Antulayspeak

Union Minority Affairs Minister A R Antulay’s utterances in Parliament have been reported, widely and prominently, in most mainstream Urdu dailies. Despite the new law being passed, most papers continue to focus on circumstances surrounding the death of police officers.

Mumbai-based Inquilab, on December 18, said: “Antulay’s question on Karkare’s death raises a controversy.” The lead story in the paper, talks of how the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) are at odds because of this question, and the Congress has distanced itself from his statement. It added: “The party spokesman said that the party has nothing to do with Antulay’s personal remarks.” Rashtriya Sahara’s headline read; “Was he a victim of bullets of terrorists or someone else’s?” The paper said that the new anti-terror law has increased the chances of innocents being trapped. Hindustan Express’ lead story is also a question; “ATS Chief ka qaatil, ‘bhagwaan brigade’ to nahin?” The paper writes that the minister’s statement had set off tremors (“zalzala”) in the House and that the “statement is likely to cause a lot of embarrasment to the government.” As investigations so far implicate only Pakistan, Delhi-based Sahafat, on Thursday asked; “Who is behind Hemant Karkare’s death? Terrorists from across the border or opportunists from within.”

India-Pakistan Tension

Pakistan has been at the receiving end of much criticism for its prevarications with regard to terrorism originating from its soil. Delhi-based Hindustan Express, in an editorial on December 11, expressed amazement at the fact that, on the one hand, Pakistan gives a show of action against the terrorists and their support bases, and on the other hand, “it outrightly refuses to hand over the suspected terrorists to India. Now, the suspicion is quite natural that the present political and military leadership is performing certain formalities and making an effort to reduce the international pressure on it.” The paper wonders if [any] effort is being made to protect the madrasas of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the feeder agencies of Lashkar-e-Toiba, from possible attacks by India.

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