MEMOIRS
Keeping the faith
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`To face such knowledge and then not to let despair and bitterness engulf you is remarkable. Mariane seems to have achieved that... '
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WHEN in January 2002, the Wall Street Journal's South Asia correspondent was kidnapped in Karachi, few could have imagined the episode would end up with such tragic consequences. After Omar Sheikh, the main suspect and accused in the case was in police custody, hopes ran high that he would soon reveal where Daniel Pearl was hidden. However, when he appeared before the court Omar revealed that the reporter had already been killed. Pearl had been beheaded by his captors within a week of his kidnapping.
A week before police finally caught up with Omar, he had "surrendered" before the home secretary of Punjab, a retired brigadier and an ex-ISI officer. Omar claims he kidnapped Daniel on his own accord but there are wheels within wheels and one may never come to know the true mastermind behind this kidnapping.
Daniel's story touched a raw nerve in millions of people around the globe who have been witnessing this battle of hate raging all around us. If he was used as a symbol — an American or Jew — the captors had singularly failed. It is the killers, no matter what nomenclature they adopt or what political cause they espouse, who have in turn become the symbol of hatred and moral bankruptcy.
Daniel's writings are there on the Internet for all to see. His compassion, his almost goofy sense of humour, eye for lively detail, his love for the fiddle and bluegrass music only made everyone wish they knew him better. His healthy scepticism of the Establishment and his questioning mind earned him respect as a journalist. "He peers down alleyways, connects the dots, explains the butterfly effect — how the slightest movement in one place can have massive consequences somewhere else. He is becoming more genuinely concerned about a world he embraces ambitiously," writes his wife, Mariane, in her book A Mighty Heart.
Even so, he was not what Mariane calls a "cowboy journalist". Aware of the risks of where he worked, Daniel was a man of caution. He had covered the war in Bosnia in 1999 and knew the horrors of it. Daniel, in fact, wrote a long memo detailing the means and ways news organisations must adopt to keep their journalists from coming in harm's way. "If something like a kidnapping or arrest occurs, do we know how to react?" he had asked.
It was partly because his memo did not meet with any response from his organisation that he refused to go to Afghanistan when war was imminent. "I am not trained to be a war correspondent, and don't think it's responsible for a newspaper to send people without proper training into situations like that," he wrote to his paper.
We meet Daniel Pearl close-up in A Mighty Heart. The book primarily dwells on the five suspense-filled weeks in which Mariane waited for her husband to return. It was their last day in Karachi and he was to meet Sheikh Mubarak Ali Shah Gilani for an interview. Gilani was widely believed to be connected with Reid, the infamous "shoe-bomber". Piece by piece, Mariane builds up the story, recalling the conversations she had with her husband about the assignment on hand, looking through extensive notes Danny made, the e-mails that he exchanged with "Bashir" who was to arrange the interview with Gilani. Mariane and Danny were guests at the house of Asra Nomani, a colleague of Daniel, based in Karachi. But as hours tick by and there is no sign or call from Daniel, the two women fear the worst.
Now they get in touch with the authorities and investigations begin. Mariane and Asra, pitch in their bit with detailed information. Flow charts are made, every progress in the investigation is meticulously noted down. In fact, Asra's house turns somewhat of a headquarters for the investigators. It is the detail and its lucid narration that makes the book as riveting as a chase fiction — and as it is no piece of fiction, emotional. Although the outcome is known, it never robs the narrative of its suspense and drama. But that is only a part of the whole. Mariane offers us glimpses of the man she knew so intimately and shares with candour the bond they had. Mariane, a journalist in her own right, produced and hosted her own show on "Migrations" on Radio France International. A French citizen, this fizzy-haired, pretty woman who looks out from the book cover can keep anyone guessing about her roots.
Much of Danny's personality that is revealed and Mariane's own wry humour adds to the light moments in an otherwise grim story. The background of conflict in this region is succinctly drawn. The dramatic action is interspersed with memories, Mariane's tumultuous emotions as well as the curious little love story that is going on in Asra's own life. The drama of hope and despair, life and death, wanton brutality and tender loving play themselves out in the short span that the book covers.
The narrative does not slacken with the news of Daniel's death and the widow's hopeless grief. Mariane goes on to tell what made her live on, the spontaneous way thousands reached out to her with e-mails and letters to share her grief, and the birth of her son, Adam. Through the tragic ordeal, Mariane formed some extraordinary bonds of friendship and her reference to the Pakistani officers investigating the case is warm and emotional.
It is not so much the death but the remembrance of the physical pain or the fear the loved one must have felt that is so devastating. To face such knowledge and then not to let despair and bitterness engulf you is remarkable. Mariane seems to have achieved that — much like Gladys Staines who lost her husband and two sons to a hate-filled mob in our very own country. Indeed, it is in faith such as theirs that we can keep our faith in mankind.
MAITREYEE SAHA
A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband Daniel Pearl, Mariane Pearl with Sarah Crichton, Virago, £6.75 (special Indian price).
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