Calling terrorists ‘militants’, ‘gunmen’, ‘armed men’, ‘attackers’, or ‘assailants’ hurts our sensibilities and reminds us that Western media generally treats Kashmir as a disputed territory.
Calling New Delhi 'irresponsible' for pointing fingers at Islamabad, Pakistani media covers attack through reactions from officials & comments on Kashmir's socio-political climate.
Global media also analyses how Modi is doubling down on 'anti-Muslim' rhetoric ahead of election results, stoking fear among Hindus about potential dangers of opposition coming to power.
From calls for proof to betting it's 'solid', global media & experts weigh in on diplomatic spat over accusation that Indian agents killed Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.
Islamabad-based think-tank PICSS's new report says Pakistan saw 'pronounced escalation' in violence last year, with 3,413 conflict-related deaths compared to 1,950 in previous year.
Many of you might think I got something so wrong in National Interest pieces written this year. I might disagree! But some deserve a Mea Culpa. I’d deal with the most recent this week.
“What happens now”, the author asks. It seems it is a full circle, almost all International media consider Kashmir a disputed region and India is now hyphenated with Pakistan. After 9/11, the Nuclear Deal between USA and India, the 26/11 the international media were convinced that Pakistan was a sponsor of terrorism and was kind of shunned by all major countries except only China and North Korea. But then came a 56-inch authoritarian PM in India who used hugging diplomacy, managed events and showing-off bravado in public to improve India’s image abroad. All this was just soft power. The hard power on the other hand increased only a little. The inter-governmental agreement to buy 36 Rafale fighters was a good move, that too was entrenched with crony capitalism when the PM wanted a specific business entity to get the deal. The Agniveer Scheme doesn’t seem to give any benefits, in fact it seems to decrease the hard power. The Surgical Strike, the Balakot air strike were surprise attacks and hence succeeded because of surprise element. It made Pakistan look weak, but it didn’t deter Pakistan from its policy of sponsoring terrorism. So in reality there is hardly change except that the article 370 was removed which unnecessarily created confusing power struggle between J&K and India. The unnecessary hype is now forcing India to take some action and all the pressure is falling on the Indian Defense forces. Since independence, the Indian Defense forces have never made any mistakes. It is the civilian leadership which forced it to fail as in the case of 1962. However in 1965 and in 1971 it proved how disciplined and great this organization. It 1971 specifically it stood against some politicians who wanted India to attack soon. It patiently waited for around 6 months, choose its own time and gave India the most spectacular victory in the biggest war after the second world war. Now also the Indian Defense Force should act as per its own choice of time and place.
“What happens now”, the author asks. It seems it is a full circle, almost all International media consider Kashmir a disputed region and India is now hyphenated with Pakistan. After 9/11, the Nuclear Deal between USA and India, the 26/11 the international media were convinced that Pakistan was a sponsor of terrorism and was kind of shunned by all major countries except only China and North Korea. But then came a 56-inch authoritarian PM in India who used hugging diplomacy, managed events and showing-off bravado in public to improve India’s image abroad. All this was just soft power. The hard power on the other hand increased only a little. The inter-governmental agreement to buy 36 Rafale fighters was a good move, that too was entrenched with crony capitalism when the PM wanted a specific business entity to get the deal. The Agniveer Scheme doesn’t seem to give any benefits, in fact it seems to decrease the hard power. The Surgical Strike, the Balakot air strike were surprise attacks and hence succeeded because of surprise element. It made Pakistan look weak, but it didn’t deter Pakistan from its policy of sponsoring terrorism. So in reality there is hardly change except that the article 370 was removed which unnecessarily created confusing power struggle between J&K and India. The unnecessary hype is now forcing India to take some action and all the pressure is falling on the Indian Defense forces. Since independence, the Indian Defense forces have never made any mistakes. It is the civilian leadership which forced it to fail as in the case of 1962. However in 1965 and in 1971 it proved how disciplined and great this organization. It 1971 specifically it stood against some politicians who wanted India to attack soon. It patiently waited for around 6 months, choose its own time and gave India the most spectacular victory in the biggest war after the second world war. Now also the Indian Defense Force should act as per its own choice of time and place.