Not many people in India knew Syed Saleem Shahzad but his cheerfully round face along with the screaming headlines speaking of torture and murder at the hands of a shadowy entity that must not be spoken about lightly in Pakistan, stirred a deep sorrow.
Shahzad was a man of truth. He did not play ball with politicians, network with the influential, appease the generals or mince his facts. His agenda was not to gather a fan following or power or fame. He knew that his country was in a crisis and that only speaking the truth could bring Pakistan’s ordinary citizens together against forces of oppression, both home grown and those unleashed by the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda. That he was killed and in a barbaric way shows just how many powerful forces he had upset.
Fact finding is a lonely business, as is standing up for truth and speaking it, no matter what the cost. Most of the world gets by on lies that smile in your face. In ordinary lives as in politics and journalism, convenient networking and scratching muscled backs of powers that be, is acceptable, even a sign of resourcefulness. We all want to use those who have what we want consciously and subconsciously and to get that, we can conveniently hide facts, twist truth and bend backwards to appease.
The Radia tapes show just how deeply our champions of truth have been infected by the need to cut deals, play mediators, make friends with the corrupt and exchange fruits of influence if not in cash then in kind. Shahzad was not like that. He went into the jaws of danger, penetrated the Taliban ranks and tapped for his stories, the big brains and the top guns of Al-Qaeda. He was a vociferous critic of ISI and went deep into the heart of darkness without a shield.
He was not on the radar of the foreign press to the extent of say, a Fatima Bhutto in Pakistan or an Arundhati Roy in India who routinely speaks to the foreign media about how messy India’s innards are. He was not a commentator but a whistle blower and there are few left in the world like him though every country, every town, every village needs men and women who can stand up and be counted for what counts. He is gone. Just like Manjunath Shanmugam, Satyadev Dubey, Safdar Hashmi and scores of RTI activists whose names we will never know.
As I write this, Baba Ramdev is in the middle of an orchestrated circus, trying to tell India that he is the beacon of light we all need to find our way out of corruption. A paragon of virtue and truth despite having properties worth crores, political affiliations of a dubious nature, a marked love for media attention and no known record of public service (unlike Anna Hazare) if you discount yoga.
The truth is, those who fight corruption and terror in real time are not self-appointed, limelight seeking messiahs. They are a small number of insanely courageous men and women doing stuff most of us can’t even dream of attempting. They do not wheel and deal, seek or dole favours, indulge in self-glorification. They don’t have robes, pedestals, halos and millions of frenzied followers. No one gifts them islands or cheques worth lakhs.
They just get down on their knees, put their lives on the line and dig for truth till they find it or till it blows up in their face. A Baba Ramdev cannot and will not do that. He has too much to lose. Syed Saleem Shahzad had nothing to lose. Except his life. His death is not just a loss for Pakistan but for us too because now we have one less man of courage to look up to. And learn from.
Reema Moudgil is the author of Perfect Eight. (http://www.flipkart.com/perfect-eight-reema-moudgil-book-9380032870) .
very much true Reema, courageous men like Shahzad are rare. This is also true that A baba ramdev cannot and will not do that. I think the question here is not whether what he is doing or has done is good or bad or politically motivated or not. The question here is whether it wd have resulted in good or bad had he not done what he did. Motivating whopping 70- 80000 people and expecting 50000 more to join on sunday in this scorching heat of delhi makes me wonder whether it was ramdev langer (free lunch) or ramdev circus or ramdev satyagrah.
As far as multi crores he owns, I’ve seen him carring bunch of papers in tv shows, which he says is a/c of single penny he owns..And I think it wd have been much easier for our govt. to grill him if he has unaccounted money. In saturday night drama he never gave up till end, he jumped into the crowd, he hid behind ladies and even wore their clothes to avoid arrest. No one other than baba ramdev cd have done all this..