Quiet diplomacy is okay. But a quiet media?

Using Google to search for media coverage of the Indian citizens arrested earlier this month by Saudi authorities turns up only one hit from an Indian news organisation: just a reproduction of a terse story from the news wires.

This is an archived blog post from The Acorn.

A media release by Human Rights Watch, which has taken up the issue of Saudi persecution of people—some of whom are Indian nationals—of the Qadiani/Ahmadiyya sect, reveals that the Indian government has been up to some quiet work.

An Indian diplomat told Human Rights Watch that Indian consular officials had visited Ahmadi detainees of Indian nationality. Syrian and Pakistani diplomats have not visited detained nationals of their countries. [HRW]

The diplomats are doing their job. The media is not. To its credit, it often picks the nation’s conscience by beaming news of atrocities to people’s living rooms. To its collective shame, it has chosen to maintain deep silence on this one.

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