differently every where?”. It time for us to stop ignoring whats happening to our brothers and sisters out there, and ask for more stringent action from the government. This news were actively reported by many sites and media, based out of the north-east, but none of the main-stream media picked it up.

Following is the mail that i received -

Respected Sir/Madam,
Three unclaimed bodies lie in the morgue of Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal since Feb. 17. They have been brutally murdered, hit with spade on head and then smashed with rock. One among them is Dr. Kishan, gold medalist at Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, a civil servant of Manipur government and Sub-divisional officer of a remote village in Manipur. His mistake – he stood against diversion of development fund by the mighty extortionist, the self proclaimed savior of the region, popularly known in common man’s term as inner government and more powerful than the democratically elected government. He did something which no one, not even the Chief Minister of the state, dare to do. The other two were his sub-ordinate staff.

The incident brought already troubled state into complete standstill since last four days because of Bandh, Strikes and curfew. The bodies are not claimed and ex-gratia rejected by families demanding injustice. With no transportation, market, medicine shop etc. the entire state has turned to a hell on earth. Essential commodities are not reaching the state. People are not having enough food to eat now. My brother is sick and my parents could not even step out of the house to buy medicine. Families of vegetable vendors who buy 1-2kg of rice everyday by selling their vegetables are starving now. The schools and colleges in the whole state are closed.

But what is more shocking than the incident and the situation following it, is the fact that the national media, as usual, is ignorant of the situation. Perhaps, Jawaharlal Nehru’s ” Jewel of India” and “the birth place of modern day polo”, is not as important and as valuable as SRK’s shoulder. Dr. Kishan was as Indian as S Manjunath, a sales manager of IOC, who also met the same fate a few years back, which media took up making it an issue for whole nation which is in fact a great thing. He belongs to the state whose people still praise for Indian cricket team, the state whose sportspersons still proudly represent India in all international sports events. But why so much partiality in recognizing a hero? Is it because the state contributes very little TRP of news channels, buys less copies of newspaper and appeal less interest to the sponsors? Is heroism recognized by a place of birth rather than act he does to the Indian media? Doesn’t the situation of 30 lakh population have anything do with anyone in India?

Manipur is turning into a killing field with daily basis killings on the card. In such a situation in Manipur, when the responsibility of media becomes twofold, where are they? They need to look at the reality faced by the people of the state. They made the news of “Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapur Break-up” as breaking news but don’t bother to look at the traumatized situation of a whole state. Do the people of state deserve such treatment? It hurts when all these things are happening right in front of our eyes.

The world will laugh hearing the much hyped term “Superpower India” when the people of the country does not even know the boundary of their own country and not aware of what is happening inside their country. Thanks to the responsible Indian media. Hats off to you!!
Regards,
xxxxxxxx

Its indeed sad.

Valentine’s Day Contemplations

“You don’t have to get me a red-rose. I’m already yours!!!”, well i still don’t know if that was a trick question or not that she threw at me. All i asked her, “Shall i give you a red-rose?”

Or rather i wasn’t supposed to ask anything like that. May be it was stupid cupid playing the role of the culprit. How the hell would i ever know what she meant? Cant they just ask us what they want rather than using virtual pointers. We run Java, pointers are not an option and why else do you think we date so many and never result in garbled memory. The core is never dumped.(2 years with IT industry this is all that i have left in my mind)

Sandy had said it the right way,

“And they say, love makes the world go round.
It sure does, in damned circles of nothingness.”

Inspired from Love and his post on Nothingness, came my two posts Second in Love and Second in Love – The Closure, two close to reality stories. 3 in fact!

Trust me “Guys who are Single”, the world will be mean to you, but once SHE is there in your life, your life can never get meaner. Jokes apart they do bring in a sense of orderliness if your really serious. I have seen that in people. They change overnight. Power of Love, they say, Power of HER i say.

Some people really live their life out on LOVE. They forget that they have a life that’s precious and they forget it. All the sweet words that you might have said and those moments that you cherished are all good. But once you break-up, you need to move on. Kambath Ishq, is to be blamed? No dude. Its you at blame’s end. Move on!!!

GUYs never ever on a very special day, especially on this day, tell her that you will get food from outside. You can never be convincing enough and wont sound sweet to her at all. Trust me all that She would hear would be, “I cant eat the carp that you prepare everyday! I need a break at least today. So lets eat outside”. Let her to decide. Its the safest bet. Watch “Pyaar Ke Side-Effects”, its a nice start for beginners.

As a parting gift, here is my 2 cents – Never trust someone who says, “I cant live without YOU! You’re my life”. Thats the biggest lie in the world.

