By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Kochi: The South Asia Media Summit held in Panaji raised concern over the lack of accountability of the police and intelligence forces in South Asian countries. The summit was organised by the International Centre Goa in association with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, India, an organisation with the headquarters in Germany.
The police and intelligence came under scrutiny at a session on ‘Do the police undermine democracy: some harsh realities in South Asia’. The session was chaired by senior journalist Sidharth Bhatia.
The media have to be more independent and seek scrutiny when it came to stories based on sources in police and intelligence agencies, said Swati Deshpande, Mumbai-based journalist. Investigative journalist Anirudh Bahl said that the intelligence bureau people harassed journalists often. They tried to now the stories one was working on as well the sources. He wondered whether we needed intelligence agencies which were lawless and not accountable.
Pakistani journalist Rahimualla expressed his dismay at the situations prevailing in his country. The intelligence agencies were so powerful in Pakistan that people were picked up and hundreds were missing but there was no accountability at all. Even though the Supreme Court tried to make them accountable, the agencies were getting more powerful in the name of terrorism. The Resident Editor of the English daily ‘The News International’ said that the same thing was happening in different places like Baluchistan.
Participanst from different Asian countries raised issues related to serious undermining of human rights and democratic freedom of individuals and groups of people due to the lapses by the police and intelligence agencies. Mr Bhatia intervened to opine that training the police to be humane in their approach was one of the solutions.
The media could be robust only if the democracy was robust, said senior journalist Dileep Padgaonkar in his valedictory remarks. He reviewed the media scene in the country and opined that the media could save the democracy by ensuring gjustice and fair play.