With the maturing of Social Media and Mainstream Media’s inability to counter their (well-justified) image of biased / agenda-based reporting, MSM is rapidly losing credibility with increasing speed since the past many years.
Despite millions of followers on popular social media sites such as Twitter, posts by most mainstream media houses hardly get any engagements, which is a sign of their irrelevance in current social media landscape. (I shall share some examples of that in a while)
Instead, their space has been taken over by individual social media handles or new consortia / news aggregators that have emerged over the past few years. These voices not only command more credibility but also get many orders of magnitude greater engagements on social media.
Thus, I’d say that it is time for us to take a call whether Legacy Media (a more appropriate name for MSM, since traditional media houses are no longer mainstream) is relevant any more as compared to new-age content creators who disseminate news as well as views on social media. Let me start with the drawbacks of Legacy Media.
(Let me qualify this by saying that what I say is purely my personal opinions. Feel free to disagree)
Biggest drawback of Legacy Media is that they are finding it very difficult to adapt to new reality, with advent of Social Media.
Firstly, they are accused of having their own biases, whether to the Left or to the Right, whether pro or anti govt, and also as being more considerate towards the points of view of a particular country even if at the cost of own national interests. Sharing one example here 👇
Secondly, despite millions of followers on their Twitter handles, most of their tweets get barely a handful of engagements (a few tweets do go ‘viral’ once in a while, but these days, they are more an aberration than a rule). Here are a few examples: (Screenshots as on 2300Hr, 25 May).
India Today – 6.3Mn Followers and ZERO engagements on this tweet. Views are also a mere 1845 in number.
Hindustan Times : 8.6Mn Followers. Just 1 RT and 1 Like on this tweet. And only 1970 views.
TOI Sports Tweet (1Mn Followers), retweeted here by Times of India Main Handle (14.8Mn Followers). Yet it has just 1 Retweet (that too from the Parent TOI handle) and 01 Like. Moreover, only 6104 views
The Indian Express (4.2Mn Followers). Two Replies (both spam!), Four Likes and One Bookmark. And only 3495 Views.
^^ Btw, since I have QT’ed the above tweets as part of my twitter thread on this topic, the number of retweets on them has now gone up substantially by a figure of 1!
Thirdly, while legacy print media groups were mostly a product of pre-internet / pre-cable TV era, most legacy electronic media houses of today that came up in the past 2-3 decades were centred, atleast in their initial years, around the personalities of their founders and as such, acquired a distinct bias based on their owners’ political / ideological orientation.
Even the legacy print media houses had their own editorial biases based on political / ideological orientation of their editorial boards. I will not take any specific names here for my own reasons, but I am sure folks will be able to relate to atleast 2 or 3 such legacy media houses.
Mind you, I say it from a purely neutral pov and not to point fingers at any individual media house.
The above three points are sufficient enough to show the limited reach of such legacy media houses on social media. On electronic media, i.e. TV News Channels, they still have some relevance due to ability to ‘break’ news in near-real time. However, even there they are playing catch-up to Social Media.
As far as newspapers are concerned, relevance is even lesser due to the news being printed being obsolete already, thanks to social media and electronic media.
Instead, what is fast emerging is that a large number of individuals have become more credible source of information / news than the legacy media. They offer not only news but also views that are often a result of deep understanding of such topics. Being individuals who are (mostly) sharing news / views without any monetary returns / expectations, they generally stay on a small ‘bouquet’ of topics for most part, leaving out the ‘trivial’ news for legacy / vernacular media to handle.
At the same time, some of them have moved on to establish online portals of their own after getting together.
Such ‘influencers’ share their news / views either via the medium of their twitter handles or via podcasts which is becoming another important medium these days. While many of them have a pan India followership, there are some that are more local to a particular geographical area as well, for example thischannel. I’ve been following this since long and have seen it grow rapidly over the past six months.
Twitter as such, has become equally important as a source of news in addition to its traditional role as an important social media platform. Instead of google, most people search twitter for any particular news, be it a breaking news or an update on a long running event!
In the above scenario, such influencers command a dedicated following and are often the first ones that people reach out for. Further, by the very nature of the medium, they far outnumber the handles of legacy media outlets and dominate the news cycle, often even being quoted by legacy media in absence of their own bytes / analyses. Thus, they themselves become source of news for legacy media.
