Pinarayi's Humiliation of Journalist.. Indian Media Forum remains Mum
DUBAI - Deepika International, Malayala Manorama and the Asianet channel have reported about an unfortunate incident in Pinarayi's Press Conference organised by Dubai Art Lovers Association (DALA), a gathering of left leaning intellectuals and social workers, who always claim to value freedom of the press. The occasion was the press conference to announce the 250th episode of Pravasi Lokam, a popular programme of Kairali TV. Present in the press conference where a who is who of Indian Media in Dubai including office bearers of the Indian Media Forum (IMF). The press conference, organised by DALA officials on behalf of Kairali TV and those present included John Brittas, Managing Director and a well known journalist, P.T.Kunju Mohammed, writer, film maker, former MLA and anchor of the Pravasi lokam programme and Anazuddin Aziz,, his brother Rafeeq Rauther, E.M.Ashraf, writer, journalist, activist and Middle East coordinator of Kairali TV. Representatives of almost all the Malayalam newspapers and TV channels were also present. One notable guest from was P.M.Jabbir, Muscat coordinator of Pravasilokam..
Pinarayi Vijayan, heading the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is likely to be the next chief minister of the state. He was talking about various Pravasi Issues like unfiar airfare, labour exploitation etc. Apparently the popular leader who was in Dubai as part of a damage control exercise and to reverse the party's steep decline in popularity, was briefed by the office bearers about the "trouble making journalist," who was not officially invited to participate in the event. E.M.Ashraf was kind enough to send an early morning telephone invitation to attend the function. In fact, I had no plan to attend the function without an invitation. However, when Ashraf called to extend a hearty welcome, I did not have any second thoughts about attending the next cheif ministers first press conference in Dubai.
What followed is reported by these two newspapers and by the Asianet channel. A section of the left party affiliated association has also taken up the issue. When almost all the journalists attending the press conference were busy with their own priorities , the rude manner in which a journalist was humiliated and silenced by a very powerful politician in the presence of cultural leaders and champons of democracy simply for raising an "embarrassing" question was quite a painful experience. Some of the journalists were heard murmering ... "he deserved it" and "he sould not ask such questions...." He should learn a lesson..trying to be oversmart....the murmering goes on.. "It is unfortunate that a journalist was called Bhranthan (mad) by Pinarayi Vijayan, Secretary of a so called progressive party like Communist Party of India -Marxist. It is ironical that the press conference was organised by Dubai Art Lovers Association (DALA), a leading cultural organisation in the Middle East. It is equally astonishing that the event happened in the presence of leading journalists from a channel that claims to represent people's aspirations," says Kuzhur Wilson, poet and a leading journalist. "What provoked Pinarayi Vijayan was a question about the Kiliroor VIP and it is assumed that VIPs will call those who raise such questions as "mad". "It was astonishing that other VIPs were laughting at the journalist who was the subject of humiliation," he added.
What was the question raised by the journalist? It was about the problems facing several innocent girls/woman from Kerala who are trapped in sex rackets. When a similar question was raised to the current chief minister and the Congress leader Ommen Chandy, during a similar press conference organised by the Indian Media Forum (IMF), Chandy had a patient hearing and a partially convincing answer. The question about the governments attittude towards the Kiliroor and Kaviyoor sex scandals that rocked the state politics for a short period. As a gentleman he had the patience to explain various steps taken by the government machinery to control the sex trafficking issue. Obviously, it is not just one political party which is involved in these crimes and various media reports suggested that prominent CPM leaders were involved in the Kiliroor sex scandals. "When journalists were attacked in Kerala by the Muslim League members for reporting about the Rejina sex scandal, the Indian Media Forum was prompt in contempting the attacks. It is unfortunate that when one of the journalist in Dubai was humiliated by a CPM leader, all the journalists and the Indian Media Forum remained mum. It is double standard," says Punnakkal Mohammed Ali, a social worker and active politician. According to him, the media which covered the event and exposed the arrogance of the CPM leader needs to be appreciated.
But what differentiated Chandy from Pinarayi is the arrogance and intolerance shown by the communist leader as against the "patient hearing" and cultured response from a Congress Chief Minister. It is often argued that the left political leaders and intellectuals are more civilized and maintain personal integrity in public life. However, my bitter epxerience with Pinarayi proves that such tall claims about intellectual and cultural superiority of communist leaders is a myth... Pinarayi's own party MLAs made a detailed study about the issue of sex trafficking and reached a conclusion that about 6,000 Keraltie girls are trapped every year in the sex trafficking.. The recent report by the American state department is also an eye opener. Is it assumed that journalists should not raise such issues? Charity begins at home and Pinarayi did not want the issue to be dragged on in the press conference with other journalists asking more embarassing questions ..If the issue was discussed in detail, the veil of screcy surrounding his secret understanding with other religious and political groups deeply involved in the subject would have been exposed. Pinarayi was smart enough to avoid such a situation by calling the journalist as " Bhranthan" and recommending him to get early treatment for mental illness .. It is another matter that he made similar remarks about M.N.Vijayan... and anyone who raised uncomfortable questions... Obviously Pinarayi is mad for power..read the next chief ministers chair and when Mohan Vadyar of Gulf Today addressed him as the next chief minister... his facial expression exhibited his hunger for power..