And with all these said, I wonder why i’m still here in office on Valentine Day’s eve, working. She hasn’t called either. He phone is not reachable too…

(This post is now abruptly stopped. There has been a Fire Alarm at my office and Its a fake!!! Somebody got too steamy in love on V-Day i guess.;) )

US Conspiracy behind Bhutto’s Assassination?

conspiracy US Conspiracy behind Bhuttos Assassination?Is there a US funded conspiracy behind Benazir Bhutto’s assassination?

Well thats why we call it a conspiracy. The attack has been said to be an Al Quaida has been already blamed for it and like any other suicide attack, this one too will end up in Al Quaida’s backyard.

So is there as US mastermind behind the killing of the prolific leader, who was greeted by 3 million supporters on her return in 1986. Though she claims that the military was trying to ‘eliminate’ her, it was more or less brushed aside as allegations.

Look at US. Post 9/11 saw a major sympathy towards the US and when they attacked the then Taliban ruled Afghanistan, the world was with them. Bush had the sympathy of his people, people forgot about Vietnam and supported him. US’ earlier crusade on the Gulf soil against Iraq, on the pretext of helping Kuwait had mixed support. With the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) backing US and providing them a base, they won the war, drove away the invading Iraqi soldiers and were Heroes overnight. Enough to save their face and a step closer to build allies in the OIL rich Gulf. But what people didnt see that the war expenses that the US put forward for Kuwait. The oil rich nation could only look on hands tied as their only wealth was being taken away to foreign soil in the pretext of the war expenses.

Look at the allies for US in Asia. We have South Korea, South-east asia was almost a failure with Vietnam, South-asia has India (who forgot the ties with Iran and Iraq and supported US in every deal to some Nuclear deal that looks no where near), Pakistan (their long time ally), KSA (their only friend in the Muslim gulf for a long time, pumping out oil for them) and Turkey in the far west. Lets rule out Turkey as its Europe.

So if you see US doesn’t have a really have many strong allies in Asia. Russia in rags is against them, China is not and that is a power to be reckoned with.

Benazir on the other hand, was sure to come into power and with the current US international affairs had only half the chances of supporting them. Mush was always in love with Bush. He let his backyards burn when he supported the US attack on Afghanistan.

So the only way any one could have really touched Ms. Bhutto, with the kind of protection that Mush had provided, was with his knowledge. Pakistan had the backing of US and any impending attack on Ms. Bhutto would have made the US Intelligence alert the Pak Security and in effect forced Musharraf to alleviate that.

If you see the patter of the initial reports – “…Suddenly, there was an explosion and Bhutto’s bodyguards immediately bundled her into a SUV and attempted to move out of the area…Just then, two men rode by the car on motorcycles. One of them blew himself up and even as Bhutto came out to see what had happened a sniper pumped five bullets into her neck and chest…”[IBN Live]

Rediff reports it as – “…Benazir was shot at by a sniper rifle from close range and a few moments later a suicide bomber created the blast to make sure that she is assassinated. It was a determined effort. They made sure she doesn’t survive the attack. She died due to the injury in her neck…”

So clearly the attack was planned with the notion of how the security was going to react and the timing was impeccable. If i’m sure, when even high profile leaders, especially leaders who has already been a target of suicide attack, travels the security is so tight that no one stands a chance to even approach them.

Definitely MUSH loves BUSH … look at them cuddling…

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated

benazir onpak 248 Benazir Bhutto AssassinatedThe former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated earlier this evening. She was attending a campaign rally. Reports of the attack go like this :

Suddenly, there was an explosion and Bhutto’s bodyguards immediately bundled her into a SUV and attempted to move out of the area…Just then, two men rode by the car on motorcycles. One of them blew himself up and even as Bhutto came out to see what had happened a sniper pumped five bullets into her neck and chest.

The news reports -

IBN Live Reports : BENAZIR BHUTTO ASSASSINATED and Benazir’s day began in triumph, ended in assassination

BBC Reports : Benazir Bhutto killed in attack

Rediff News : Benazir Bhutto assassinated

Its a sad state of affairs. Yes, we need to shoot the politicians, but this is not what we had in mind. Pakistan was in chaos, now it is … and God forbid, but it seems like its going to be in more chaos. Musharraf is failing in keeping the only few ties that was helping him build a democratic nation that he promised. Or may be its was his idea to keep the coup running and keep the power.

Well after all what happened, this is what the leaders had to say -

“The subcontinent has lost an outstanding leader who worked for democracy and reconciliation in her country,” said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

US President George W Bush condemned a “cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan’s democracy”.

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said “extremist groups… [could] not and must not succeed”.

What ever the result may be or how ever we say she was, indeed its been a loss beyond any repair for Pakistan and the world has lost another charismatic leader.