Heck, I myself have experienced this on one occasion!
Going ahead, it is very likely that the continued downfall of legacy media in terms of credibility and absolute viewership / eyeballs captured will result in them growing even more irrelevant over the next five to ten years. Major media houses may still survive, but they will not be able to add much value to the news cycles that keep evolving rapidly.
Their continued relevance as ‘trusted’ sources of information too will keep getting eroded as has been the case since the past so many years. The example of the tweet against The Hindu as quoted in the beginning of this paper may once again be seen in this light. Another example is that of NDTV under the previous ownership wherein it was assumed that NDTV would cover even neutral news with their own ideological bias.
This tweet from the era of NDTV under previous owners too is relevant in the above context!
On the above note, I think it is appropriate to plug in this thread of mine on NDTV here all over again. The engagements on this thread have been phenomenal, to put it very mildly!
1 Folks, here's a thread on the 'motivated' journalism by #NDTV. First noticed a distinct 'tilt' some years ago. Chronicled some, missed ..
In the end, all I will say is that in due course, the legacy media might still survive but more as publications of advertisements interspersed with old, irrelevant news. Over time, however, even that will not be sustainable.
What we have been witnessing right before our eyes over the past few years is the end of the era of newspapers and TV news as we knew it.
Do I feel sad?
I’d say no.
I too grew up feasting on two and at times even three newspapers each day. But that time is now well and truly gone. Going ahead, it is going to be the average person with a smartphone to whom will be attributed the death of Legacy Media.
Does that mean that it will be the end of journalism?
Far from it, I’d say.
Good journalists will still stay relevant as we go ahead. The change that I foresee is that they will become brands by themselves instead of needing to be in the employ of Legacy Media Houses. THAT would be the next ‘coming of age’ moment for MSM, as and when it matures I’d say.
With this, I conclude this chain of thoughts. I just had to put it out ever since I first realized the pathetically low engagements that Legacy Media handles were getting on social media. I will just leave this thread here as I finish!
Note: This chain of thoughts was first shared on Twitter/X on the evening of 11 May 2025. Posting it here for archival purposes.
At the outset, I will say what we have done to Pakistan is simply unimaginable. To that I will also add, Picture Abhi Baaki Hai!
Let me try and explain how ..
Very aptly named Operation Sindoor, it avenged #PahalgamTerrorAttack with brute force. However, let me go back in time and start from the situation post-Kargil 1999 :
IC 814 Hijack. We released three terrorists.
2001 : Parliament Attack. We mobilized, but didn’t attack.
2002 : Kaluchak Attack. They killed 2-month old babies at point blank range. We didn’t retaliate. Op Parakram continued.
2005 : Delhi Bombings. 60+ dead. No retaliation.
2006 : Mumbai Train Bombings. 200+ dead. No retaliation.
2008: 26/11 Mumbai Attacks. Only dossiers sent to Pakistan in retaliation.
After 26/11, however, Pakistan stopped mass-casualty terror attacks outside of Kashmir. No major terror attacks happened outside Kashmir thereafter.
2019 : Pulwama. Retaliation came in form of Balakot and the shooting down of a PAF F-16 the next day.
Thereafter there were practically no terror attacks for the next six years .. till Pahalgam. I shall come to that in a moment, but first let me say something about info warfare.
Post Balakot, a large chunk of people on own side of the border were (as they are now) upset that we had lost the war of narratives. However, despite ‘winning’ the war of narratives, Pakistan STILL couldn’t prevent India from abrogating Article 370 less than six months later! Instead, all that they could do was whine and cry on social media / MSM, while at the same time desperately trying to keep their public sentiment under control! This 👇 was what I tweeted thereafter. Must have a look!
This thread was tweeted three days after the abrogation of Article 370 in Aug 2019, seeing the game of headless chickens going on in Bhikharistan. Do NOT miss the story of Shri Brown Majesty that this thread starts with! 😂🙏https://t.co/Y8MUVUGhEu
Coming over to Pahalgam, what happened there is known to all. That there will be a retaliation was a given, thanks to the past record of this GOI as well as the extremely strong statements by the PM, HM and Raksha Mantri.
