India has sent a clear message to the world on its intent to root out cross border terrorism

Operation Sindoor is astark reminder to Pakistan that Delhi will act as perits playbook

- BY ASAD MIRZA

The last week saw an unprecedented escalation of tension between two nuclear powers, i.e. Indian and Pakistan. The situation was exacerbated after the launch of Operation Sindoor by India to retaliate against Pakistan-backed terrorist groups, after the Pahalgam attack of 22 April, in which 26 civilians were killed by the operatives of The Resistance Force (TRF) a largely unknown entity.

In a tit for tat manner, after Operation Sindoor carried on the night of May 6-7 by India, Pakistan launched a series of drone attacks and heavy shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir on Wednesday (May 7). The Indian response to this aggression continued the second and third day, too anda ceasefire was declared on the fourth day i.e. May 10.

The country’s political and military leadership adopted a principled stand of not tolerating any terrorist activity on the Indian soil, and showed its commitment of giving a fitting reply to any such offensive, further boosted by its diplomatic outreach.

However, another pillar of any functioning democracy i.e. the media particularly the electronic media showed its immaturity by broadcasting often inaccurate and speculative information, in addition to completely unnecessary analyses, often bordering on sowing the seeds of religious animosity.

The country’s electronic and social media was reporting on the situation as per their own script, despite a circular issued by the government not to report sensational and unconfirmed news.

In the latest episode, the Indian TV channels who have now scripted a completely new ecosystem of reporting, devoid of following any known journalistic standards, went on a completely different track of over-reporting the Indian successes. In this they were helped by the dime a dozen defence and strategic affairs experts, who while offering an insight or analysing the given situation offered their own biased and sensational insights of the unfolding events.