PUNE, 10 February 2005 — When thousands of innocent Indian Muslims and Dalits (low-caste Hindus) are mercilessly butchered, hundreds of them gang-raped, stripped and marched through the streets, or several Muslims are sent to jails without any charge, it makes no headlines or news in Indian newspapers. Neither does it stir the conscience of human rights activists in India.

But when an Indian is executed in Saudi Arabia according to the law of the land, it flares up as a gross human rights violation, and makes into front pages of all newspapers.

A report last week by an Indian correspondent of the Press Trust of India (PTI) based in Dubai, quoting unnamed sources in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, published in all leading Indian newspapers, described Saudi Arabia as the country with the “worst human rights record”. This was in the context of the execution of an Indian for killing another Indian in Asir region of Saudi Arabia.

It is a reflection on the standards of some Indian journalists that they do not know the difference between a clear case of law and human rights violation. Here a murderer was being dispensed with justice according to the law of the land; there was no issue of human rights involved. Such reports appear to be an attempt at creating communal disharmony in India and tarnishing the image of Saudi Arabia.

The news report furnished statistics of the executions carried out in the Kingdom in the last two years, but failed to cite a single case of human rights violation involving an Indian or any other nationals in Saudi Arabia.

To be fair, the human rights record in Saudi Arabia is better than in other countries and far better than that of India. Indian journalists turn a blind eye to the barbaric violations of human rights that take place in different parts of their country. What about the gross abuses in Jammu and Kashmir where Indian soldiers are accused of gang-raping Muslim women and killing hundreds of innocent Muslims?

In Gujarat and Bombay, Muslim women were gang-raped and thousands of Muslims were roasted alive or put to death, and hundreds are still languishing in jails accused of being involved in riots and bomb blasts. All this is ignored by Indian newspapers that are out to condemn Saudi Arabia for executing an Indian after due process of law. And what about the human rights of the murdered Indian and the plight of his family? Not a word.

Indian journalists seem to be ignorant of the fact that Saudi Arabia has set up an independent 41-member National Human Rights Society. This society has been instrumental in taking up several cases with the relevant government authorities, particularly issues related to women.

The society was formed two years ago. Even without such a committee Saudi Arabia had a better record of honoring and protecting human rights than many others including India.

The fact is Indian journalists lack the basic requirements of their trade. Instead of checking and verifying facts, they attribute their reports to some dubious sources in the Gulf, which only provide them unreliable, misleading, fabricated and exaggerated news items. This is not “constructive journalism” by any standard. Indian journalists become blind, deaf and dumb, when Western journalists target their county and label it a “land of beggars” or a “country with begging bowl.” What have these journalists done to counter such negative images of their country in the West?

It is mandatory for residents in a foreign country to observe and abide by the laws of the host country. There are no exemption or immunity for violators of law — definitely not in Saudi Arabia. How can enforcing law become human rights violation? Those committing heinous crimes like murder, rape and drug trafficking deserve to be punished and cannot be referred to as victims of human rights abuses.

Let Indian journalists put their own house in order, before pointing accusing fingers at others.

Fair and constructive criticism is appreciated and accepted, but hate-filled propaganda against a foreign country which hosts hundreds of thousands of Indians needs to be condemned without any reservation.