The propaganda warfare. The methodical dispensation of misinformation. The shrillest jingoism. The primitive bloodlust. The hatred of the other disguised in chants of patriotism. Destruction of the enemy hailed as revenge. Internal failures camouflaged in external blame game. Lust for TV TRPs and social media likes trumping responsibility to the traumatised audiences. Melodramatic slogans outlined in blood red trampling over veritable journalism. Vicious monologues drowning sensible discourse. Terrifying hashtags blinking on bright screens.
That, tersely, was the Indian electronic and online media, barring a few channels and vlogs, on May 8, 2025.
On April 22, 2025, twenty-six people were killed in a deadly terror attack in Pahalgam in the Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Al-Jazeera reported: “A statement issued in the name of The Resistance Front (TRF), which is believed to be an offshoot of the Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the attack.” The group, reportedly, later retracted the statement.
The Indian government, without waiting for any due investigation, blamed Pakistan for the attack.
India’s Prime Minister Narender Modi tweeted: “I strongly condemn the terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. Condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. I pray that the injured recover at the earliest. All possible assistance is being provided to those affected. Those behind this heinous act will be brought to justice … they will not be spared!”
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, after condemning the horrific terror attack that targeted Hindu men, stated: “The recent tragedy in Pahalgam is yet another example of this perpetual blame game, which must come to a grinding halt. Continuing with its role as a responsible country, Pakistan is open to participating in any neutral, transparent, and credible investigation.
The Indian National Congress Kerala tweeted on April 25, 2025: “Pahalgam is nearly 200km from Line of Control. It is not a border village so that someone could sneak in, do their thing, and go back. How did four terrorists carrying big guns come in 200 km inside, shot nearly 50 people and go back unscathed? If terrorists can walk in and shoot and go back without the risk of being captured or killed, how safe are our cities?”
Second time Chief Minister of the Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah tweeted on April 27, 2025: “After the Pahalgam terror attack, there must be a decisive fight against terrorism and its origin. People of Kashmir have come out openly against terrorism and the murder of innocent people, they did this freely and spontaneously. It’s time to build on this support and avoid any misplaced action that alienates people. Punish the guilty, show them no mercy but don’t let innocent people become collateral damage.”
On July 29, 2017, India Today reported: “Speaking at a Kashmir conclave in New Delhi, the opposition National Conference leader [Omar Abdullah] said he was aware that it was popular to blame Pakistan for everything that is happening in the troubled state. “We know that Pakistan fishes in troubled waters, but we also know that they are not the creators of the sort of agitation that we have seen in 2008, 2010 and 2016,” Abdullah said.”
Farooq Abdullah, head of the ruling Jammu and Kashmir National Conference and former chief minister, said on May 1, 2025: there is no doubt that this was a matter of security and intelligence lapses…they [Pakistan] wouldn’t have liked the idea that we were leading our lives very well…propaganda was spread among our people as well…so they [Pakistan] resorted to this [Pahalgam attack].”
A dizzying series of events unfolded in the last few weeks.
Adam Pal of the Inqilabi Communist Party of the Pakistani section of the RCI, wrote on May 7: “Another war has begun between arch-rivals India and Pakistan, in which both have claimed victory so far. In the early hours of 7 May, the Indian Air Force carried out nine attacks inside Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir. In retaliation, Pakistan claims to have downed five Indian jets, which India has so far denied.
India has claimed that the places targeted inside Pakistan were camps operated by terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad, which have been responsible for several terrorist attacks in India. Pakistan has declared that 26 lives were lost and 46 were injured in these attacks, which struck different cities of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, including Muridke near Lahore. Those killed include several family members and associates of Masood Azhar, who is on the UN’s list of terrorists.
Pakistan has claimed that five Indian jet planes involved in the attack were shot down, including three Rafale planes, one MiG-29 and one Su-30. Pakistan has also vowed to respond to these attacks with full force in the coming period. During these aerial attacks, heavy shelling was reported along the Line of Control, which is the de facto border between India and Pakistan in Kashmir. Both sides have claimed that they inflicted heavy losses on the other side.”
In this terrifying scenario, Pakistan media, mostly in Urdu, has proclaimed Pakistan’s moral and material victory on India. And while much needs to be said about the level of credibility of Pakistan’s media, it all pales in comparison to what has unfurled in a matter of few hours in India. After banning almost every major Pakistani news and entertainment channel in India, blocking social media accounts of Pakistani artists, sportspersons, and journalists, and blocking X accounts of anyone with considerable following in India, the Indian government’s unofficial mouthpieces jumped in glee and unleashed a storm of misinformation and propaganda, the kind of which is rarely seen in the highly polarised world of news and information in the world of 2025.
