Pratap Vaidik & his 60 Seconds of Fame Gone Wrong

When Mr. Vaidik, a freelance journalist and a scholar decided to meet Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan, little did he know the kind of furore it will create or maybe he did know but just didn't realize how wrong it will all go. Now what was wrong in him meeting a terrorist, journalists all over the world have done it for decades, given the world another perspective while maintaining an impersonal stance in the matter at hand. What was wrong was the way it was conducted, firstly, there was no official authorization for such an interview to take place and secondly, it seems no recording of the interview was kept and later no transcript was published, in fact it was not conducted like interviews in such exceptional situations are, rather it looked more like a rendezvous between two close aides, for lack of a better word.

Mr. Vaidik, it seems is very clear in his mind about his intentions to meet Hafiz, the man responsible for the 26/11 attacks among other heinous crimes. As per him, he risked his life by carrying out an interview and a personal dialogue with the latter. He believes that ending "conflict is possible not through the gun but talks"  and so he has played the role of a goodwill ambassador for India by carrying out his own diluted idea of a Track II diplomacy. The fact that he did not have the proper authority to do so has never occurred to him and even if we argue that he was under the capacity of a journalist, his actions are now being questioned by several members of his own fraternity for not carrying out the role effectively. 

The government in the meanwhile, has maintained a clear distance from this fiasco naming it as " diplomatic misadventure of a private individual " whereas the opposition is raising uproar about it in parliament for continuous two days branding him an anti Indian among other things and demanding his arrest. Mr. Vaidik though, in the midst of all this seems pretty unperturbed, confident that he has done the right thing and the nation will come around, eventually.

Now, being a democracy every individual is entitled to their opinion and being a journalist one can meet people from every walk of life but at the same time anyone who is a sympathiser of an enemy of the country is not to be tolerated under any circumstances, especially when they seem to self serve their own thirst for becoming famous. 

But in this particular case, it just seems that his vanity and his penchant for fame made him commit such an act, wherein he himself tweeted photos of the interview and declared to have undertaken such a risk to his life. It rather seems like a bad episode of Bigg Boss where individuals pull outrageous acts just to grab attention, though the gravity of this situation is something that cannot be denied. An action of some sort should unquestionably be taken if we do not want more episodes of these kinds on our hands (who knows what kind of information they are passing on to the other side, albeit unintentionally). And, till that time an action is taken, the biggest satisfaction that we can give ourselves is not  to give him any more of our time.

Vaidik with Saeed (Picture  Courtesy: Social Networking Sites)

 P.S.: The views expressed are solely of the author's.