6 questions the Indian media should be asking after Pathankot

1. What purpose is served by having hashtags like #PakistanStabsInBack or #PakistanTimesUp in your coverage when the Government of India has even not placed blame on any state and when the attack is still underway?

2. Do you not realise that coverage that is of the ‘More-loyal-than-the-King’ variety ends up playing into the hands of precisely those elements on both sides of the border that do not wish to see peace between India and Pakistan?

3. According to various reports in leading Indian TV channels, Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval alerted the Indian military to a possible impending attack at the Indian Airforce’s Pathankot base and that in response the head of the Indian Air Force reached the base hours before it happened? How did the attack still happen despite all this advance warning?

4. How did a group of rag tag militants who obviously aren’t match for the might of the Indian military manage to hold their own for three days (at the time this was written the attack was well into its third day and had not yet been declared over by the Indian government)?

5. How could the highly trained National Security Guard (NSG) commit such basic errors as being unable to mop up areas deemed under Indian military control without causing harm to NSG personnel? NSG Lt Colonel Niranjan Kumar died while reportedly recovering the dead body of a militant as it was apparently booby trapped with a grenade.

6. Would it help both sides of the coverage was done in a slightly more objective manner without jumping the gun (no pun intended at all) on who is to blame for the attack?