The Daily IIJ

Having been born in a country that has been plagued by violence for the past more than three decades and reporting about the conflicts in Afghanistan for the past at least six years following the US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban regime, I once again encountered the fact that the intensity of the bad news could be sensed more when you are out of the country or a reader.

I got a call from a friend on Monday morning who gave me a bad news after brief greetings, saying a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle near the Indian embassy in Kabul.

In a span of five minutes I got a message from the same source that the attacker rammed his vehicle into an embassy car, carrying Brigadier Ravi Dutt Mehta and Counsellor V Venkateswar Rao as they were entering the embassy compound, killing both on the spot. I knew both the deceased men and considered them as my friends. They were not the only victims. Around 40 Afghans, who had queued in front of the embassy to get visas, were killed and around 150 were wounded.

The news came as a hammer and hit me on the head, leaving me too saddened that for several minutes I forgot that I was one of the 23 participants of Summer Academy Coursein Hamburg organized by International Institute for Journalism and we were assigned by Dr. Manfred Redelfs – one of the lecturers -    to read a paper on Freedom of Speech and Economic Development and then to present the main points to other fellows.

For a while I was thinking that Kabul was burning and state of emergency must have been declared. I immediately called home to check if everything was ok with family and friends.

“We are having lunch and were just talking about you,” my younger brother said while laughing.

“Have you heard of the attack, and is everyone okay?” I asked hastily.

“Yeah, yeah, that happened in the city, don’t worry,” he said in such a calm way as if it had happened in a different country.

I also called a journalist friend of mine to get some first hand information, but his reaction was even more surprising.

“Yeah, it is a Busy day man! Some 40 were killed and more than 100 wounded,” he said, adding, “You know what, Mr. Rao’s body was flung over the roof by the impact of the explosion.”

I have covered many violent incidents in the past several years, including the one that my dearest journalist friend was beheaded by the insurgents, but this time the news gave me a weird feeling that is hard to be explained.

Usually when attacks happen, I try to go to the scene and gather as much “colors” as I can so that I can picture the site by using terms like, “ambulances were rushing the victims to hospitals, “Wounded people lay on the ground wailing for help amid blood and severed limbs” or “a cloud of dust and smoke billowed from the site.”

But this time I was very much bothered to hear that a human body was flung over the roof and that the dead Afghan men not only did not make it to India , but could not even return to their homes.

Now if I ask myself, do we – “war journalists” - put our feelings aside while writing about the conflict? Do we deem it as our business and are not bothered while on the ground?

And again I ask myself that why I sensed this news, which is one of the usual stories I write everyday, so different? Is it because I am a reader of this news not the producer, or maybe ten days in peaceful Europe changed my mindset?

In either case, now I know it better that how you feel to hear about bombings or attacks from a different location especially when you have your loved ones in the affected zone.
Now I understand why people in the west think there is only violence in Afghanistan.

With all this, here is another question to be posted; what are our responsibilities as journalists, who write for national and international readers? Do we really help to convey the truth to the public or are we also creating fear and dilemma?!

Farhad Peikar