What pained the journalist is the studied silence maintained by senior journalists who were present on the occasion. Officials of the Indian Media Forum were prompt to contempt attacks against media by the alleged League activists on the same issue in Kerala. When India Vision office was ransacked and left leaning journalists were attacked, there was a spontaneous response... Our journalist friends talk emotionally about attacks on journalists in Iraq by the American imperalist army.. When one of them was "humiliated" in their presence just for asking a general question, embarassing of course, everybody remained silent.for unknown reasons... Nobody wanted to embarass the next chief minister who controls a popular channel and the party.. At least there was a Naser Bepur and Sergy Thomas in Deepika International, Pradeep Pillai and Elvis in Malayala Manorama.. to give a report... Biju Abel Jacob of Asianet also did a special report on the humiliating experience... Despite KM reporting about them on several occasions... The victim, a member of the Indian Media Forum..did not get even a sympathetic look from the one and only association of Indian journalists in Dubai.. shall we add a small alphabet in its name... Indian Media Formum...mmm
Here is the report by Naser Bepur of Deepika.. Above..Malayala Manorama..
Pinarayi Restless to hear about VS ..VIP..and Sex Rackets
Mrs. Maryam Al Shamsi, co-coordinator of the Society and Government Relations, PCFC.
QATAR AIRWAYS TO LAUNCH FLIGHTS TO NEW DELHI
Airline Prepares To Add Fifth Route In India
Extra Capacity To Mumbai, Cochin And Hyderabad
28 June 2005 Doha, QATAR – Following the recent successful round of air service bilateral discussions between the governments of Qatar and India, Qatar Airways is pleased to announce that it will be expanding services to India from next month by launching flights to New Delhi and increasing capacity on existing services. The bilaterals concluded with Qatar Airways being allowed to almost double the number of weekly seats which it can offer between Qatar and India. Qatar Airways currently operates 19 scheduled flights a week between Doha, the airline’s operational hub in the State of Qatar, spread across four Indian destinations – Cochin, Trivandrum, Hyderabad and Mumbai.This summer, the airline will increase capacity to India with 11 additional flights a week taking the number of services to 30 across five Indian cities. From 14 July 2005, award-winning Qatar Airways will add the capital, New Delhi, to its Indian route map with seven services a week.
The route will initially be operated with an Airbus A320 in a two-class configuration of 12 seats in Business and 132 in Economy. The Delhi route will offer excellent connections over Doha to and from European and Middle East cities served by Qatar Airways.The Delhi route will later be upgraded to a widebody Airbus A330 in a three-class configuration of First Class, Business and Economy, featuring Qatar Airways’ revolutionary interactive Audio Video On Demand inflight entertainment system and premium cabin seats that convert into flat beds.
Qatar Airways is also expanding capacity on existing routes to India. From July 15, the Mumbai route will increase from six services a week to daily with the introduction of a new Friday night flight from Doha.Cochin, currently served three-times-a-week, will be boosted with two additional weekly departures, on Mondays and Wednesdays from Doha, beginning on July 18. Three days later, on July 21, a fourth weekly frequency will be added to the Hyderabad schedules with the launch of an early morning Thursday flight.Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said he was delighted that the airline was spreading its long-awaited Five Star service to New Delhi.“Delhi has been on our radar screens for many years and I am extremely pleased to say we are now finally able to launch scheduled flights to India’s political capital,” he said.“I would like to thank the Indian and Qatari authorities for working so diligently to make this route happen. India has been enjoying an economic boom with capacity for air seats unable to meet the high demand.
“The Indian government has been extremely pro-active in recent months in opening up the skies to more services, and I applaud their approach to make the aviation environment to and from India more competitive.”“Our new Delhi flights and additional capacity going into Mumbai, Hyderabad and Cochin will help meet the demand, particularly during the summer rush and also help grow our overall business and leisure traffic to India.”Al Baker added that Qatar Airways would further increase capacity to India to fulfill its permitted quota of services as new aircraft are introduced into the fleet.Qatar Airways currently operates scheduled flights from Doha to 65 destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Indian subcontinent and the Far East. The airline will add the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to its growing list of destinations from November 15.
Qatar Airways currently operates a modern fleet of 40 all-Airbus aircraft, which will almost double within a few years. Earlier this month, Al Baker announced plans at the Paris Air Show for Qatar Airways to acquire up to 80 aircraft, comprising 60 of the new generation A350s and 20 Boeing 777s worth a total US$15.2 billion. The airline is one of the launch customers of the twin-deck A380 ‘super jumbos’ with four aircraft on order and scheduled for delivery from 2009 to coincide with the opening of the New Doha International Airport.Qatar Airways recently retained its status as one of only a select-few Five Star-ranked airlines in the world by Skytrax, the independent aviation industry monitoring agency.Skytrax also named Qatar Airways’ cabin crew as Best in the Middle East for the third year running and fifth best in the world following a survey of more than 12 million passengers worldwide, while the airline also maintained its position as among the world’s top 10 carriers.
