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.

Jadeed Khabar, in an editorial on December 12, wrote: “It has become imperative for Pakistan to act against all those elements present in its territory who are responsible for the growth of extremism. Extremism, in any case, is not tolerable because in today’s world, negotiations are key to resolving the most complicated problems. Extremism can be used to create new complications in any problematic situation.”

Sahafat, in an editorial (December 13), borrowing a line — ‘Jung talti rahe to behter hai’— from the famous Urdu poet Sahir Ludhianvi said: “Pakistani media is playing the tune of war for its people. But wisdom lies in keeping away from war because it does not solve problems; in fact, it makes problems more complicated and many new problems are created.”

Assembly Elections

In a front-paged commentary in Delhi-based Sahafat, entitled “Ab ‘Lauh Purush’ Advani ka kya hoga?’, on December 9), Nafees Ahmad wrote: “The results for elections to five Assemblies have brought up certain facts on which serious thought will have to be given by both the Congress and the BJP. One thing that has become clear by these results is that, now, election cannot be won with emotional slogans. Terrorism, indeed, is a serious problem and the common man is directly affected by it. But this common man does not like [it] that terrorism should be used as an instrument to garner votes.” Ahmad added that the efforts of L K Advani and other leaders of the “Saffron Brigade”, made “to derive benefit from the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, have been rejected by the common people of India.” Masoom Moradabadi, editor of Delhi-based daily Jadeed Khabar, in his column, on December 14, wrote: “The fact needs attention that the effort being made towards weakening the democratic process by a propaganda campaign against politicians, too, has failed completely because the poll percentage this time has been higher. It also proves that the people, angered by the inaction and corruption of today’s politicians, have not, so far, lost their faith in the democratic system.”

Hyderabad’s leading daily Siasat has discerned some good news for the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the election results. In an editorial on December 12 (online edition), it says: “Leaving aside the number of seats (won by the BSP), if one considers the percentage of votes secured by this party, it would be difficult to ignore it. While this achievement of the BSP is of great significance for Mayawati’s ambitions, it has created problems for the Congress and the party would have to face these problems in the future too.”

Bush - Shoe

While the Urdu press may have been expected to go on about the infamous “shoe-hurling” episode at a press conference in Baghdad, they have been quite restrained on the matter, and criticised the act as “not praiseworthy” but as a “sign of helplessness” (Hindustan Express on December 16). The paper has, however, also termed Bush as ‘be-sharam’ (shameless) in its headline.

Compiled by Seema Chisthi