Front Page
The lead this morning is the aftermath of last Thursday’s suicide bombing that killed 40 CRPF personnel in Pulwama. The Jammu & Kashmir government’s decision to withdraw security to four separatist leaders hits the headlines: The Times of India doesn’t hesitate to call them “pro-Pakistan elements” in its opening sentence.
On Friday, TOI was criticised for using a headline that readers felt downplayed Pakistan’s role in the attacks, compelling the newspaper re-publish the piece with a note attached at the bottom.
The Indian Express writes in its ‘Explained’ box, “This is a message from the government that it is cracking down in the Valley and that it doesn’t think the moderate Hurriyat has much of a role in its politics…This may blur the moderate-hardline divide.”
The Hindi dailies have also splashed the story across page 1.
Dainik Bhaskar says ‘Pak paraston ki suraksha chhini‘ (`Pak supporters security taken away’). The newspaper accuses these separatist leaders of working with Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI. It quotes a member of separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq faction as saying that security was provided by the government – ‘It’s withdrawal will not change our outlook or the situation on the ground’.
Amar Ujala says that in the last 10 years, Rs 11 crore has been spent on security for the separatist leaders.
Harassment
The other big story from J&K are reports of Kashmiris being attacked and harassed in different places.
In “Harassed? We’ll help: CRPF to Kashmiris across country,” Hindustan Times finds various instances of such harassment across the country, from students in Rajasthan to a teacher in Karnataka.
“As fear hung in the air over Kashmiri students being targeted in Dehradun following the Pulwama attack…at least two institutes in the city have said they will not admit any student from Kashmir in the new academic session,” writes the Express.
TOI pushes reports of a backlash to page 11, where it finds that “a total of 15 were booked on Sunday across the country for posting anti-national content on social media in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack.”
It recounts the extraordinary case from Assam in which a woman was “booked” for describing the Pulwama attack as “cowardice of the highest order.”
Make what you will of a Mail Today lead of an “India Today TV” exclusive: “Pulwama plot hatched at JeM Karachi rally.” It claims the announcement of the attack was made nine days prior to Thursday, at a rally by JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar’s brother, Maulana Rauf Asghar.
Opinion
Many newspapers examine India’s options after the Pulwama attack.
HT and Express agree that India faces a “strategic challenge”: for HT it lies in “reforming the Pakistan state’s behaviour.”
In “Make this costly for Pakistan,” it asks: how do you get Pakistan which is “willing to throw rules of civilised inter-state behaviour out of the window, export terror and use nuclear blackmail, to mend its ways?”
HT doesn’t know but it says whatever response India chooses, it must change “this calculus in Pakistan…” and make it “enormously costly” for any repetition of such behaviour.
In “After Pulwama,” Express thinks the “persistent” problem for India is Pakistan’s nuclear weapons status: “…nuclear weapons have provided (it) the impunity to pursue a sub-conventional war against India,” it writes.
The danger of “nuclear escalation” and “fear of international intervention” in Kashmir have restrained India.
In such a case, Express suggests India target Pakistan’s “greatest vulnerability — a troubled financial condition.” Specifically, the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meet this week, that is “considering the case for putting Pakistan on the blacklist that will trigger major sanctions.” Second, as China is Pakistan’s greatest ally, India “must signal its willingness to limit bilateral and commercial ties” with Beijing.
Dainik Jagran’s editorial asks why security was given to these separatists. ‘Is it not strange that if you speak against or raise slogans against a country or write objectionable things on the social media you are slapped with sedition charges but these Hurriyat leaders who work on the directions of Pakistan spew venom against India, incite religious sentiments, harbour the stone pelting gangs and sing praise of the terrorists were prospering under government security?’
It adds, ‘We hope that removing article 370 (which gives special status to Kashmir) doesn’t take this long…. Even better would be if the idea of breaking the state into three is explored.’
Prime Time
Throughout the weekend, TV new channels in Hindi and in English, expressed what they called the “gussa” of the people. They demanded “payback” (India Today), “justice” (Times Now) and “hamla” (India News).
ABP News went further: it produced a reconstruction of the suicide bombing of the CRPF convoy — complete with explosion, carnage and casualties.
In the evening, the suicide attack in Pulwama was the major topic of debate.
RepublicTV anchor Arnab Goswami considered the possibility of revenge against Pakistan by India.
Of the many violent responses discussed, consulting editor Retd. Major Gaurav Arya suggested, “(The) Army should have the full authority to respond with bullets on stone pelters (in Kashmir) during operations.”
Professor D.K. Giri wanted to take the war across the border: “When Pakistan has attacked us, we must attack back.”
Political commentator Bhai Baldeep was a little more sensitive: “I don’t think it is the time right now to talk about vengeance, it is the time for mourning.”
Aaj Tak anchor Shweta Singh interviewed former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Seedhi Baat.
Abdullah told Singh, “India’s first responsibility is to solve the Kashmir problem right now, afterwards they should look beyond the borders.”
He added, “Till the time government does not try to win hearts (in Kashmir), confrontation will keep going on.”
Abdullah also mentioned that Hindus were not the only ones who had died in Pulwama — there were Muslims too: “In the Indian armed forces, religion of a person does not matter.”
Tweets of the day
Removal of Article 35A & 370 is the only solution of Kashmir Problem. #RemoveArticle370
— Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) February 17, 2019
Being branded a liar is a small price to pay for ensuring the safety of your people!
— Shehla Rashid (@Shehla_Rashid) February 17, 2019