BBC Worldwide, one of the oldest news services in the world, has planned to send 30 reporters on a special train journey to report on the lok Sabha elections to its 20-million-strong audience in India. It has already worked out the logistics with the Indian Railways.
The election train, according to BBC, will begin the journey on April 25 from New Delhi and will cover Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Patna and Allahabad, before returning to the capital on May 13.
BBC World Service executive editor for South Asia, Nazes Afroz said, “The purpose of travelling across the nation with a team of 30 reporters from our various language services and various media forms like TV, online and radio, is to investigate the key themes surrounding the elections and what Indians want from the polls.”
He pointed out, “We covered the US presidential elections, travelling across the nation over six weeks on a bus and used a boat to cover the recent Bangladesh national polls. We realised that if one has to properly capture the mood of India, taking a train is the best way.”
Equipped with communication devices like satellite phones, the reporters will alight from the train at places to get in-depth understanding of situations. “Our reporters will use mobile Internet, but the reports will not be live. Although satellite phones can’t be used from moving trains, we cam generate a lot of material on our laptops and use them later,” Afroz said.
Besides, the journey will help BBC reporters ascertain India’s place in the global economy. He said, “The world wonders how India is managing to still grow at a rate of around six per cent.
There has not been a meltdown here, but a slowdown. And people want to know how.”
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Monday, April 13, 2009
Kidnapped journalist escapes
BAHAWALPUR: Khawar Shafiq, a Faisalabad-based journalist who `went missing’ while going to home at Chak No 14, Ram Dewali on Sargodha Road in Faisalabad on Tuesday night, fled his captors’ custody in Liaquatpur, 120 kilometres from here, on Saturday night.
On arrival in Bahawalpur, Mr Shafiq claimed that he fled while the car (KHN-2627) he was being transported to some unspecified location by his captors broke down near Mauza Jindoo Pir on Liquatpur-Channigoth Road.
Mr Shafiq said he was kidnapped by three bearded men from his village on April 7 evening. The kidnappers bundled him into a white car and soon he was administered some liquid spiked with intoxicants and afterwards he fell unconscious.
When he regained consciousness, he found himself on a charpoy in a dark room and was without his cell phone, cash and other belongings. He said his captors treated him inhumanly.Mr Khawar claimed that his kidnapping was linked with the opening of the office of the Daniel Pearl Foundation in Faisalabad.
The foundation founded by Daniel’s father Dr Judea Pearl was set up in the memory of Mr Pearl who was killed in Pakistan a few years ago.
US Consulate principal officer Brian D. Hunt had inaugurated the office and the US consulate had also provided the office with 100 books on Jews and other inter-faith matters.He said during his confinement his captors grilled him on this matter and “my links with Jews and Hunt”.
Sometimes, they also tortured him and asked the addresses and details about those six Pakistanis, including some TV anchors, who had been awarded fellowships by the Daniel Pearl Foundation.Mr Shafiq claimed the kidnappers had told him that he would be presented before the ‘Sheikh’, who would decide his fate.
During his captivity, Mr Shafiq said, it felt that he had been detained in some rural area, where he could hear ‘azaan’ or prayer calling in the morning.He said the kidnappers claimed themselves as the members of an “Islamic Soldiers’ Front”.On Saturday after Maghrab prayers, the two captors asked him to change his dress.
Armed with pistols, they got him on the car and after traveling on some bumpy road for about one-and-a-half hour, the car broke down. He claimed that while his captors were busy repairing the fault, he got off the car and started strolling along the road.Soon he ran away from the scene taking advantage of the darkness.
After covering over one kilometer, he got a bus coming from Rahim Yar Khan. The bus conductor informed him that he was near Jindoopeer Adda, where he disembarked from the bus and took shelter in a shop of an ex-serviceman.Inside the shop, he phoned his colleagues in Bahawalpur and Faisalabad.
He said his captors also came to the adda in search for him but the shopkeeper hid him in the rear portion of the shop. Later, Mr Shafiq arrived in Bahawalpur and on Sunday, he was finally reunited with his family in Faisalabad.
Source: Dawn
Date:4/13/2009
Click here to view the source
On arrival in Bahawalpur, Mr Shafiq claimed that he fled while the car (KHN-2627) he was being transported to some unspecified location by his captors broke down near Mauza Jindoo Pir on Liquatpur-Channigoth Road.
Mr Shafiq said he was kidnapped by three bearded men from his village on April 7 evening. The kidnappers bundled him into a white car and soon he was administered some liquid spiked with intoxicants and afterwards he fell unconscious.
When he regained consciousness, he found himself on a charpoy in a dark room and was without his cell phone, cash and other belongings. He said his captors treated him inhumanly.Mr Khawar claimed that his kidnapping was linked with the opening of the office of the Daniel Pearl Foundation in Faisalabad.
The foundation founded by Daniel’s father Dr Judea Pearl was set up in the memory of Mr Pearl who was killed in Pakistan a few years ago.
US Consulate principal officer Brian D. Hunt had inaugurated the office and the US consulate had also provided the office with 100 books on Jews and other inter-faith matters.He said during his confinement his captors grilled him on this matter and “my links with Jews and Hunt”.
Sometimes, they also tortured him and asked the addresses and details about those six Pakistanis, including some TV anchors, who had been awarded fellowships by the Daniel Pearl Foundation.Mr Shafiq claimed the kidnappers had told him that he would be presented before the ‘Sheikh’, who would decide his fate.
During his captivity, Mr Shafiq said, it felt that he had been detained in some rural area, where he could hear ‘azaan’ or prayer calling in the morning.He said the kidnappers claimed themselves as the members of an “Islamic Soldiers’ Front”.On Saturday after Maghrab prayers, the two captors asked him to change his dress.
Armed with pistols, they got him on the car and after traveling on some bumpy road for about one-and-a-half hour, the car broke down. He claimed that while his captors were busy repairing the fault, he got off the car and started strolling along the road.Soon he ran away from the scene taking advantage of the darkness.
After covering over one kilometer, he got a bus coming from Rahim Yar Khan. The bus conductor informed him that he was near Jindoopeer Adda, where he disembarked from the bus and took shelter in a shop of an ex-serviceman.Inside the shop, he phoned his colleagues in Bahawalpur and Faisalabad.
He said his captors also came to the adda in search for him but the shopkeeper hid him in the rear portion of the shop. Later, Mr Shafiq arrived in Bahawalpur and on Sunday, he was finally reunited with his family in Faisalabad.
Source: Dawn
Date:4/13/2009
Click here to view the source
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