By Rama Kashyap
There is bombardment of all kinds of forwarded messages on WhatsApp-fake and real. While many forwards may be dismissed as downright silly, there are some that leave a deep impact on you. While meandering around plethora of WhatsApp messages, I recently came across a post that haunted me.
‘War is where young people who don’t know each other and don’t hate each other but kill each other, by the decision of old people who know each other and hate each other but don’t kill each other.’
I can’t say that the recent India Pakistan conflict fits into the above definition of war, but the seeds of the current conflict were sown when Pakistan sponsored terrorists mercilessly killed innocent tourists in Pahalgam on 22April. The dastardly act of terror sent a wave of anger and anguish in the country. The electronic and social media went ballistic with inflammatory rhetoric putting pressure on the government to react immediately and in a big way.
However, the government chose to act in a calibrated manner launching ‘Operation Sindoor’ on May 7. Terror infra in Pakistan was struck at nine different locations. What was started as a ‘measured, and non-escalatory, proportionate and responsible’ action against terrorists bases, escalated into warlike situation with retaliatory drone attacks by Pakistan.
While our men in uniform made us proud by countering every attack and making decisive counter attacks, the so called nationalist social media warriors were busy intensifying war rhetoric through the messages full of bravado and jingoism. In the midst of conflict when the drone attacks were successfully thwarted by our robust air defence system, I was appalled by a boastful forwarded message on WhatsApp that described decimation of enemy’s drones by Indian missiles as a ‘spectacle’ for enjoyment. How can we equate war with entertainment?
War is not a movie to enjoy or a spectacle to watch and applaud. The army personnel are not actors performing on a film set. They are people in flesh and blood, somebody’s sindoor, though it may be wrong to limit the image of army personnel only to men, for there are women, too, in armed forces on the call of duty.
For war mongers, war is like a video game wherein you remain safe while hitting the targets and killing the enemy. However, real war has serious consequences. There are loses and casualties, death and destruction on both the sides. War may be inevitable in certain situations, but there is nothing glamorous about it. War leaves permanent scars that are difficult to erase.
All along I had been praying for the conflict to end, but when it actually happened on May 10, it came as a bolt from the blue. Unimaginable that Donald Trump who had been dismissive of the rising tension between the two countries was taking credit for the truce! Before retiring for my afternoon siesta, I was glued to television watching war updates till about quarter to five.
As soon as I got up at around 05:30 in the evening, I reached out to my mobile to check WhatsApp. The first message that I found was Trump’s tweet announcing ceasefire. Yes, it was on WhatsApp that I learnt about the suspension of hostilities. My first reaction was that of disbelief. The credibility of WhatsApp messages being low, I texted back, ‘Fake or real’. Without waiting for the answer , immediately I switched on television and got the confirmation.
We should be heaving a sign of relief that the conflict didn’t escalate into full blown prolonged war which would have cost dearly in terms of men and material, but there was a sort of discontent unfold on social media. Thanks to the over hype created by the media, the army of social media warriors, disappointed by the abrupt cessation of war , turned its ire towards Foreign Secretary, Vikram Misri ,the face of media briefing during the war. A vicious attack was unleashed on him because he was the government’s spokesman who announced the ceasefire.
Cessation of conflict should have been welcomed by everyone but it was not. When I was trying to figure out the reaction to ceasefire, there was a WhatsApp forward to enlighten me. ‘The enthusiasm of most people for war is directly proportional to the distance of their homes from the borders.’ How true! Those living on the border under constant threat of shelling will never support war. However, I would like to add that not just the physical, but emotional distance also matters. If your loved ones are in the armed forces on the front, you pray for peace and not war.
We are one nation, one family. Let us pray for peace and harmony in the country.
Rama Kashyap
Retd. Associate Prof
MCM DAV College
Chandigarh