Decades Of Living Dangerously

In over two decades of journalism, I would have to say that of a cast ofmany, it is the Pakistan Muslim League and the Punjab police which have providedme my most unforgettable moments.

A colourful member of another political party, however, comes a close second:once, as I had the mortification of watching, he decided to unzip in anelevator. Fortunately, the lift doors opened at that moment and we (the restbeing a bunch of foreigners) trooped out. No one looked back. Talk of 'shock andawe!'

As steel-tipped batons rained on us at the FIA centre in Rawalpindi, the thickwinter jacket I had on took some of the brunt, but the bruises told their ownstory. The Muslim League's war against the Jang/News had entered a new phase:the FIA was employed to 'steal' our newsprint leaving us with nothing for thenext morning's edition. We had decided to fight back. Hence our stopover at theFIA centre.

Nawaz Sharif's Punjab police had been well-trained in intimidation tactics, butit was the outcome of the homework the outfit's intelligence department had donethat hurt more than the physical assault. As fellow colleagues tried to shieldme from their batons, one of my tormentors remarked, "Give her the sametreatment we gave her dog." Another retorted, "Array yaar, we killedthe wrong bitch." Suddenly the penny dropped: the vet had told me my Germanshepherd, my only live-in companion, had been poisoned to death. Now I knew bywhom. This was one bruise that would not heal with time.

Word gets around. Late that night the helpless but rather kind-hearted InteriorMinister, Shujaat Hussain, called to apologise and reassure me that he hadnothing to do with what had transpired. When he offered to send police personnelto 'protect' me, I nearly freaked out, saying it was the police I neededprotection from!

Years later, we were still appearing in court to attend hearings pertaining tothe case since it had not been squashed. We realised that though the governmentof the day was not interested in pursuing the case, we still had to get bail,because the charges against us could still have us cooling our heels behindbars.

Finally, there was a day of judgement. A policeman with chains and handcuffs ina transparent plastic shopping bag parked himself next to us and began toominously rattle the bag. When he did this for the umpteenth time, I asked whathis problem was. "He is letting you know how much pleasure he will haveputting the contents of his shopping bag around your wrists and ankles if thejudgement goes against you," was the reply I got.

During Benazir Bhutto's 'Long March' against Nawaz Sharif, we learnt that theintelligence agencies had ensured some journalists could not enter Islamabad. Myeditor decided that no matter what, we still needed the story. He asked me tosneak into Islamabad and spend the night at Benazir Bhutto's house. That wouldgive us an exclusive. I managed, and Benazir and I chatted late into the night.

We talked about how the government would react to the Long March as the capitalwas already under siege. "I am not really worried at all, except for thebaby of course," she remarked casually. It was only then that I realisedthe leader of the opposition was pregnant. It also explained her nocturnalnibbling. And I wonder if Farooq Leghari and Naseerullah Babar knew of hercondition as they shielded her the next day from the brute force of theagencies.

The next government around, it was the 'Train March.' A colleague and I took acamera crew to cover Nawaz Sharif (for Doordarshan) as he started hisnovel protest campaign against the PPP government. Now in opposition, the MuslimLeague was docile, polite and ever so cooperative. On board, we chatted withNawaz Sharif for a while, and as we left his compartment, one Leaguer askedanother, "What is she doing filming us?" Replied Ejaz ul Haq,"Must be footage that she wants to hand over to the ISI." Having beenraised on funds pocketed from the ISI by his father during the Afghan war, thissurely must have been the height of cheek. It was the only time in my life thatI allowed better sense to prevail: my gut response would have been to attackhim. But I bided my time.

I got my chance not long after at a PML get-together at a hotel. I walkedstraight up to him and then there was no stopping me. Caught completely offguard, he started muttering excuses, denying what he had said.

Allegations of Washington's inordinate interest in running governments by proxyin Islamabad, even orchestrating the appointment of Prime Ministers andministers of their choice, is not a new phenomenon. Way back, when BenazirBhutto was trying to cobble together her first cabinet, her hands were tied notonly by an unfriendly President and Chief of Army Staff, but also by Washingtonwhich wanted its say. At a diplomatic gathering, we tried to chat up theAmerican diplomats present to unearth, at the very least, who the future foreignminister would be. "Sahibzada Yakub will make it to the Ministry of ForeignAffairs," a senior American diplomat whispered, inspiring me to leave thereception immediately to file an 'exclusive.'

General Aslam Beg's attempt at glasnost when he invited the media to cover theZarb-e-Momin exercise across the Punjab, provided us much food for thought:clearly this was one army whose top generals were not interested in war.Desperate to use the loo, two other women journalists and I sneaked into thecaravan assigned to one general. We had seen him in the dining area and assumedit was safe to enter.

It was quite a revelation. The grandeur of makeshift living quarters - and thattoo during a military exercise - was nothing short of mind-boggling. Nothing, itseemed, was too much for the generals' comfort. After I wrote a piece on theexperience, my father, a soldier from the old school, was shell-shocked: was thearmy really only using mineral water? And that was the least of it. If only thephotographs we took had been published! As for the rest of my information, thatfell prey to the editor's brief regarding word count.

Wait for the book!

This article was first published in the Newsline, Pakistan