If this is not an announcement of much worse headed the way of Pakistan, then I don't know what else it is. The Paakis overplayed their hand in #PahalgamTerrorAttack. They thought they would sour the visit of Vance, just as they did during Clinton's timehttps://t.co/CFOZdNIDxc
While the Pakis would have been expecting the ‘usual’ retaliation in the form of anti-terror strikes like before, the GOI fired the first salvo less than 12 hours after the #PahalgamTerrorAttack by putting the Indus Water Treaty in Abeyance. This was the chain of thoughts shared by me on that event:
:Thread: Folks, sharing some thoughts on implications of the GOI decision to hold Indus Water Treaty in Abeyance in the aftermath of the Pakistan Sponsored #PahalgamTerrorAttack. The immediate trigger for the thread is this notification by the IRSA of Bhikharistan 👇 Here goes .. pic.twitter.com/DXtJkTNGCw
If Paakis thought that this came out of syllabus, then they were in for yet another rude shock when Op Sindoor actually commenced!
They said putting IWT on hold was an act of war. I wonder what they thought on the night Indian bombs/missiles came calling, heralding Op Sindoor!
Yes, India once again hit non-military and non-civilian targets in Pakistan, thereby giving an off-ramp to the Brown Panted Ones which we knew they would NEVER take! But this time they hit not just one, but tens of targets, including right in the middle of major Paaki cities! This shall remain my all time favourite video of Operation Sindoor! We hit them .. and how! Right through the domes of their terror factories while they slept in blissful sleep, never to wake up again!
This voiceless video explains Op Sindoor in all its brutal glory!
Of course, the Brown Panted Ones retaliated. They just couldn’t have NOT retaliated. They had no choice it this.
India knew it as well and was prepared.
Resultantly, Indian AD foiled each and every projectile that the Bhikharistanis threw our way, including Ballistic Missiles.
Btw, contrast the high spirits on the Indian side in the video in the tweet above, with the sheer panic on the Bhikharistani side. The so-called ‘Ghazis’ were quick to turn around and run away!
But jokes apart, there was one more serious impact of such strikes.
This widespread series of attacks by India, targetting Paaki military targets in the middle of their major cities hit home in yet another way. Every Paaki citizen, whether he acknowledges it or not, now knows that his own home can be easily hit.
The war had hit home. Literally.
What reinforced the fact was that India sent a deliberate ‘near-miss’ in Rawalpindi, exploding in the Race Course near the GHQ and possibly Asim Munir’s residence itself. Then there was the targetting of Pak AD systems in one of the DHA Complexes as well.
I am sure that with Indian drones, bombs and missiles landing practically everywhere, sirf bomb hee nahi fatte honge .. aur bhi bahut kuchh fata hoga Pakistaniyo ka!
Also, this time there was no one asking for ‘proof’ .. because proof, in all its brutal glory, was provided by Bhikharistanis themselves, thanks to their cheap Chinese smartphones! Including from the strategic Nur Khan & Bholari Airbases! Don’t miss the ‘O SHIT’ in the 3rd video!
I think Miss Urmila Ji from Mumbai and her Radar-sensitive dog too would be V.E.R.Y happy at this turn of events!
I am sure this one will be THRILLED to see the clear videos of last night's attacks shown in today's press briefing. Hopefully, Miss @Urmilamatondkar Ji's glee at GOI not being able to make available HD Imagery of Balakot Strikes will be gone for good. https://t.co/d6YymhJrJa
Yes, the Brown Panted Ones tried their best to retaliate. They put their BESTEST minds together and put out a DEVASTATING reply to Indian Attacks .. Yes, they released a brand new song!
Unfortunately, India STILL doesn’t have a suitable reply to this blow!
Pakistan ka Bhaarat ko KARAARA Jawab .. Ek brand new gaana!! Tayyar Hain Hum is the title!
Of course they are Tayyar! Something tells me they already have 5-6 such songs ready at all times .. Pata Nahi Kab Indian Army bol de – 'Chalo Darling Tayyar Ho Jao, Aaaj Mood Hai Kuchh… pic.twitter.com/b2TBQf4m3s
Unfortunately, however, their Chinese Air Defence Systems couldn’t protect even themselves, let alone their airbases and terror infrastructure! Oh, the memes that came out!
