Indo-Pak War and Conflicts and The Media

By: Abu Quayyum, Alina Rizvi, Daniel Silber, Ajith Thomas

Background

India and Pakistan have been involved in four wars since 1947.

The four wars include 1947,1965,1971, and 1999. Even before the wars and well after them,

Pakistan and India have never quite been able to see eye to eye.

The media has a played a huge role in how both countries view each other, and how other nations view them.

Print Media

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.

Print Media 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.

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.

Stories of the wars and conflicts have transcended over so many years. Images in newspapers from both countries were used to provoke both sides.

Movies Movies serve many different purposes, but the main two would have to be for

informational (documentaries) and the more popular reason, entertainment (Bollywood movies).

Movies for entertainment: Hindustan Ki Kasam, Veer Zara Famous Documentary: Border

Movies Movies like Border really depict the conflict between India and Pakistan

very well. That being said, movies like every other type of media is always depicted from the point of view of the author, artist or in the sense of movies, director(s).

Moving onto more popular movies like Hindustan Ki Kasam and Veer Zara, they include the conflict of the war but really the main theme behind the movie is love and marriage.

Today the traditional theme of Bollywood as changed from being about very conservative stories about love and marriage and the conflict between the countries of South- east Asia is not of existence as it used to be. More modern Bollywood movies depict more themes on terrorism and are not very conservative, instead show very explicit sex scenes.

TelevisionTelevision allows for dramatic representations of real life events.

Some of these shows can be based on truth and fiction such as the television show Alpha Bravo Charlie which followed three young men in the Pakistani Army.

Laag is a television drama that touched on the conflicts in Kashmir with Muslims and their search for freedom.

TelevisionOther sources of information is the news. Television plays a vital role in the way that news is portrayed.

Images can be portrayed in a very realistic way along with videos that can influence the public's perception of events.

Propaganda plays a vital role in not only the perception of the countries support but also the support of other nations. India gained world support through their transparency throughout the Kargil war.

Books Books have been ever-present in society for thousands of years.The Indo-Pak War is a conflict that was recorded in these books from as far back as the 1950’s to as recent as 2011.Books are a popular form of historical and print based media that many might not be knowledgeable of.

Books

Books portraying the conflicts provide autobiographical,

research, theoretical, and data based outlooks on the Indo-Pak Wars.

CONCLUSION

Today, India and Pakistan continue to work on their relationship.

The media has a major impact on how both countries view each other.

It is imperative that both nations highlight each other in the media in a positive light, and attempt to leave their disagreements in the past.

Thank You !

Works CitedBBC. (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: Defense 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