Meena Menon, former correspondent of The Hindu in Pakistan, unveiled Reporting Pakistan, a book on her nine-month-long stint in Islamabad, on Wednesday.
“Travelling and writing about each other in India and Pakistan can help clear a lot of the stereotypes and misconceptions we hold, ” Ms. Menon said during the launch of her fourth book.
Elaborating on the contents of the book, the senior journalist said, “This is a pure reportage on Pakistan. It is woven between what I reported for The Hindu every day, and the experiences and observations there. It also includes some of the stories that I didn’t do for the paper. I saw many things from the ground up, many things I wish I had not seen.” The book covers Ms. Menon’s experiences from the struggle to get a visa, her life in Islamabad, covering terrorism, her experience of being followed, the revival of leftist politics in Pakistan, and the conflict in Balochistan.
Reporting Pakistan is a chronicle of nine months spent as a reporter in Islamabad, between August 2013 and May 2014. In it, she recalls that she was the third woman correspondent to be posted in Pakistan by The Hindu. Not for a second, she says, did her position as a woman correspondent come in the way of her high-profile coverage of political events, like drone strikes, suicide bombings, and Pervez Musharraf’s trial. Some of her most interesting work focuses on under-reported instances, which indicate how the ‘red tape, lethargy, and ill-will’ between the two neighbouring countries makes a world of difference to minority communities.
Speaking before the book launch, Jatin Desai, activist and journalist, emphasised on the need to resuscitate programmes such as the Mumbai-Karachi Press Club journalist exchange.
Mr. Desai said, “It is not a theoretical explanation of the relationship between the two countries. It is about how common people from Pakistan feel about India, Meena’s interactions with them, how they helped her. It highlights human aspects that we commonly ignore.”
In the discussion that followed the launch, Kumat Ketkar, former editor of Loksatta and Divya Marathi, and president of Mumbai Press Club, said, “There are those who always feel there is a possibility of friendship between the two nations, and then there are those that breed hatred. But Meena’s take on the issue doesn’t feed on the false aman ki aasha, neither does it get influenced by the hate spewed on either side. It is an unbiased and objective telling of events and experiences.”
