New Delhi: Two days after the Pune-based private institute MIT-WPU withdrew a journalism award that had already been announced for Kashmiri reporter Safina Nabi, the organisers have said they took their decision because her views could potentially be seen as “contentious” and not aligned with the government’s foreign policy,
Nabi’s report, ‘The half widows of Kashmir’, was chosen as the winner in the category of ‘journalism that promoted empathy, understanding and inclusivity in society’ by a jury comprising three members from the institute and four external members. As The Wire first reported, Nabi was officially informed about the award and sent a plane ticket so she could travel to Pune to receive it on October 18, only to be told on October 16 that her award had been cancelled and that she should not make the journey.
Nabi told The Wire that she was informed by the organisers by telephone that the award was cancelled by the university’s management in the face of right-wing political pressure.
The cancellation led to the three independent jury members boycotting the award function. One of the members, M.K. Venu, a founding editor of The Wire, said that the institute management’s decision to drop Nabi came as a shock to them. “We discussed amongst ourselves and decided that the best statement to make would be to not attend the event… Kashmiri journalists are being subjected to an altogether different level of censorship and harassment which is totally unconscionable.”
The institute, which offers a BA and MA in media and communication, initially chose not to respond to The Wire‘s request for a comment but subsequently told other news platforms which followed up on the story that an “internal miscommunication” had led to the “unfortunate situation”. It said that it respected Nabi’s “larger work in the field” and would be honouring her in a “forthcoming bigger award ceremony”.
The news agency PTI reported on Thursday that the institute administration had said a “communication gap” led to the cancellation and that Nabi would be invited to another event, the ‘Bhartiya Chhatra Sansad’.
On Thursday evening, the MIT-WPU finally sent a statement to The Wire in which an entirely different explanation for the canceled award was proffered.
Acknowledging that the jury had indeed chosen Nabi as the award’s recipient, the institute said that it was “made aware of some of her published opinions and views, which have the potential to be viewed as contentious and not in alignment with the foreign policy of the Indian government.”
The statement gave no details of what these opinions and views were or why a journalism school expects reporters to align themselves with the government’s policies. And while claiming that there had been no external pressure, the institute left unexplained how it had suddenly been “made aware” of Nabi’s “opinions and views”.
“Without taking a stance of either endorsing or renouncing her expressed views,” it added, “we anticipated that presenting her with an award at this time could have given rise to unwelcome controversies. Such controversies are something our institution, being an academic, apolitical, and non-partisan entity, should not be associated with”.
MIT-WPU denied any “external political or non-political pressure” to rescind the award granted to Nabi. “…our decision should be understood as an effort to safeguard the fundamental purpose of the conference and maintain the unshakable academic integrity of our institution,” the statement added.
‘Grim indicator of new normal’
Speaking to The Wire about the MIT-WPU statement, Nabi slammed the institute for its “needless cover-ups”, adding that she will not attend any event that it holds in the future. “Don’t call this mess an internal discord, and above all I am far from publishing anything contentious.”
The Kashmiri journalist, who has been published widely in India and abroad, said that the past few days “have been shocking and a grim indicator of the new normal”, but that she appreciated the jury’s decision to boycott the event in protest. This had helped “reaffirm my faith and show me that journalism is in safe hands.”
Nabi said that the primary focus of her work has revolved around women, “especially the women of my country, and contributing towards their advancement and empowerment.” For years now, she added, “I have strived to be the storyteller documenting tales of perseverance and injustice. I do not wish to change that now and be the story itself. I am deeply appreciative of all the support I have received in the past few days. The fight for honest storytelling will continue.”
Withdrawal of award ‘disgusting’
Senior journalist Gurbir Singh, who heads the Mumbai Press Club which hands out the prestigious Red Ink Awards for journalism every year, told The Wire that the withdrawal of the award given to Nabi is “disgusting and deserves to be condemned in the strongest possible terms”.
“She had won the award in a merit-based selection by an independent jury. The action by the institute is penalising Nabi for her Kashmiriyat and for highlighting a human tragedy in the state. Is this ‘nationalism’, aimed at integrating the country, or xenophobic discrimination dividing our country further? As journalists, we should think of how to undo this wrong,” he said.
The Network of Women in Media, India has written to MIT-WPU to condemn the institute’s decision.
. @NWM_India has written to the Maharashtra Institute of Technology-World Peace University, and registered its condemnation of the cancellation of the award to Safina Nabi. @soul_restlesss
🔗 https://t.co/y4QnvjT0xT pic.twitter.com/1xgjJs6WQO
— NWMIndia (@NWM_India) October 20, 2023
“Ordinarily, the award would have signalled your institution’s recognition of the critical importance of storytelling in areas of intense conflict. To withdraw from that responsibility is a sad reflection of the journalism education you purport to stand for,” the letter states.
With inputs from Jahnavi Sen.
