There is PR in peacekeeping

There is PR in peacekeeping
Saeed Naqvi

It was nice of Defence Minister George Fernandes to sit through the screening last week of films on Indian peacekeeping at the India International Centre.

New Delhi is a frightfully self-absorbed city. Everyone is important, powerful, has access to power, knowledgeable or with access to those who know, and, in any event, what this blessed breed does not know is not worth knowing. If you mention "Sierra Leone" to this self-important variety, the response is likely to be that glazed, patronising look which implies that had they not been carrying the national burden on CTBT, Kashmir autonomy and Pakistan, they might have been inclined to hear you out on obscure places like Sierra Leone and Fiji.

That is why the minister's spontaneous appearance at the screening and the discussion which, quite understandably, focused almost exclusively on Sierra Leone demonstrated just that bit of refreshing curiosity which is the beginning of knowledge. How would anybody, including union ministers, have a flavour of the Indian peacekeeping experience without the media being anywhere near the theatres of troop deployment in foreign lands?

The Indian electronic media did take a giant leap with Kargil but, as usual, went back into its shell when it came to coverage of events abroad.

When 500 African peacekeepers were taken hostage by rebels in Sierra Leone, a British task force, including an aircraft carrier, made a very effective intervention. The peacekeepers under Force Commander Gen. Vijay Jetley, had not yet been fully deployed and the British presence, though confined to Freetown and the harbour, was accompanied by so much media hype that an impression was created that the British had saved Sierra Leone. And who can blame the BBC and Sky News from focusing exclusively on their own soldiers?

When Doordarshan (and for a brief while Star TV) entrusted World Report with coverage of foreign affairs, whom do you think did we trail in Namibia, Angola, Rwanda, Somalia, Southern Lebanon, Haiti, Bosnia and most recently in Sierra Leone? Of course, the Indian contingents.

Much of this, of course, is a continuation of the old romance we have with the Indian soldier. I am a bit old fashioned in this regard because during my formative years at The Statesman in the mid-60s and 70s, the armed forces were on a very high pedestal. The armed forces themselves had exceptionally talented public relations men like Rabindra Seth and Ram Mohan Rao who actually guided and escorted me during the 1971 war with Pakistan.

Much has changed from those days and the media has become much more audacious and possibly even more independent. But somehow peacekeeping operations have depended almost exclusively on the habitual enthusiasm of a dedicated team at World Report.

The result of limited focus on peacekeeping has kept various facets of this increasingly important activity in which our armed forces and our police are involved, out of the arena of informed debate.

Let me give you a few examples. For instance, as a veteran of many peacekeeping operations, I have never been able to gauge whether the equation between the armed forces and the Ministry of External Affairs is co-operative or partly adversarial in this arena.

During the Somalia operations, where our brigade did exceptional work, the Indian High Commissioner at Nairobi (the Kenyan capital was the entry point for Mogadishu) never visited Somalia. Not only did he have no interest in what our troops were doing next door, he was never encouraged by headquarters to take any interest. General Mono Bhagat had such exceptional access to Farah Aideed and his arch rival Ali Mahdi that the foreign office could only have benefited from the Indian contingent's role in Somalia.

General Saxena in Angola had the same access to President Dos Santos as well as Jonas Savimbi of UNITA.

Senior ministers and officials from various countries visited their contingents. If an Indian minister visits the troops in Southern Lebanon it would be noticed by both the Israelis as well as the Arab world.

Even more important and purposeful would be a visit to Freetown. It would bring into sharp focus our concern for the 213 troops still encircled in Kailahun. It would also encourage our 3,000 odd troops whose dedicated work would be covered by the media accompanying the minister concerned.

When three American airmen were downed in former Yugoslavia, President Clinton directly intervened. He visited his troops in Bosnia. Robin Cook and other British and African leaders have been to Freetown.

Fortunately, we have a Foreign Minister who has also been a soldier. It was Jaswant Singh who was able to invite Madeline Albright to that crucial meeting with Kofi Annan which resulted in the release of the 21 hostages in Pendembu. I cannot think of a better person than him to visit Freetown as soon as possible, with a planeload of journalists who should be asked to pay.