Front Page
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s threat that “Pakistan will hit back if India strikes” (The Hindu) is the Page 1 story of the day.
The Times of India goes for balance with two reports, Khan’s “We will definitely retaliate if you attack us,” and India’s, “Stop giving lame excuses and act against terror.”
Khan’s comments have a ripple effect with Hindustan Times and The Indian Express each dedicating a one page spread inside.
On page 1, newspapers highlight that Khan’s warning will “invite swift retaliation” (TOI).
In “Imran’s new Pak plays old game,” The Indian Express says that Khan’s “tone and language was seen in New Delhi as quite unusual for a democratically elected leader.” He didn’t condemn “the single bloodiest attack” in J&K “nor did he mention Jaish-e-Mohammad or its chief Maulana Masood Azhar by name.”
TOI is eloquent: Khan’s threat left “many to wonder whether he was referring to the grim prospect of an escalatory spiral between the nuclear-armed neighbours.” Khan was “striking a bellicose note while also playing the victim with a pronounced air of injured innocence,” it divines.
Interestingly, HT and Express embed photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi “welcoming” the Saudi Crown Prince in the Khan report. The Prince landed here two days after visiting Pakistan where he said he “can’t say no to Pakistan”.
Hindi Press
Dainik Bhaskar says, ‘Imran ki zubaan par jung ‘ (war on Imran’s lips) while Dainik Jagran writes Pakistan is scared by the increasing anger and high level of preparedness of India.
Amar Ujala leads with the Army’s press conference – ‘Jaish Pakistan ka baccha, Pulwama hamle me Pakistan ka haath‘ (Jaish is Pakistan’s child, Pakistan involved in Pulwama attack). Jagran says the army’s message is clear: whoever picks up the gun will be killed.
In a front page editorial Dainik Jagran writes on “A scared Imran’s false bravado”. It says no country will openly stand with Pakistan– everyone knows what Pakistan is – it hid Osama Bin Laden in Abottabad and told the whole world it was against terrorism. “It is ridiculous that he is giving the guarantee of punishing the guilty when there is no guarantee how long the army and ISI will let him be the PM’’.
Air show tragedy
There were different levels of response to what HT prominently displays as “Pilot dead as stunt jets collide mid-air” on its front page flap, saying “Tragedy struck” when two jets “collided over the Yelahanka skies and crashed” during practice runs for the Aero India 2019.
TOI, on its flap, displays the charred remains of the Surya Kiran aircraft while Hindu treats it as a photo op in “Fatal rehearsal.” The accident doesn’t make it to Express page 1.
Instead, Express writes that “Ramdev’s Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust has expressed interest in establishing the country’s first national school board for Vedic education.”
If selected, under the HRD Ministry-funded Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya Vedavidya Pratishthan, the Trust: “will draft syllabus, conduct exams, issue certificates and recognise Gurukulas, pathshalas and schools that offer a blend of Vedic and modern education. The Board, like CBSE, will charge an affiliation fee and examination fee from schools,” Express adds in its ‘Explained’ box.
Prime Time
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was the man in focus on television news Tuesday after his televised address on Pulwama was broadcast across news channels, repeatedly, and then became the topic of debate.
Some debates featured Pakistani panelists but the level of debate was rather childish.
For instance, on News India18, anchor Amish Devgn and BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, who virtually inhabits TV studios since Pulwama, reacted to Pakistan “analyst” Taimur Shamil differently. Patra treated him like a rowdy schoolboy: “sit down, quietly, in a corner and listen,” he advised him.
“But you invited me,” retorted Shamil.
When Shamil made outrageous comments like, “(India) will have to pack up and leave Kashmir,” Devgn yelled at him: “…you are on an Indian channel…you are crossing your limits,” and pressed the mute button on him.
On Republic Bharat, anchor Arnab Goswami made surprisingly heavy weather of silencing those who disagreed with him. Again and again, he pleaded, “Satish ji,” but Satish Prakash, a Bahujan activist on the panel, continued to yell about how nothing was being done for CRPF personnel.
Goswami said, “Why are you in so much tension? Imran (Khan) is in tension, Imran Khan is scared, why are you in tension?”
We didn’t hear the answers because Satish and Ameer Haider Zaidi, general secretary of the All India Tanzeem-e-Insaaf, kept up an inchoate harangue. Finally, Goswami took to his feet, admonished them “aap desh ke saath nahin hain” and then launched a broadside against lawyer Prashant Bhushan, PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti, who, he alleged, spoke in support of the Pakistan PM.
On Times Now, Rahul Shivshankar embellished Goswami’s accusations. He waved what he called a 2016 Pakistan Senate Committee policy document on “how to counter India” with “outreach” to “anti-Modi groups” and named Mufti, Bhushan, NC chief Omar Abdullah, among others. He referred, darkly, to “the enemy within.”
He introduced activist John Dayal as someone who hates Modi and asked him: “Are you part of … Pakistan’s deep state? Place your hand on your heart and say you don’t go for Track II” talks (to Pakistan) — “Tell me, tell me.”
Dayal said he would place his hand on his heart and say he was interested in “peace.”
BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia claimed there was a “lobby” at work in India that supported Pakistan. He added an extraordinary accusation: the “opposition in India is scripted in Pakistan.”
On ‘Upfront’ with Karan Thapar (Harvest TV), Thapar analysed possible “lapses” that may have led to the Pulwama attack. Suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar had been questioned six times — as a stone pelter — and “let go” by police, he said.
Former Army deputy chief Lt Gen Raj Kadyan thought the security forces should act as if “every stone pelter is a potential terrorist.”
On Dar’s release, former home secretary G.K. Pillai thought it was “very difficult to find out how these things happen.”
What of intelligence alerts in early February warning of a possible attack, asked Thapar.
Jayadeva Ranade, former additional secretary, cabinet secretariat, felt “more precautions” should have been taken after that, “(there was) a failure to vamp up security.”
Tweet of the day
#OperationKaraoke An investigation by Cobrapost exposes three dozen Bollywood celebrities, including famous singers, comedians & actors, willing to post messages as their personal opinion on social media, on behalf of political parties, All for money.https://t.co/LUpB5REN13 pic.twitter.com/RTIxvlg23c
— Cobrapost (@cobrapost) February 19, 2019