'Bombs Defused In Newsrooms'

The media came in for special, shall we say, special criticism by theIndian Mujahideen in the email sent by them on September 13, timed with theblasts in Delhi. Whether or not they had actually been closely monitoring thecoverage by various English language newspapers, it turns out that they hadcertainly been reading "Issues in Media" section of the media-watchwebsite the Hoot veryseriously, for the email reproduced verbatim some of the criticism in thearticle dated Septemeber 5, titled "Bombs defused in newsrooms",though they did insert some of the qualifying adjectives such as"wretched" and "bad" etc at various places.

This is what the email purportedly sent by the Indian Mujahideen saysabout the media coverage:

"The coverage of news by both the electronic as well as print media clearly depicts the level to which their immorality has reached while obeying their loyal masters of IB [Intelligence Bureau]. But let us clarify here that you forgot your own principle: that sometimes the stories untold serve the purpose more than the stories told. Look at the way you handled the blasts in which Sangh activists have been involved.

"With the Will of Allah, the Most Sublime, both the Bajrang Dal activisits were killed and sentenced to Hell fire while they were engaged in bomb making—an art which needs extraordinary intelligence—at Kanpur, and this was rightly reported by the Indian Express mentioning that the police was astonished to see the quantity of bombs found. The ‘apes’ of Bajrang Dal were too foolish to plot a revenge blast in Kanpur on 24th Aug. 2008 against the Muslims.

"The blast which occurred on 24th August hardly found even a single column space in The Times of India the next day. Hindustan Times carried the news, but without mentioning the identity of thewretched ones who were killed. The only information it delivered was that the father of Piyush Mishra, one among the dead, was running a private hostel in the locality! On 26th August, the Indian Express and Mail Today mentioned the news in some detail("The Bajrang Bomb?"—Indian Express). There were hardly any follow-up stories in Times of India. Stories of Omprakash alias Bunty, a gang leader who was gunned down by the police was the topic Times of India gave to its readers the next day. Times spent more than a page for Bunty the gang leader. On the following days, there was an extensive coverage of police cracking down the Jaipur blast mystery, ‘investigative’ stories on Shahbaz Hussain, the ‘computer savvy’ master mind (yet another forged lie) alleged to be behind the serial blasts. But a dreadful silence was kept about the origin of bombs dug out from the camp of Sangh Parivar all along. A great number of human rights activists and organisations demanded an immediate probe to investigate the explosive agenda hidden by Sangh Parivar. The statements issued and press conferences conducted in this regard were limited to single columns in the national newspapers….

"The coverage of the Sangh Parivar violence in Orissa, by the mainstream media reveals the bad character of the Indian press. After the very first day of violence… Times of India didn’t find it worthy enough to mention it in the front page! After 26th of August, the Times reader can hardly find news from Orissa, unless he dives into the inner pages. Times of India has written an editorial demanding to put an end to violence against Christians in Orissa. From the daynext, the newspaper runs as if it had completed its duty and has better things to do!

"Look at the effort the Times News Network takes to endorse the VHP argument that Lakshminanda Saraswati was killed not by the Maoists but by the Christian missionaries (heading:"Maoists didn’t kill VHP leader"—The Times of India, 31st August). On the other hand, the Orissa violence made a clear appearance in other newspapers like The Hindu, Indian Express, and Hindustan Times. They have given extensive coverage to theplight of hundreds of Christians, who were forced to run. Why is it that the Sangh parivar violence is never dealt with in the same intensity as ‘Islamic Terror’ is treated?

"The media always uses double standards to measure terrorism. The word ‘terrorism’ is never used when a story on Sangh violence is told, no matter how large scale the violence is. The violence unleashed by the Sangh Parivar in Gujarat was defined only as "expression of communalism" and the same is the case with what happens in Orissa at present. At this moment we ask you as to why the ‘Sangh terror’ on all the minorities including the Muslims, Dalits and Christians is a rarely noticedidea?

"With this message, we have hereby justified as to why the bastard Timesof India and its columnist Tarun Vijay is on our crosshair right now andthis time too we warn you that the time has come for your breath to be arrestedin our lethal claws so that you may suffer the agonies of"psychologically" fighting us. Even if you defend the criminals of VHPand RSS, shielding them from us, the Indian Mujahideen has plenty of ways,already planned, to make them cry for their sins, and one of which they havealready faced in the parking of LG and Civil Hospitals. So next time wheneveryou are there in the hospital premises for the "blood donation"program, it is our assurance to you that we'll be there too for our "bloodreception" program. Hence in future it is expected that you will not be socareless!"