Fai-re Fighting - Padgaonkar Must Go

The names of many people who attended various conferences of ISI backed Ghulam Nabi Fai are now coming out in bits and pieces. Frankly, it is not a crime or sin to have attended Fai’s conferences. We have been having conferences with seditious speeches right in the heart of Delhi. Most of these prominent personalities have claimed not to have known Fai’s ISI links when they accepted his invitations on sponsored trips to these conferences. However, the writings and statements of some of the participants in the public domain will now come under scrutiny. If, for some reason, the FBI has managed to nail him only now it is obvious Fai wouldn’t go around advertising his real sponsors. At the same time it is just as hard to believe that these participants were naïve enough to not know Fai’s anti-India position on the Kashmir issue. Fai had also selected Indians whose views matched or supported his agenda in some ways. It is also strange that seasoned journalists and others who were in the Fai network never ever wondered how he got his funding and never bothered to ask. There is one particular journalist who was a participant and is currently playing an important role in the Kashmir issue: Dileep Padgaonkar.

"We are here to look for a permanent solution to the Kashmir issue...but a permanent solution is not possible without the involvement of Pakistan." That was the statement Dileep Padgaonkar made immediately after being appointed interlocutor for Kashmir. That statement had created quite some controversy but it will now be viewed in the light of the Fai revelations. From reports it also appears that his Fai connection has created some unease among other interlocutors.

It is worth reading the excerpt below from a news article:

“Fai, by contrast, was quiet, conservative, but well-heeled, which was bit of a mystery because he was not technically employed by the Pakistani government or its embassy (we know only now from the FBI that he was bankrolled by ISI through phony Pakistani-American donations)…….. He was a pleasant man, but he had shady written all over him.

I had a just one encounter with Fai early on, and it did not go well. He lectured me on Kashmiri history and hectored me on the atrocities by Indian forces. With collegiate insouciance, I told him I've much to learn about the history of Kashmir, but he could start by telling me origin of the name Kashmir and Srinagar. He got the point, turned red in the face, changed the subject, and collared me on the plebiscite issue. I asked if he thought Pakistan would abide by the terms of the UN Resolution (which required withdrawal of its forces from PoK and allowed India to keep minimum number of troops to maintain order). And would Pakistan be able to get back the areas of Kashmir it had ceded to China? And how about restoring the demographics of that time (ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri pundits was already underway), not to speak of the relative harmony that existed at that time? I was never invited to another Fai event…….I don't particularly share the current lynch mob perspective in India over the dozen or so eminence grise from India who attended Fai's gigs, and perhaps enjoyed his hospitality. You had to be daft not to realize that he peddled the Pakistani line on the Kashmir issue but it would have required extraordinary acuity to discern he was an ISI stooge.”

That was Chidanand Rajghattawriting in the Times of India. Rajghatta writes for the same journal that DP once headed as editor. Now, if he could sense something shady about Fai in one single encounter surely people like Padgaonkar aren’t so dumb as to not see something fishy about the guy.

There are other reports that the Indian foreign office was aware of Fai’s ISI connections for two decades now. Strange that many of the Indians who participated in his programs would have never spoken to the foreign office or the Indian embassy in the US. Prior to his emails it seems he used to send out hate-filled faxes and the Indian embassy in Washington had coined the term ‘fax-terrorism’ for him. Sounds funnier when you learn he was arrested in Fairfax, Virginia.

There are others like Rajinder Sachar, former judge and ‘Sachar Committee’ author of the ‘minority muslims’ report. Clearly, that report will now be suspect and for good reasons too. One of the best defences of the Fai connections came from Gautam Navlakha. On being asked about the junkets sponsored by Fai, Navlakha clarified that the travel was not by ‘business’ class but by ‘economy’ class. A long term enemy without cannot succeed much if we do not have enemies within. It is often referred to as ‘The fifth column’. Knowingly or unknowingly some Indians have indeed played the role of the fifth column. Some of Fai’s Indians may also have been paid for their speeches. Time will tell.

Padgaonkar’s utterances immediately on taking over as Kashmir interlocutor were already suspect. The Fai revelations have only added fuel to speculation about his “usefulness”! Given these events his position as an interlocutor in Kashmir is untenable. Padgaonkar must quit that post immediately.

