The message on Indian television news after the Pahalgam terror attack was loud and clear: Badla. Revenge.
As more and more details of the attack in Kashmir, in which at least 26 tourists were killed, came through Tuesday evening, India’s television news asked one question repeatedly: How does India respond?
For the anchors and news presenter, the answer was simple: ‘The nation wants revenge.’
“Bleed them. Hit them. Hit them where it hurts. Make them pay.
“Rain hell on them,” (CNN News 18). “Ek maare toh chaar maarenge…for one death, 10 necks,” said TV9 Bharatvarsh, “Full and final…” it added.
Both news anchors and their guests are still angry and baying for blood: Pakistan’s blood. The Resistance Front, an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba, has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The temperature in TV studios boiled over. “The destruction of Pakistan is now confirmed. Time to teach it a lesson—Israeli style?” asked India News.
“Hit Pakistan…Pakistan must feel the pain,” said a retired army officer on India Today. “Hit them where it hurts, hit them where it pains.”
“Desh mein halla, Pakistan se lo badla,” declared India News. “Let’s plan another surgical strike,” said another retired army officer on News X. “Go to Rawalpindi and kill them in their homes…”
Kill. Inflict pain. “India will not take it lying down,” said Republic TV. “Revenge is the only option.” “Hoga hisab,” promised ABP News on Wednesday morning as it flashed a sketch of those it claimed to be the terrorists who carried out the attack.
Some people didn’t bother to control their language or emotions at all. Anand Ranganathan, author and a frequent face on Times Now, said, “These are desperately dastardly plans hatched by the enemy state of Pakistan and aided and abetted by their cohorts in India…unless we restore the demography in Kashmir… (nothing will change).”
As expected, Arnab Goswami of Republic TV was the loudest and most extreme in his reactions: “Enough democracy… (let’s have) army rule in Kashmir… sack [Chief Minister Omar] Abdullah…”
So strong were the demands for immediate action by the government, so shrill the outrage, that you half-expected to wake up to an Indian attack on Pakistan, Wednesday morning.
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Delayed live coverage until…
TV studios had to wait for reports from Pahalgam on Tuesday. The delayed live coverage from Baisaran valley centred around a few heartbreaking images: a video of a woman pleading, “…please, please save my husband…”, a man lying lonely in death on the grass with his young wife on her haunches beside him, a backpack beside her.
This is the photograph that has come to define the human tragedy of the terrorist attack: The Times of India led with the image in its front page lead story, ‘Terrorists Massacre 28 Tourists In Pahalgam’, so did Hindustan Times in ‘Terrorists open fire on tourists in J&K meadow…”
News channels interviewed the survivors and injured in hospital. Together with eyewitness accounts, these added up to a “chilling effect” on the ground (NDTV 24×7).
Two features stood out: the lack of any information from the authorities, confirming details of the attack. No statement was issued by the police, the army, or, indeed, officials in Delhi.
So, as the News 18 India reporter said, the “tightlipped authorities” were saying nothing: “What is the actual situation no one knows. Is the situation grim? We don’t know.” He saw three helicopters take off—and then wondered if the casualty count was higher than first believed.
From early afternoon to early evening, news channels reported one or at most two people dead and 12 injured (Zee News). But as time went by, the details narrated by the survivors made it sound far graver—as did the headlines. “Cowards target tourists. Pak terror bleeds Kashmir,” wrote Times Now.
That Prime Minister Modi has instructed Home Minister Amit Shah to visit the attack site indicated that the situation was more serious than was made out, but the body count did not go up on TV news.
It was only after Shah took off for Srinagar, around 7 pm Tuesday, that the actual numbers became public: ‘Sources: 24 feared dead,’ reported Times Now. “Unfortunately, we have to give you this news,” said the India Today anchor, Preeti Choudhry. “This will leave an indelible mark on the Indian psyche,” she added.
Secondly, it became clear that this was what channels called a ‘targeted attack’. ‘Lashkar Dastards target Hindus,’ wrote CNN News 18, ‘Tourists hand-picked and shot.’ It was this ‘targeted killing’ that angered reporters, anchors, and guests alike. For viewers, it was horrifying: wives, mothers described how men were singled out and shot—we heard it on television and read it in Wednesday’s newspaper accounts.
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Intelligence…in passing
While we collectively mourned the dead and this effort to ‘divide’ the country along religious lines—as a guest said on NDTV 24×7—there were a few murmurs about the security situation in the state. Bharat News asked “Intelligence ka kya?’ TV9 Bharatvarsh also spoke of an “intelligence failure” although only in passing.
An Aaj Tak reporter said intelligence agencies and those in the home ministry admitted security lapses—“This isn’t a joke. There were 2,000 tourists there and no police…” he said before being cut off by the channel.
On Republic TV, the irrepressible Lt Gen GD Bakshi (retd) was deeply upset by something else: no recruitment in the Army during Covid and “…our forces were cut down by one lakh, eighty thousand—who did it?” he thundered.
These are questions for another occasion.
The author tweets @shailajabajpai. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)