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Who will apologise to Gilani?

By Kalpana Sharma

You do not have to be a Kashmiri or a Muslim to worry. Anyone who dissents from the dominant order today is under threat.

SCORES OF questions about the false case against the recently released Kashmiri journalist, Syed Ifthikar Gilani, remain unanswered. These questions are likely to remain unaddressed as the case disappears off the news pages and is relegated to the archives. But what happened to Mr. Gilani should make everyone in the media sit up, particularly those who disagree with this Government's stated position on several issues, especially those pertaining to "national security". Those words are advisedly put in quotes as they carry different meanings for different people.

The first question that needs to be asked is how can a Government hold a man in jail for seven months on trumped up charges under the Official Secrets Act, disregard a report by the Military Intelligence confirming that the documents he possessed were not secret, and then blatantly withdraw the case without a word of apology? In a one-and-a-half page application, the government merely states, "Looking into the evidence on record and the circumstances, we are withdrawing the case in public interest". What circumstances? That the Government was shown up by its Military Intelligence? What evidence? Did it take seven months to establish what would have been known on Day One of the case? And what "public interest"? Whose interest was served by jailing Mr. Gilani? And who will compensate him for the loss of seven months of his life and livelihood? Who will compensate his young children and his wife for the pain and anguish caused by his unnecessary incarceration?

When asked whether the Government would at least apologise to Mr. Gilani, the Minister of State for Home, I. D. Swami, countered, "Withdrawal only means there is not enough evidence to prosecute him. It does not mean innocence or guilt." This is truly an astonishing statement against the background of what has happened in these seven months.

Of course, if we question the Government's motives, especially on issues that involve "national security", we are termed "anti-national". But as journalists in particular, and as citizens of a country that constantly boasts about being the world's largest democracy, we must question the Government, its motives and its actions. And we must continue to demand that an outdated law like the Official Secrets Act is either scrapped, or thoroughly revised. In its present form, it allows the Government unfettered power to hide information that ought to be in the public domain and move against individuals it finds inconvenient.

What happened to Mr. Gilani is not necessarily an aberration although his release might deter the Government for a while from using the same tactic to detain a journalist. It is not outside the realm of the possible to envisage a time when the Government's representatives, under any excuse, raid the offices of a newspaper, inspect the computers, and find supposedly incriminating documents on them. Many journalists rely on the Internet for information. We are constantly downloading all manner of documents, printing them or saving them for future reference. Once the state has decided you are "anti-national", every document you possess takes on a different hue. You do not have to be a Kashmiri or a Muslim to worry. Anyone who dissents from the dominant order today is under threat. If you have inconvenient politics, or inconvenient relatives, you better be alert.

Cooking up evidence is, of course, not unique to India. Many democracies resort to unsavoury methods to control dissidence, not least "the land of the brave and the home of the free", the United States. But fortunately, as in India, there still exist certain self-correcting mechanisms, like the judiciary, or honest people within government who bring out the truth.

In this context, recent developments in Italy are of particular interest. In 2001, when anti-globalisation protestors gathered in the city of Genoa, Italy, where the G-8 meeting was being held, over 20,000 police and armed personnel were mobilised to manage the 100,000 protestors. A virtual "ring of steel" was formed around the city. Train stations and airports were closed and all roads leading into the city were watched. Despite this, thousands of anti-globalisation protestors managed to come into the city and demonstrated their opposition to the issues being discussed by the heads of state of the G-8 nations. Everything went off peacefully until, in a confrontation with the police, a young man was killed. The police shot him in the head. The 21-year-old, Carlo Giuliani, became the first martyr of the movement. That same night, police stormed a school where mostly Italian activists participating in the Genoa Social Forum were sleeping. They ruthlessly beat up the startled men and women, accused them of hoarding weapons, and arrested 93 people of whom 72 were severely injured. Many of them had to be carried out on stretchers.

The universal outrage at this incident led to a parliamentary inquiry. Last week, the Italian police admitted that they had fabricated evidence against the protestors. A senior Genoa police officer, Pietro Troijani, admitted that two petrol bombs were planted in the school where the Genoa Social Forum activists were living. This was used as the excuse to storm the school on July 22. Now that these facts have come out, three police chiefs have been transferred and charges against 77 policemen for brutality are being investigated.

The inquiry also revealed that a senior police officer had faked a stabbing of a policeman in order to frame the protestors. Mr. Troijani now admits that planting the bombs was a "silly" mistake. But the repercussions for that mistake were borne by blameless men and women who were exercising their right to protest peacefully. Although all those arrested from amongst the protestors were eventually released, who will compensate them for the injury and trauma caused by police brutality?

Our Government's representatives have not acknowledged that they made a "silly" mistake in the case of Mr. Gilani. But the Government's callousness towards Mr. Gilani will have far wider repercussions. For, many people will have noted that even as the Government at the Centre shows such diligence in rounding up ostensibly "anti-national" elements, it seems oblivious to the fact that people against whom there are clear-cut cases of loot, murder, rioting are being let off. In Gujarat, almost every one of those charged for the carnage that followed the Godhra train fire is now free. At least one of these people, identified by scores of people as being part of the mob that attacked people in Naroda Patiya, has been elected to the Gujarat Assembly.

Also, the Gilani episode is a definite setback to efforts to work towards peace in Jammu and Kashmir for it reinforces the deeply held suspicions of many ordinary Kashmiris about the Central Government and its motives. A Kashmiri school-teacher and activist at the Asian Social Forum at Hyderabad earlier this month asked me, "Why, when we have finally elected a government under reasonably free circumstances, does the Delhi Government not allow it to govern?" She was referring to the continuous challenges to the Jammu and Kashmir Government's authority, and the questioning of its motives, by the Central Government.

And finally, the Government has shot itself in the foot by its handling of the Gilani case. It could not have done more to undercut its own credibility. Tomorrow, if people express scepticism when someone else is picked up and charged for being "anti-national", the Government has only itself to blame.

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• Impinging on religious freedom
• Small investors and stock market
• Kashmir at home
• Who will apologise to Gilani?
• Education for all: the unfulfilled promise
• A puppet play in Mumbai
• A reassurance
• 'Jehad' and Islam
• Lyngdoh's suggestions
• Divide and rule
• Where 'swabhiman'?
• Governor's role

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