After the Indian army made an announcement about surgical strikes conducted at night across the Line of Control into Pakistan controlled territory, there has been diametrically opposing reports about the incident by the press on both sides of the border/ LoC. Take a look at what the Indian press said and what the Pakistani press said about the same incidents.
Things are tense on our borders, leaders are talking tough. It is perhaps natural that the media mirrors these tough stances and mutual suspicion.
The armed forces are on high alert, additional exercises are ongoing; leaves have been cancelled.
One of the country’s top financial publications Economic Times reported the stikes on terror bases inside Pak occupied Kashmir and spoke about how this sent out the message from Delhi that we reserve the right to strike. Details about 7 launch pads being targeted and the neutralisation of many militants planning infiltration bids were reported.
The retaliatory and preemptive nature of the strikes across the LoC was highlighted in the Indian media; and Indian newspapers spoke of this marked a change in decades of self imposed restraint. Details about these strikes were also provided.
Escalation or Brinkmanship at LoC, asked one publication. The Dawn is known to be restrained in its reporting generally; however the publication could not be expected not to cater to its core readership and spoke of how the strikes had been dismissed by Pak as border escalation that killed two Pak army soldiers.
Other publications were far less restrained. This was another Pak headline which spoke about Pak denials; how according to the Pak army spokesperson “There is no such thing on the ground. There is just the incident of the firing last night, which we responded to,” Other Pak publications had headlines such as these: “India’s drama exposed”, “Bharat’s lies and falsehoods exposed”.
The Pak army and establishment denying the strikes ever happened was not enough however. The Pak army flew in media people to the LoC to ‘prove’ that no surgical strikes had taken place. A French news agency called the ferrying of journalists by air "a rare step" by Pakistan.
Clearly the Pakistanis are trying very hard to deny that the strikes took place – after all, accepting the fact of the strikes is tantamount to admitting that there are terror camps on Pak soil and that the country harbours terrorists, trains them and sends them across the border and the LoC on various murderous missions.
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