Damn those Indians sitting comfortably in their homes, NOT worried about bombs landing up their asses, and creating all those memes, I tells you! This one below, though, is my personal favourite! Perfectly exemplifies what IAF and Indian Army did to Pakistanis DESPITE their Chinese equipment!
Of course, the Brown Panted Ones tried. They tried really hard indeed.
And they FAILED .. thanks to their Chinese equipment!
So much so that they even gifted atleast one nearly perfectly intact Chinese AAM to India!
Chinese gave their latest maal to Pakistan. It missed its target, ran out of fuel and landed nearly intact! Reminded me of this video. PS: This video is NOT a highly symbolic commentary on China giving weapons to Pakistan! (Or maybe it is!) 😂 https://t.co/JfEPfa5BRopic.twitter.com/BkQlUu1SwP
They claimed to have shot down a Rafale or two. They even broadcast the supposed radio intercepts of Shri Godzilla Ji who was flying the India Rafale searching for his comrade. But they couldn’t find even one video of the dead body of Shri Rafale Ji lying dead on Indian side!
When asked proof for claims of shooting 5 IAF planes, their idiot Defence Minister offered – Proof is all over Social Media!
Why did he say that you asked?
Well because that is all they had – Conspiracy theories by SM handles, most of which were their own.
But NO wreckage!
And when poked again (no pun intended) by yet another news anchor asking difficult question, Shri Defence Minister of Bhikharistan suddenly became deaf!
Yes, and these idiots claim they WON the war! Well, their own yahoos may buy this crap from them, but not me!
Point to note is that all their senior ministers were giving interviews to all foreign channels, alternating between bombastic statements and whining. OTOH, on the Indian side it was just the Foreign Secy and the two officers addressing the media at set times. This speaks volumes indeed.
Each time India would administer a slap, the statement would be ‘If you come back again, we will slap you again’. Of course, just like a scorpion cannot NOT sting, the Brown Panted Ones would try & fail over & over again.
How could India turn down this invite to slap them again, hainji?!
The pinnacle of Indian retaliation was reached soon enough when within a span of minutes, India addressed 11 Airbases of the PAF and inflicted massive damages, including to critical high value assets of the PAF. That a few of these were near known nuke sites was just ‘incidental’!
They claimed to have shot down a Rafale or two. They even broadcast the supposed radio intercepts of Shri Godzilla Ji who was flying the India Rafale searching for his comrade. But they couldn’t find even one video of the dead body of Shri Rafale Ji lying dead on Indian side!
When asked proof for claims of shooting 5 IAF planes, their idiot Defence Minister offered – Proof is all over Social Media!
Why did he say that you asked?
Well because that is all they had – Conspiracy theories by SM handles, most of which were their own.
But NO wreckage!
And when poked again (no pun intended) by yet another news anchor asking difficult question, Shri Defence Minister of Bhikharistan suddenly became deaf!
Yes, and these idiots claim they WON the war! Well, their own yahoos may buy this crap from them, but not me!
Point to note is that all their senior ministers were giving interviews to all foreign channels, alternating between bombastic statements and whining. OTOH, on the Indian side it was just the Foreign Secy and the two officers addressing the media at set times. This speaks volumes indeed.
Each time India would administer a slap, the statement would be ‘If you come back again, we will slap you again’. Of course, just like a scorpion cannot NOT sting, the Brown Panted Ones would try & fail over & over again.
How could India turn down this invite to slap them again, hainji?!
The pinnacle of Indian retaliation was reached soon enough when within a span of minutes, India addressed 11 Airbases of the PAF and inflicted massive damages, including to critical high value assets of the PAF. That a few of these were near known nuke sites was just ‘incidental’!
So this is how Operation Sindoor went on from the night of 7-8 May to night of 10 May when Pakistan successfully pled its case for a ceasefire. It took just three days from 8-10 May for the famed Brown Panted Ones to live up to their reputation!
Btw, this video is called SWAHA!
Before moving ahead, let me share this 👇 ‘candid’ conversation of the Paaki Defence Minister as well!
Let me now address the most important fact – the Utter and Complete inability of the Brown Panted Ones to prevent the Indian attacks on their key installations etc.
Visuals uploaded by the Paaki awam themselves are proof enough.
Mind you, all this has happened within a span of LESS THAN 72 HOURS from the very early hours of 8th May till the afternoon of 10th May when the Brown Panted DGMO called up his Indian counterpart begging for ceasefire!
Yes, it took LESS THAN 72 HOURS to bring Pakistan to its knees ..
I know, some folks on Indian Twitter and all the folks on Paaki Twitter will disagree, saying that Shri Shehbaz Sharif has declared victory and that Paakis are dancing in the streets in joy!
To these people, all I will say is .. You couldn’t be more wrong!
But as the saying goes .. You cannot wake up someone who is merely PRETENDING to be asleep! So I shall accept the fact that they don’t believe me and move on with my life in general, and this thread in particular!
They all know the true worth of the Brown Panted Ones. Hence it came as no surprise that much much before the first Indian bomb had even crossed the IB, Paakis had started threatening nuclear armageddon in anticipation!
Their lack of faith in their Brown Panted Ones to defend their sorry little country is truly remarkable!
With benefit of hindsight I must say that they were entirely correct in their assessment, given the immense damage India inflicted on them with impunity and utter contempt!
Less than 48 hours after the first Indian bombardment they announced a meeting of their Nuke Control Authority! What helped was the reports that India had hit a possible nuke storage facility near Sargodha and possibly one or two more! I think that, and the imminent meeting of Paaki Nuke Command Authority is what spooked the rest of the ‘civilized’ world.
Mind you, India was NOT concerned at all, merrily planning on inflicting more pain.
But then came the offer of surrender by the Paaki DGMO when he called up!
So they decided to take the Indian hit on their unmentionables and sue for peace, perhaps because they no longer had any unmentionables left for the next round!
Guns will fall silent at 5pm, they agreed. India had delivered the last blow this time, just like all previous times!
But then just as folks on this side of the border (including yours truly) were bemoaning the sudden and unexpected ceasefire, came the news of a fresh Paaki attack!
Mind you, we Indians were happy that the Paakis had attacked again!
Not because we wanted to see our own folks get hurt. Because we KNEW that Indian Armed Forces won’t let them get hurt. Instead, what made us so happy was the fact that now Paakis will get some more bums up their bums!
That evening also saw some brand new memes too!
However, very few questioned the likely reason behind the latest wave of attacks despite the desperate ceasefire offer. IMO, it could possibly have been due to an internal power struggle within the Paaki Army.
But very soon, the attacks failed (as usual) & India delivered yet another blow, this time in Peshawar! Once again, it was India that gave the last slap!
On an unrelated note, Peshawar was a target too far in the 1965 War and was only reached on a handful of occasions by the IAF!
Now if I were a Paaki General, I would have shot myself at this humiliation at the hands of my eternal enemy and that too in less than 72 hours.
But then, that would require a little bit of self-respect, no?
So Pakistan did what comes naturally to them – They declared victory!
They showed the world a list of targets in India hit and destroyed. Their yahoos on social media went berserk with joy! They came out on their (bombed) streets delirious in yet another victory! No proof was needed .. because it was all over social media, you see!!
Meanwhile, India went ahead and gave out satellite imagery of Pakistani targets destroyed in the less than 72 hours of engagements!
Thus ended this particular round of India-Pakistan conflict. Yes, it was incomplete. But it was much different than previous ones.
Come to think of it .. it lasted almost as long as the 26/11 Mumbai Terror Attacks! How’s that for Karma, huh Pakistan?
Let me talk a bit now about what we achieved in this round.
Mind you, it still is unfinished business.
It will always remain thus till the time Pakistan and the ideology behind it remains standing. To that extent I endorse the outrage on the ‘premature’ ceasefire as well.
However, I also endorse the fact that the ceasefire is a fact.
The GOI decided to go ahead with it for reasons best known to them. They naturally have access to much much more information than you and I can ever hope to have. So yes, while disappointed, I accept the fact that the wonderful hammering that Pakistan was getting, has ceased FOR THE TIME BEING.
It will happen again.
They WILL give us yet another chance, over & over again.
That is the reason I am not crying out for this round having ended.
So we move on to what we gained ..
We exposed the Brown Panted Ones in front of not just their awam, but the entire world for the shitty soldiers that they are. The only thing they are good for, is gobbling up the meagre resources of their country and plead when India hits them!
A whole generation of Indians have seen war for the first time. And I include the Kargil generation as well because not even Kargil came this close! 1971 would be a better comparison.
Also, Indian Armed Forces, since long involved in sub-conventional ops, got a wonderful opportunity to test themselves in a large-scale conventional contingency! This will go a long way in finetuning the already very fine battle drills of the IA, IN and IAF.
Talking about IN 👇😂
Mind you, this time the Indian Navy didn’t join the fight while the Indian Army too didn’t mobilize even after the hostilities began, whereas the Brown Panted Ones were already mobilized and in their battle positions since much before!
The Brown Panted Ones were anticipating another military strike (which, frankly, SHOULD still happen). They even mobilized their derelict pieces of military hardware towards the Indian borders amid much public fanfare! But India? Well India just yawned and didn't mobilize at all!
Then there was the fact that the entire Nation came together as one behind the Indian Armed Forces, letting go of their petty differences of opinions. Some jokers still whined for Pakistan, but they can rot in their own private hells for all I care.
Resident Non-Indians. Period. Sadly, when the heat dies down, she will be back spewing the same venom all over again. https://t.co/9iwQCgA311
OTOH, in Pakistan the Baloch inflicted atleast two dozen casualties on the Brown Panted Ones! The difference could not be starker!
Further, India has changed forever the paradigm of retaliation to terror attacks. The ceasefire was accepted with the caveat that any terror attack would be considered an act of war. This is a HUGE statement of intent, backed by the nearly three days of massive punishment already.
Heck, India didn’t even waste time seeking incontrovertible proof of Pakistani involvement in #PahalgamTerrorAttack, thus bringing to a naught the Pakistani efforts to paint it as an internal issue of India!
This Indian message has hit home .. over and over again, I’d say!
Of course, the Pakistani nuclear bogey that kept Indian responses ‘rational’ thus far has been blown up, figuratively and literally too as per some accounts!
𝗕𝗨𝗗𝗗𝗛𝗔 𝗦𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗚𝗔𝗜𝗡 Reportedly, a team of US experts has reached #Rawalpindi to assess the damage done to #Pakistan's Nuclear weapons storage ar #NurKhanBase.
But then, Pakistan does have the World’s Best Air Force .. a fact endorsed not by Pakistani photoshop experts but sakshaat Telegraph Ji!
The next positive outcome for the Motherland is the fact that indigenous weapons performed perfectly under warlike conditions. If this doesn’t give a further boost to enhanced acquisition and export of indigenous weapons systems, then nothing else can!
Another important point is that the cost of keeping Pakistan alive has gone up massively for the West and for China, the latest IMF bakhsheesh notwithstanding.
In fact, this won’t even be enough to cover the losses of the past few days!
Of course with the America backed ceasefire, American interests lobby in Pakistan Army will gain strength at the cost of China interests lobby. Now THAT would be interesting to watch! In any case, most Generals have their spawns settled in the USA in any case, and NONE in China! This naturally makes them more ‘amenable’ to American interests!
Meanwhile, the Indus Water Treaty remains suspended, as does the Simla Agreement.
Yes, do read the above line once again! It gives us much more freedom than before to do what is in our national interests, instead of getting tied down in legalese.
Remember, Pakistani narrative that Pakistan has ‘won’ this round not much different from the post 1965 narrative. Unfortunately, despite the ‘Spectacular Victory’ of 1965, Ayub Khan was unceremoniously removed from power. Let’s see what happens when dust settles this time round.
Also remember that India recently became the fourth largest economy in the world some days back while Pakistan remains .. well .. Pakistan!
Reminded me of these words from SunderKand:
जहाँ सुमति तहँ संपति नाना।
जहाँ कुमति तहँ बिपति निदाना।।
Do read them once again!
In the end, all I will say is that the India Armed Forces deserve all the applause that we can give them. Pakistan WILL give more and more chances to hit them in the future, and knowing this GOI, they will keep getting hit exactly where it hurts – