Saturday, August 20, 2011

Who is Sudeshna Sarkar? Is there a right-wing Christian agenda behind the smear campaign against Nepali Buddhism?

An interesting pattern emerges when one looks into the journalistic oeuvre of Sudeshna Sarkar. Please recall that Sarkar is the Kathmandu based reporter who first broke the story that a Nepali Buddhist nun was "facing expulsion" after having been raped. In her original story, Sarkar had claimed that "15 Buddhist organisations" in Nepal had issued a joint statement declaring that as a result of having been raped, the victim "had lost 'her religion' and could be no longer regarded as fit to be a nun." There was no truth to this claim, but Sarkar did not let that small matter stand in the way of her smear campaign to malign Nepali Buddhism. (For background, please refer to Chronology of a Smear Campaign, and also Sudeshna Sarkar's Journalistic Jihad Against Nepali Buddhism.)

Which raises the question: why? Part of the answer might lie in the fact that Sarkar, as it turns out, has been a frequent contributor to a right-wing Christian "news" service called "Compass Direct". Instead of trying to describe this propaganda outfit, I'll let them describe themselves:
Compass Direct: News from the Frontlines of Persecution
Compass Direct News is a news service dedicated to providing exclusive news, penetrating reports, moving interviews and insightful analyses of situations and events facing Christians persecuted for their faith .... As Christian persecution continues to intensify worldwide, you need a source that can provide the most accurate, up-to-date information available, and Compass Direct News is that source."
In addition, Sarkar has also written at least a half-dozen stories since the Spring of 2010 for another Christian "news" service, "ENI News", based in China.

There is no direct evidence, that I know of, that Sarkar is herself a Christian. But for whatever reason, her writings have proven quite popular with, and apparently useful to, the Christian "missionaries" who are committed to the eradication of all religions other than their own.

CompassDirect.Org articles by Sudeshna Sarkar:

EniNews.Ch
(a Christian news service based in China) articles by Sudeshna Sarkar:

Other articles of interest by Sudeshna Sarkar:

Sudeshna Sarkar articles from last few days: