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 * India-Pakistan War and Conflicts in Relation to the Media **

by: Abu Quayyum, Alina Rizvi, Daniel Silber, Ajith Thomas India and Pakistan have been involved in four wars since 1947. The two countries are no strangers to conflict. The four wars include the war of 1947, 1965, 1971, and 1999. For each war, media has played a huge role. Everything from newspapers to movies has had some mention of the war. Conflict and war is something that continues to be part of both nations history even to this present day.

Media can be beneficial in that it can target a global audience and it is easily accessible. Media can also be a great way to get information. Newspapers, TV shows, movies, and books are all sources of information for people who are looking to become more educated on a topic. However, media can also have several negative effects. For example at times, the information reported may not be authentic from every angle. There is sometimes a major misrepresentation in the media that can have severe consequences. For example, news can be manipulated to influence the minds of the audiences. Also when it comes to conflicts between countries, wrong interpretation of news may even blow things out of proportion. This would create further unrest in any place or even violence in case of extreme situations. Newspapers, TV, movies, and books have all played a role in the conflicts and wars between India and Pakistan.

Newspapers have been around for centuries. For hundreds of years, we have seen newspapers be a universal way in which the news is brought to individuals. In the years 1947, 1965, 1971, the thing that was making headlines around the world was the war between Pakistan and India. For example, //The Lewiston Morning Tribune// a newspaper out of Lewiston, Idaho featured the war as their cover story on Thursday, September 16, 1965. The title read __India Pakistan War Rages on 3 Fronts__. Another article from 1965 read __US Asks Cease-Fire in India-Pakistan War__, this came from a paper called //The Tri City Herald// from Washington. News of the war spread quickly because the world had just put an end to the Second World War in 1945. In fact newspapers grew during the First World War, especially since photographs from the war flourished at the time. Images were used by those papers that could afford them to provoke interest in the war.

Newspapers weren’t the only source of news at the time of the wars. Other print media such as //Time Magazine// reported on the war as well. On December 06, 1971, //Time Magazine// featured an article titled __ The World: India and Pakistan: Poised for War __. Clearly the wars had a profound impact on the world. There were other things going on in the world at the time of all wars. However, the wars between India and Pakistan were clearly of importance to not just those that were experience them first hand, but also around the world. Print media was a clear and effective way for individuals to learn about the developments from the war. The world had already seen two major World Wars, news of other wars were clearly of interest.

Today, the India and Pakistan war and conflicts are still talked about in print media. In 2008, //The Guardian// featured an article about India and Pakistan waging a war, this time a war in the media. The article was titled, __Indian and Pakistani TV Programmes and Newspapers Wage War of Words__. However what is important to recognize is that this war had already been waged a long time ago. Newspapers from both countries have spun their own versions of the same story, which is where conflict arises. In 2001 BBC News did an entire piece called India-Pakistan troubled relations, in which they broke all four wars and any conflicts since then. It is interesting to see how the stories of the wars have transcended over so many years.

Movies are one of the longer forms of video but we believe sometimes it has the most impact. Most of the movies that discuss the topic of the India Pakistani war are mainly Bollywood movies. Most Bollywood that do depict the wars, give their own twist to it in the sense of directors script writers incorporate the conflict of the war with a love story, for example “Hindustan Ki Kasam” was released in the late 90’s. The movie really exemplifies how life and culture was different on the two sides of the war. The basic synopsis of the movie is that two twin brothers were born but were unfortunately separated and one brother was raised as a Hindi in India while the other was a Muslim who grew up in Pakistan. The movie shows how much hatred there was between the two cultures and the two brothers were put in a situation where they were put to fight each other. Another movie example is “Veer Zara”, released in 2004. This, like many Bollywood movies was about love even thought the conflict of the war was the basis beyond the movie. An Indian Air Force pilot fell in love with a Pakistani woman. The Pakistani woman is engaged another man, but of course at the end even with the war conflict, the opposites ends up with each other and live happily ever after.

The movie “Border” is another example of the conflicts highlighted in movies. The movie was a real life adaptation of what occurred in the Battle of Longewala. During the Indo Pakistani War or 1971 and the Bangladesh Liberation War, approximately 120 to 150 soldiers of the Punjab regiment defended their post all night against a whole tank of Pakistani soldiers. The film was a major and significant commercial hit in India. Movies are very informative, for instance like the current viral video known as KONY 2012 which was about stopping a leader in Uganda that was killing many innocent people. In the instance of the India- Pakistani war, the more modern movies that are released from the mid 90’s and on are more about the classic love situation and less about the actual war. Many television series came out in Pakistan based on these conflicts. One of these television shows is called Laag. This series was based on the conflict in Kashmir and was shot between 1995 and 2000 in Kashmir. This series explained the struggles of Muslim’s in Kashmir and their search for freedom. Another television series was also based on the conflict in Kashmir and was aired in 1994. It was called Angar Wadi and was a drama of the daily struggles in the lives of the Kasmir people. One majorly successful television series aired in 1998 and was an action, thriller, and drama series. It was called Alpha Bravo Charlie. This series took a different view than the two other series mentioned. It followed the lives of three young men in the Pakistani army. Although these men weren’t real their stories touched many people which lead to its becoming a hit.

Possibly because of an increase in the technological age, the Kargil war, one of the Indo-Pakistani wars, was influenced and impacted greatly from the media. These lead too many conflicts of interest from both sides through television broadcasts and news broadcasts. In fact, India had a temporary news embargo from Pakistani news sources due to the attempted propaganda from both the Indian and the Pakistani news sources. India was said to be much more transparent through the media during the Kargil war. The use of personal live footage in Indian news lead to a sense of transparency that let the people of India feel involved with the conflict. The same could not be said about the Pakistani coverage of the Kargil war. Through the constant news coverage in all media forms from India there was a large public support for the cause on India’s side from all over the world while the Pakistani side was not as supported.

Currently there is still a great amount of stress between both India and Pakistan. In an age where media is more available to the masses different forms of propaganda and information can easily be distributed. Television shows, news, and broadcasts do not simply end after airing. This information is constantly transferred and used for many things. Simply looking online for information on the Indo-Pakistani war through visual media has vast amounts of results. The information portrayed is not always accurate though because videos and shows can be produced by anyone. Information can easily be skewed and used for one’s own gain or as a misrepresentation of a topic. Videos and television are full of personal opinions and can fall heavily to propaganda of one’s own alliances and ideas.

Books have provided understanding through interpersonal, research based, and an autobiographical mean that gives people insight into a previous, ongoing or potential future conflict. This can be seen as evident in texts dating as far back as 1965 to books dating as recent as 2011.

In the book Indo-Pakistan War, 1965 by Hari Ram Gupta, exemplifies the struggle faced through these very exclusive and communitarian nations. This was an American sponsored book developed at the University of Michigan creating insight into the conflict through research. This book entails the struggle and cultural conundrums faced through the Indian and Pakistani conflict. In R.D. Pradhan’s literary work of 1965 the Inside Story of Defense Minister Y.B. Chavan’s Diary of the India Pakistan War, gives an autobiographical perspective of the political nature and relations that the Indian Sub-Continent endured. Different sections of this autobiography gave firsthand accounts of how politics and understanding were used to carry out the 22-day war in 1965. The difference of The Indo Pak-War is that it was not merely ideal (religion based) rather a struggle for identity after colonialism. Both the Indian and Pakistan nations were thrown out into the realm of nationhood after being colonized for hundreds upon hundreds of years. The foundation was the key for these nations to succeed and that was the most difficult part to lay down when colonialism implemented divide and conquer. The people themselves did not know what was right or wrong rather the driving forces of politics, geographic, and majoritarian rule took prominence.

Out of all the wars the Indian-Pakistan war of 1971 was not of one over Kashmir and Indian border conflicts rather political and geographical splits between East and West Pakistan. The book 1971: Indo- Pak War: A Soldiers Narrative, by Hakeem Quereshi displays the struggle and politics behind this unique war. The uniqueness of this book is that it provides the interpersonal qualities that print media bring to the understanding of this war. It gives the reader insight upon “Operation searchlight” which was the limitation to curb Bengali nationalism within East Pakistan. It spoke of Indian intervention as East Pakistan triggered the Bangladesh Atrocities. In the Intervention the Indian country helped formulate what is now referred to as Bangladesh. Even though all these different wars within the Indian-Subcontinent took place between India and Pakistan, they all had different rationale and politics that triggered these developments. The media outlets of print and literary resources gave people of these conflicting times insight into what was going on within the global community. More importantly, these literary works gives the modern day student, educator, or simply those wanting to learn, the ability to interpret, decipher and compare and contrast to ones owns need and want. As a society of knowledge and understanding we must grow and learn through these media outlets of how we can move forward as a people and come to develop a better tomorrow.

Newspapers, magazine, movies, televisions, and books are all great sources of information to turn to when looking for more information on a topic. However, it is important to keep in mind that in time of conflict and war, peoples personal biases do have an impact depending on the media choice. The conflicts between India and Pakistan continue to be part of media today, therefore it is of utmost importance that the relationships shown in the media are positive ones, so that both nations can move on and leave the wars and conflicts in history.


 * Works Cited**

BBC. (2002). //BBC News//. Retrieved March 25, 2012, from India-Pakistan: Troubled Relation: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/south_asia/2002/india_pakistan/timeline/default.stm

Gupta, Hari Ram. //India-Pakistan war, 1965//. Delhi: Hariyana Prakashan, 196768. Print.

Pradhan, R. D., and Yashwantrao Balwantrao Chavan. //1965 war, the inside story: Defence Minister Y.B. Chavan's diary of India-Pakistan war//. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 2007. Print.

Qureshi, Hakeem Arshad. //The 1971 Indo-Pak war: a soldier's narrative//. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Print.

Shah, S. (2008, November 30). //The Guardian.// Retrieved March 25, 2012, from Indian and Pakistani TV programmes and newspapers wage war of words: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/01/mumbai-terror-attacks-india

The Times of India. (2011, March 30). //Times of India//. Retrieved March 26, 2012, from Times of India Website : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/top-lists/top-10-films-on-indo-pak-conflict/videols/7824538.cms