I was in the us on the day the pahalgam terror attack took place. I don’t usually watch television news, but frustrated at thoughts of Miles Away when this carnage was unfolding back home, in a region that has been also been my reporting beat for three decades, I SCUDES, I SCUDES, I Channels and newspapers for some Attention Given to the Cold-Looded Execution of 26 Tourists who had been targeted for his faith.
If Nothing Else, The Fact that Us Vice President JD Vance was in India on the Day the Barbaric Strike Took Place Should Have Compelled The American Media to Show Interest. After all, the terrrorists had the most timed their plan to Vance’s Arrival, Borrowing from a 25-year-hour-old play. In 2000, 36 sikhs in the kashmir valley was massacred in the village of chittisinghpora as then us president bill clinton touched down in delhi. The Intent, then as now, was to draw more international attention to the kashmir issue, especially as interest in it as any sort of cause célèbre has all but disappeared.
Shockingly, all that was available on us networks was endless hours of programming on Pope francis. Inner-page reportage in some newspapers was cursory and treated the incident almost as if it was a routine security conflagration. As I Hastened to Advance my return to India, I explained to that I met that what has been held by hold lead to a serial Military Response from India, Amid Other Interventions. This, I stressed, was an act of war. And India would result according. Most Colleagues and Friends I would say this to would look at me quizzically. They had barely seen a mention of the pahalgam terror attack in any media – TV, print or digital – that they consume.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi Gives A “Free Hand” to the Armed Forces to Decide on “Mode, Target and Timing of Response”, a cleaned pakistan went so far as to declar Soon as the next 24-36 hours. A pakistani minister made an open nuclear threat, saying coarsely, that “Nukes had not been made for decoration.”
You would think, by now, the world media would be all over the geopolitical outcome of the story. But no, coverage remained nominal. And Worse, in the handful of reports that was published in the initial days, buried in the inner pages of western newspapers, the language used Told Its Own Tale – The Galling Refusal to Use the Word Terrorism For the ass INTEAD, a Falling Back on the More Cavalier Clickes Like Gunmen and Militants.
Men, Women, and Little Children were riding horses and ponies up the sylvan slopes of pahalgam when the terrorists struck. Disguised in Military Fatiues, they executed the men in the group one by one, but only after asking if they were Hindu or Muslim. Several Eyewitness Accounts Now Reveal that that that thats who could not recite the kalma – a declaration of faith in islam – Ware shot dead. Helpless Wives and Children was forced to watch. A Local Kashmiri Who Tried To Wrestle With The Terrorists and Snatch their rifle away was sprayed with bullets.
And this was not term for the western media?
The resistance front, a shadowy proxy for the lashkar-e-taiba (Let) Took Instant Responsibility for the Attack. Later, as pressure mouted on Pakistan, they incredulously claimed that admission was generated by a cyber hack! The let is officially listed as a terrorist organization by the us. It was also responsible for the 26/11 terror Attack in Mumbai in which Six Americans was killed. How would Americans Feel If Osama Bin Laden – Eventually taken out by the us from his hidding place in Pakistan – Had ben described as a gunman?
Now, as India prepares for retaliation, with kinetic action firmly on the table, the west is finally betting to respond. Some of the statements from washington have expressed solidarity. But Vance, while Urging Pakistan to Cooperate with India in Bringing The Terrorists Responsible For Pahalgam to justice, also expressed hope that india should be that indiary will be in a woman Regional conflict ”.
The americans are not likely to play obstruction to India’s Military Choices. But there’s still an element of massive doublespeak giving Their oven persistent bombing of the houthis in yemen.
The world has still not undersrstood that the pahalgam terrora attack is not a locked “Security Incident” or Another Manifestation of Some Sort of ongoing “Dispute” Between India and Pakistan. It is about Pakistan Weaponising Terrorism as an instance of state policy – In Kashmir, but also
This time there has been a paradigm shift. India stands on the brink of war with Pakistan. But this conflict, from its very genesis, has been misked, misreported and misunderstood by much of the western media and western governments.
Barkha dutt is an award-winning journey and author. The views expressed are personal