Fai Accompli For Mediacrooks

Throughout the evening on July 19 most Indian news channels were live with the British Parliament hearings of the NOTW-Murdoch phone hacking scandal. Some even had expert panellists to comment on the proceedings. The NOTW scandal isn’t about just phone hacking but also about bribing police officials, nepotism in recruitment and the connection of journalists with top politicians of the UK. Our media celebrities then went on a discourse on media ethics. If anything, the corrupt media in India is far worse than the one in Britain. Out there someone did expose the corrupt practices but here in India the media follows the Rajdeep Sardesai ethic of “Hammam Mein Sab Nange Hain”!

So enamoured with the hearings was one media celebrity that she sent out this tweet:

BDUTT barkha dutt

Could India ever hope for such a transparent and civilised inquisition as the one unfolding in UK right now. That would be the day.

July 19

Yes indeed! That would be the day! But prior to that NDTV needs to hold a mirror to itself. This is the channel whose most prominent media celebrity, Barkha Dutt, was in the midst of the Nira Radia scam and is accused of power-brokering. NDTV’s muddled financial dealings were also exposed by The Sunday Guardian. NDTV is also the channel whose head, Prannoy Roy, is accused of being let of by CBI. NDTV is also the channel whose journalist, Sunetra Choudhury, is on leave from 13^th July. Sunetra Choudhury had to write an article in the DNA newspaper about a top UPA politician insulting her modesty with sexual innuendos. Yeah, this is the NDTV that wouldn’t stand up for its own journalist and put that politician in the dock. Barkha Dutt should have been fired long back and NDTV should have shut down by now. A prominent financial news journalist wonders how the loss making NDTV continues to receive funding. “Transparency and civilised inquisition”, Indeed!

As a wag puts it:  “Act like Rebekah Brooks and talk like Mother Theresa”!

It doesn’t stop there. As if in a divine turn of events the Cash-for-votes scam has surfaced again due to court intervention. Some key players have been arrested and all roads seem to be leading to Amar Singh. He is, of course, the media’s once favourite politician who sang songs on NDTV. The sting operation tapes which CNN-IBN had were not aired in July 2008 before the parliament voted on the no-confidence motion. There was tall talk of ethics by Rajdeep Sardesai then. Dirty politics and politicians would have been exposed and the course of the nation could have been altered. Now, Rajdeep of the ‘Hammam...’ fame claims credit for the sting and expose. There was no expose because the tapes were not aired but were suppressed for reasons best known to Rajdeep Sardesai. He is the guy on July 19 during the UK parliament hearings who stated “Indian media doesn’t have such tabloid culture”! No, Indian media has worse. Many of our media celebrities are pawns of politicians and practically political players themselves. The media exists to curb abuse of power but in India the major players have themselves joined the party.

Corruption and Corrupt politicians exist and thrive because of corrupt media. The media silence on Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Robert Vadhera, Sahara group, Paid news, Reliance group and many such issues get successfully covered up due to a compliant media. For these celebrities to talk about ethics following the UK hearings is a terrible joke. If anything people like Rajdeep Sardesai and Rahul Kanwal have actually cut off people who even want to talk about the corruption by Sonia Gandhi and the Gandhi family. Besides these channels are too busy doing the Bollywood nonsense with every week’s new releases and their actors and directors. Let’s also not forget they are also into kitchens, couches, nights out, saas-bahu and so on. Real news and real reporting is like a part-time lover.

As if all that wasn’t enough out comes the news of the arrest of Ghulam Nabi Fai of Kashmir American Council. He’s the guy who had many sympathisers of Kashmir Azaadi from India at various conferences and meetings. Journalists, politicians, humanitarians have been involved with him. Among names associated with him at some time and in some way or the other that are coming out are Kuldip Nayar, Rajinder Sachar, Arundhati Roy, Dileep Padgaonkar and the list may be longer. Turns out for over two decades Fai’s organisation was being funded by the ISI of Pakistan.

Indian media is not all corrupt. But the ones that are corrupt are not just hand-in-glove with corrupt politicians but may even turn out to be unwittingly assisting anti-national elements like Ghulam Nabi Fai.

Shall we say – Fai Accompli, mediacrooks?