Working in Lanka, Pakistan a big challege: Veteran scribe

HYDERABAD: “A telephone repairman gathered a mob of people after he saw a letter from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). I was close to being arrested and even experienced what it would be like in police custody once. Working as an Indian Journalist in countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Afghanistan is always challenging at all levels as we have limited access to information,” said National Editor, Strategic Affairs, Indian Express Nirupama Subramanian while sharing her experiences in a webinar held on Friday.

The webinar was organised by the University of Hyderabad in collaboration with South Asian Women in Media, a network of women media professionals. The Department of Communication, UoH, has started a webinar series titled “Stories Without Borders — A living Archive of South Asian Women in Media.” The first webinar, held on Friday, was a conversation with Nirupama Subramanian and Dilrukshi Handunetti, Executive Director of Centre for Investigative Reporting in Sri Lanka.

Subramanian covered civil war in Sri Lanka when its war was at its peak in 1990s. “As I am a Tamilian, my surname has always been a point of interest at the checkpoints where I had to show my identity card,” she said narrating the experiences she had during her reporting days. There was a heightened sense of fear and vigilantism which she has become a victim of. Once her visa was restricted in Pakistan. She was based in Islamabad and was able to go to Karachi and Lahore only.

She often faced visa renewal issues as well. “In my first year itself, I was summoned to the information department and I had crossed many red lines in terms of what I did and whom I met,” Subramanian added.
Even though the people were reluctant to meet her at both places, she said that she felt no threat from ordinary people.

No exchange of journalists
Both the panelists agreed that even though South Asia has a vibrant media and a strong culture of journalism, the exchange of journalists between India and Pakistan does not take place.  Indian newspapers send their journalists to Sri Lanka or appoint people from Bangladesh and Nepal to write for them. However, no country sends its correspondents to India.

“Getting a visa for any journalist is a lengthy procedure. When our governments are not ready for this exchange, we can at least ask the experts in neighbouring countries to write for them. Similarly, I write a column for The New Indian Express,”  Dilrukshi Handunetti said.