Barely hours after the first shot was fired at Gurdaspur on Monday, so many conspiracy theories started floating on social media that it was almost difficult to separate fact from hysterical. While some blamed a neighbouring country with a not-so-impeccable record, others suggested it was the return of the Khalistani movement. On the other side of the Radcliffe line, a section of the Twitterati shot back by accusing the Indian government of orchestrating the attack.  Of course, no one bothered to furnish anything that even remotely qualified as proof – and most claims bordered on hilarity.

The Indian mainstream media, having learnt its lessons (and often in unsavoury fashion) from similar situations in the past, did a neat job. There was very little speculating and theorising during the operation – and news anchors let reporters on ground do the talking. The press in Pakistan (most of it at least), too, responded cautiously on the day of the attack, sticking to agency copies and bland reports.

However, over the next two days, some of that reticence was done away with. The Pakistani media discussed the attacks – and, often, with a strong editorialisation. Here, we sift through some discussions, reports and opinion pieces that appeared in various newspapers and TV channels in Pakistan ever since the attacks – and try examining the Pakistani media’s attempt at decoding the Gurdaspur incident.

• Pakistan’s most respected – and perhaps also most sensible – newspaper, The Dawn, in an editorial, rues how the attack “became about Pakistan and the ever-present tensions between the two countries”. The editorial, though, critical of the Indian media’s “shrill accusations against Pakistan”, is equally unsparing of Pakistan’s reactionary ways: Of course, if caution and common sense do not prevail often enough in India, neither do they in Pakistan. The piece also laments the lack of will on both countries’ part to work together to neutralise terrorism. It, however, ends on a hopeful note, saying that “all is not lost yet” and if the facts do point towards a Pakistani hand in the attack, Pakistan could do its bit by cooperating in investigations.

• Pakistan’s premier business daily, The Business Recorder, in a scathing editorial titled “Impediments to bilateralism”, says it is “ironic and unfortunate”, that “while the regional police chief told reporters at the scene that it was ‘too early to say’ where the gunmen had come from, a junior minister in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office sought to poison Indian people’s minds by saying that he did not rule out Pakistan’s involvement in the attack”. The article cites video clips retrieved from a purportedly “Indian spy drone” that the Pakistani army claims to have shot down earlier this month near the Line of Control to make a case about “growing Indian belligerence against its neighbour”. Towards the end of the piece, though, the author comments it is  “heartening to note that Modi and his top Cabinet colleagues have not accused Pakistan of its involvement in the Gurdaspur attack”.

   
  Another report in the business newspaper quotes Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Climate Change, Senator Mushahidullah Khan saying that the “Gurdaspur was a result of injustice and discrimination being meted out to different communities there”. The report also has the minister accusing India of developing “a habit to blame Pakistan after every incident although such incidents are result of its [India’s] own bad policies”.  The minister further adds that the “entire world is witnessing India’s negative role in Afghanistan and added, it is using banned outfits for terrorist activities in Pakistan”.

• Another Pakistani daily, The Daily Pakistan, carried a news report caustically headlined “Indian hyper-nationalists, leaders take 3 seconds to blame Pakistan for terror attack”. The report also blames the Indian mainstream media for “jumping into the orgy of irresponsible finger-pointing”. According to the report,  “everytime [sic] there is an incident in India, Pakistan becomes an easy scapegoat”. The article, however, acknowledges that both countries have a history of blaming each other for terrorism: Last year in December when terrorists attacked Army Public School in Peshawar killing 150 school children, Pakistan had also blamed India for aiding terrorism in Pakistan, financing it and training TTP terrorist.

• The Express Tribune, in a measured editorial, comments, “Whoever was responsible for the attack, it will have automatically fuelled the trust deficit that already exists, and further bedevil any chance of peace between the two states.” The editorial remarks “it is entirely possible that the attackers were part of a homegrown Indian group, and had not come from across the border”.The television media, though, was much more vocal – and much less articulate – in its assertions.

• In a discussion on Din News, a retired Pakistani army officer launched a derisive attack on India, holding India’s “far-Right” foreign policy responsible for the attack. The former Army general had to be cut off by the anchor, following what seemed like a rather personal attack on the Indian prime minister.

• In another news show on Aaj TV, the anchor blamed the Indian media for unfairly accusing Pakistan time and again – a phenomenon, which according to the anchor had gained even more momentum under the new dispensation. The guest on the show, Retired Air Marshall Shehzad Chaudhury, too, minced no words in blaming Modi. According to him, the attacks were a manifestation of the many separatist movements brewing in India as a result of Modi’s policies

• A separate discussion on News One followed a similar trajectory. In what was essentially drivel that tried passing off as analysis, the anchor and the panelist left no stone unturned in trying to make viewers believe that the Research and Analytical Wing of India carried out the attacks on India! To no one’s surprise, there was not an iota of evidence to support the claims made.

• In a prime-time show on Dunia News, with a ticker that read #BlameGameIndia, the anchors mocked India for blaming Pakistan without carrying out any investigations. The show was billed as a debate – but every single panelist sang the same tune. According to a panelist, while India may have had a case against Pakistan in the “past”, India’s allegations now are completely unfounded. Another said that India needed to reign in on its “motor mouths”.

Clearly news studios in Pakistan are one place, where a serious discussion on terrorism and Indo-Pak relationships can never happen. While some may say the same about a few anchors and channels this side of the border too, what India news channels do have on most occasions is at least one Pakistani voice. On Pakistani channels though, the complete absence of that token ex-Indian military man who can be pushed around and yelled at – simply put, someone who make these mundane debates fun – is rather conspicuous.

So does that mean the Indian media appears to provide a platform where sensible debate is possible and thus Pakistani guests don’t mind showing up? And conversely, do India military men not appear on Pakistani channels simply because they suspect they’d be skewered back home for doing do? What do you think? Answer below.

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