“In war, truth is the first casualty”
– Aeschylus
Greek Tragic Dramatist (525 BC – 456 BC)
If one were to believe the Inter Services Public relations (ISPR) communiqués regarding the casualty figures in the ongoing military operation in North Waziristan, then the Pakistan army has been able to achieve something which no other army in the entire history of warfare has been able to attain. Is it not a spectacular achievement that the Pakistan air force and heavy artillery, which has been repeatedly bombing suspected terrorist hideouts has managed to kill more than 200 terrorists without causing even a single civilian casualty? Perhaps the Americans could take a lesson from the Pakistan army how to achieve ‘zero collateral damage during their drone strikes! Yet, even though it may sound unbelievable, we have no other choice but to believe in what the ISPR is telling us as, leave alone the combat zone, media persons and non government organisations are not even being permitted to visit relief camps setup for the internally displaced persons (IDP) of North Waziristan!
The decision of the Pakistan army not to allow media persons from entering the battle zone may be due to genuine concerns for their safety. There also may be an apprehension that the media would indulge in ‘negative –reporting’ that would demoralise the soldiers and give detractors the chance to condemn the military action in North Waziristan. However, as such a decision promotes the general belief that this is being done merely to conceal the truth, denying access to independent news gathering agencies into combat zones has its own pitfalls and is surely a ‘self- defeating’ proposition. The Pakistan army needs to realise that in the present day context, you can delay, but can in no way deny news from reaching the public. During war, whenever a total ban on independent media is evoked, an apprehension grips the public that the army is upto something very sinister that it wishes to hide from the people and such thoughts makes their mind extremely susceptible to rumours. This ultimately not only results in just what the army is trying to prevent, but also initiates an unending cycle of unsavoury news reports emerging and their rebuttal by the ISPR, which further reinforces the belief that the army has many a skeletons in its cupboard.
Besides reporting, the media also plays the important role of a ‘watchdog’ and lack of independent media in any battle zone encourages soldiers to commit excesses. The Sri Lankan army had prohibited independent media coverage of the final stage of its war against the LTTE and we know very well as to what all happened there. When there is a battle being fought, everyone knows death and misery are both unavoidable as well as inevitable. There are times when civilians inadvertently do become the victims of violence between warring groups and as such, North Waziristan can be no exception. The Pakistan army is using air force and heavy artillery against the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) holed up in and around inhabited areas and though the ISPR may wax eloquent on ‘surgical strikes’ and ‘precision bombing’, there is no way that the rockets and bombs directed at the TTP can be expected to ‘discriminate’ between the terrorists and civilians. Moreover, by its own admission, what the Pakistan army is targeting is “suspected” TTP hideouts and as such, there will always be some room for mistakes. The American forces in Afghanistan have the best weapons and equipment as well as a highly sophisticated intelligence setup. Yet, don’t we often hear of cases when wedding processions and innocent civilians were bombed due to what was described as ‘mistaken identity’ or ‘human error’?
Already, there are numerous reports of how the much publicised ‘surgical’ strikes and ‘precision’ bombings by the Pakistan air force and guns which the ISPR claims has accounted for over 200 Taliban terrorists, have also inflicted heavy casualties on innocent civilians as well as caused extensive damage to property in North Waziristan. Of course, these reports being based on ‘secondhand’ information could well be motivated, exaggerated or even false, but by maintaining a stoic silence on the issue of civilian casualties, isn’t the ISPR itself creating a perfect breeding ground for suspicion and rumours? When the nation is fully behind the army and certainly understands that some amount of civilian casualties and public discomfort is predestined, why is the ISPR avoiding any mention of the same? Even if its admission of the same invites international criticism, surely the people of Pakistan will understand and in the end this is what really matters!
The ISPR needs to realise that in the absence of the independent media in North Waziristan, the nation and the world is banking on it for comprehensive news of the military operations going on there. Therefore, in order to maintain its credibility, the ISPR has to play a more responsible role. There is an old saying that bad news of the inevitable, if timely and broken in a measured manner, finds ready acceptance, while it’s belated announcement shocks and aggrieves the recipients. It tried to do so during the Kargil war of 1999 and subsequently faced the ire of the people of Pakistan who rightly felt betrayed. So, it is for the ISPR to take the final call on whether it wishes to gradually ‘immunise’ or suddenly ‘scandalise’ the people of Pakistan, for sooner or later, the ‘bad news’ will come out. It would do the ISPR well to ponder over the observation of the noted American Historian Henry Steel Commager that, “Censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates in the end the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion!”