A quick aside: my X account is withheld in India “in response to a legal demand.” It happened on May 7, 2025, after my series of tweets raising questions about the credibility of India’s rationale of attacking Pakistan’s cities and killing of civilians, including children and women.
The Independent, UK, on May 9, stated in its report titled “Misinformation floods Indian and Pakistani social media in absence of official updates: “Mislabelled videos, recycled images and fake public advisories are taking over the information landscape, leaving hundreds of millions of anxious observers in a lurch over what to believe… Key pieces of misinformation include fake photos and videos circulated as footage from the airstrikes and unverified claims and counterclaims from the governments of the nuclear-armed neighbours… Several news channels and journalists have fallen for fake videos and claims, amplifying unconfirmed information at a time when cross-border attacks and shelling, mock drills, and sirens blasted from loudspeakers are causing mass panic.”
Most of that misinformation was courtesy the Indian media, known in Indian liberal and left circles as the “Godi media”. Beyond the horror and dehumanisation, it was endless. It was deafening. It was incoherent. It was ludicrous. And on a superficial level, it was hilarious.
The Hindi channels and right-wing commentators led the macabre circus.
TV 9 announced that in “the area of Quetta, the Baloch had attacked [the state of Pakistan].
Indian Army News posted, in caps: “INDIAN ARMY 60 KM IN PAKISTAN”
NDTV Hind aired the footage of Israel’s Iron Dome system as Indian defence system.
Major (Retd) Gaurav Arya, a self-claimed proud Pakistan-hater, announced with his arms held high in the air, implored the Indian Navy to “do their part. The [Indian] Army has infiltrated Pakistan. INS Vikrant is there. Shoot 15-20 missiles and set fire to the Karachi Port. Set Karachi on fire. Burn down the entire city.”
Arya also added: “Today is a qayyamat ki raat (doomsday night), Pakistanio, don’t sleep. Death is doing a naked dance on your heads.”
Barkha Dutt, not a Hindi channel host, tweeted to her 6.9 million followers: “BREAKING @themojostory- our Navy has targeted the Karachi Port — as part of the massive ongoing retaliation in response to Pakistan missiles and drones targeted at multiple locations in India including Jammu airport, more details awaited.”
Barkha also tweeted: “Breaking @themojostory - a Pakistani pilot is in Indian custody — more details awaited / this as india thwarts multiple missile and drone attacks by Pakistan on Jammu, Pathankot, Udhampur, srinagar, RS Pura, Jaisalmer — all attempts foiled.”
Encapsulating the methodical madness, Wajahat S Khan, Pakistan’s New York based journalist and South Asia security and politics analyst, posted on X: “Indian media claims in the last 72 hours about #IndiaPakistanTensions
- “Only terrorists” killed by Indian strikes
- 100 “terrorists” killed
- Gen Asim Munir removed
- Karachi Port destroyed
- Islamabad attacked
- PAF pilot taken prisoner
- Two PAF JF17 Thunder aircraft shot down
- One PAF F16 shot down
- No Indian planes shot down
- Baloch insurgents in action (this one I’m gonna take seriously)
- Coup in Pak military
- Amritsar attacked (via missiles)
- Amritsar attacked (via drones)
- Jammu attacked (via missiles)
- Jammu attacked (via drones)
These lies or semi-lies were peddled in no particular order by much of the ‘Godi’ media like Times Now, Republic, Zee, India Today, and — disappointing to note — even @BDUTTof @themojostory.”
What Pakistan is witnessing on May 9 is not just a sombre atmosphere of what-next, there is also a lighter side to the entire warlike situation between Pakistan and India. No, war is not a trivial matter. War destroys and leaves indelible scars. War kills and maims children and women and old people and the helpless and the innocent. War is not justice. War is blind vengeance. War is never the answer. But when those who are supposed to raise questions about the futility of war become the biggest cheerleaders of vendetta and destruction and mayhem, when those who armed with their microphones and cameras fail to ask their rulers the uncomfortable but pertinent questions, and when those whose reach is immense and influence unquantifiable refuse to demand any governmental and national introspection, while lazily, angrily, and hatefully scapegoating the neighbouring country they do not wish to see their country peacefully coexist with, truth sinks into oblivion, decency fades into smirks of schadenfreude, journalistic ethics diminish into hoots of nationalism, deadly misinformation and war propaganda become essential PSYOPs, hubris replaces empathy, and grim news convolute into sensational soap operas.
The May 8 reporting on Indian media, electronic and social, was all of that and more.