Correspondent describes his expulsion

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33904, 25 July 1975, Page 9

Correspondent describes his expulsion

( By

PETER HAZELHURST,

of "The Times." through N.Z.P.A.)

KARACHI, July 24. The irony of the situation hit us as the American jumbo aircraft sank down to land at Karachi Airport. Four years ago, we had been winging our way across the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent in the opposite direction, towards a democratic India, to report on Pakistan after we had heen searched and expelled by the repressive military regime under President Yahya Khan.

At the time, we were welcomed by the Indians who were quick to moralise against press censorship and the iniquities of the autocratic regime on their western border.

Now the pendulum had taken a full swing. Expelled from India at 24 hours notice and after being subjected to a humiliating search at Delhi Airport, I and two colleagues found ourselves flying towards Pakistan this morning to report on India—because we refused to sign a pledge compelling us to abide by the country’s new restrictive and impossible censorship regulations. It had been a clear but heart-wrenching decision for the three of us—Mr Peter Gill of the “Daily Telegraph.” Mr Loren Jenkins, of “Newsweek” and myself. For. during the combined 14 years we i covered India as journalists

we had, in our own way, developed a special relationship with what was once ■ regarded as the largest ■ democracy in the world. I The choice On Sunday night we were ’ given the choice: sign a pledge which would force us , in moral and legal terms to report only what the Government decrees, or leave the country within 24 hours, never to return. The choice was clear. By signing the document we would have agreed to observe censorship guidelines which prohibit, among other things, the publication of names of political detainees, reports of Opposition speeches in Parliament, proceedings of Mrs Gandhi’s appeal against corrupt electoral practices in the Sup- ] reme Court, and the most ‘mundane or innocuous form ‘of criticism of the Govemiment’s economic policies or the Prime Minister’s Office. The cold, personal realisation that India has moved rapidly away from its past democratic traditions hit me when the three plain-clothes members of the Foreign Registration Department and an inspector from Delhi’s Air- . port police strode across the hotel lobby on Sunday night and served me with a deport- ‘ ation order. | Cables of support l was later informed that the order would be revoked if I signed the censorship ‘pledge within the next 24

hours. In the meantime, we each received cables from our respective editors supporting our stand.

On Monday, as other journalists began to sign the pledge, it became apparent that the Government hoped that we would capitulate. But by the evening, as the 24hour period drew to a close, officials were begging us to sign an emasculated form of the 1 original pledge. But when it appeared that even that pledge amounted to self-imposed censorship,! the three of us drove out toj Palam Airport shortly before] the deadline expired on Mon-j day night and surrendered; ourselves to the security] police. We were taken to the i international transit lounge

and were forced fo sit for eight hours waiting for the first available flight out of Delhi. Pretences dropped At first, we were treated politely and were allowed to wander in and out of the transit lounge at will. But as departure time approached, all pretences of courtesy were dropped. Our bags and papers were rifled and submitted to a minute and humiliating scrutiny by police and customs officers. Notebooks, (visiting cards, tape cassettes and personal diaries were examined and re-examined. Mr Jenkins was forced to play six tape cassettes of music to suspicious customs officers before he was allowed to pass through the checkpoint. Oddly, the officials, who ‘were obviously under instructions from the home office to search us as though we were

s criminals, displayed little ini' terest in political notes and ; pamphlets. throwing the papers nonchalantly back into ■ our bags. However, they dis- > played a vicious interest in : personal documents, names of I friends and contacts. ; At one stage. I was forced . to telephone a senior official r in the Foreign Office at 5 a.m. ] on Tuesday to protest, against f the search after a police inspector pocketed one of Mr • Gill’s telegrams from a perjisonal friend. After a heated (row. the telegram was re'iturned but police had evidently noted down many ■names of Indians. II The crisis which led to our (‘expulsion has been building I up in Delhi for several weeks. !| Crisis al head ,j For nearly four weeks. • foreign journalists have been ignoring censorship regulations whenever it has been possible to by-pass official I communication channels. But , on Saturday, the crisis came . to a head two days before ■ Parliament was due to meet t to ratify or reject the state I of emergency. I Thrown into a state of . near panic by fear that Left- . wing members of Parliament I might speak out against the emergency to ridicule Mrs : Gandhi’s assertion that the . I Government had acted to • (counter a “right-wing plot,” /the Government had already (‘ issued censorship guidelines ; lto the press stipulating that , only Ministerial speeches in . Parliament mav be published >: in future. .1 On Friday, a large number /of foreign journalists were /issued with passes for the

i-(press gallery, but within 24 dlhours, reporters were told to e | surrender their passes beo cause new documents were to ;- be issued to those who signed a a pledge abiding themselves f to censorship regulations. Out of the 13 journalists who d have been blatantly evading .1 the censors, the Government i. had apparently decided to t make an example of Mr Gill, - Mr Jenkins, and myself. r On Saturday evening we (] were summoned before a J hitherto amiable Information ' Officer, Mr Harry D’penha, ’ India’s harassed chief ' a written undertaking that would have to leave the r I country within 24 hours un- ’ | less we gave the Government •la written understanding that (we would abide by censorship regulations. . We informed him that in 11 principle, we could not sign -laway our credibility, but i] would consult our editors Lover the week-end. On Suntiday. we were repeatedly b! asked whether we had reB ceived a reply. t As the day wore on. the B once friendly information officers who were only ref cently outspoken protagon- - ists of Indian democracy, t were developing into petty e tyrants. si Just as I received instrucaitions from “The Times” not j(to sign the pledge, the de- ’ portation order was signed. •“Early next morning twenty s' foreign correspondents called t on Mr V. C. Shukla. the MinLister for Information and i( Broadcasting. to protest against the rigid censorship rllaws (local journalists have e'been chastised for writing Biabout 200 years of American

I democracy, alluding to the 1 current situation in India). ’ Mr Shukla declared that he ? would not be concerned if .(the entire Western press /were withdrawn from India. /However, he later instructed officials to work out a new /arrangement for the foreign .press. I I Demand withdrawn • Tite three of us threatened i with deportation were promi ised that if we complied with .(the new liberalised censorflship rules, the orders would /be revoked at the last /minute. After hours of pro-. I traded discussions bet ween /senior officials ar.d foreign /journalists, the Government I ■ 'agreed to withdraw its de mand that all reports must be /submitted to censors proi jvided that reporters signed a ■ inew pledge declaring: “I ; j undertake to comply with /censorship guidelines of the /Government of India and instructions issued thereunder by the responsible author/ s ties. I have received the! i guidelines.” Mr Gill, Mr Jenkins and 1 ■ came to the conclusion.! , after examining the new pro- ’ posal. that the declaration] amounted to an agreement to ‘ • endorse self-imposed censor- : ship. We shook hands with offi- . cials we had known for years •las they pleaded with us to ii reconsider our decision and •(sign. As we left the Minislilry, an Indian journalist and ('close friend for years, put his > arms around my shoulder • and said: “If you had backed /down we would have lost ijfaith.”