Uri attack: Kavita Krishnan responds to television channels inciting hate and war

Terrorism feeds war-mongering and hate-mongering. We will not serve this agenda.

New Delhi, September 20: While the entire nation is mourning the death of 18 soldiers who lost their lives in the Uri terror attack, certain television channels in India, which pose as news channels, were fueling hate and propagating the idea of war between India and Pakistan. While doing so, one particular English channel (which boasts of the viewership it gets through a daily shouting match) marked a cross on the forehead of women’s right activist Kavita Krishnan.

It went on to heavily criticised her on her posts which pointed out the violence on civilians in the ongoing unrest in Kashmir. So far more than 80 people have lost their lives while several other have been injured. Other channels too carried a similar show, adding names of JNU activists. Krishnan, who is the Secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association and Polit Bureau member of Communist Party of India (ML) Liberation, responded to the “hate-mongering and war-mongering” channels in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

(ALSO READ: Two days after Uri attack, 10 terrorists killed by Army in Lachipura area, Uri sector)

“These men anchored in poisonous waters of hate are angry that we, while condemning terrorism and mourning the needless death of young men in uniform, are not demanding a nuke war on Pakistan,” she writes. “We know that for you and your masters, the war you’re really waging is within – against dissenting and democratic voices, against activists and movements whose efforts are the most meaningful form of democracy in India, against India’s minorities, against the people of Kashmir.”

One of the anchors, notorious for his loud “news” debates, blatant disregard for facts, and neo-fascist arguments, called for military action while showing footage of the mourning families in a loop. “You (anchors) don’t really care about those young men in uniform who were killed – killed because the Government’s definition of ‘security’ is to use pellets against children and civilians in Kashmir, not to ensure that military camps are secure from terrorist attacks,” Krishnan said in her post.

War does not and never has solved problems. The government has rightly decided against a “knee-jerk” reaction. The first steps have been taken to isolate Pakistan diplomatically in international groupings. Some of the top officials in the country have used rhetoric to lash out the western neighbour, which may have contributed to the call for war by a large section of Indians. More steps need to be taken to ensure safety of our borders and enhanced security which will make infiltration more difficult. That may not solve the problem, but neither will an all out attack on Pakistan by the military.

Unlike what many of the anchors believe, a decisive victory of India is not certain if the two nuclear-armed nations go to war. With rhetoric heating up in India, people in Pakistan have started talking about the consequences of the recent events. When asked by a journalist, former Foreign Minister of Pakistan Hina Rabbani Khar asked if either of the two countries, can afford a war when both are trying to combat poverty.

(Image Credits: Facebook)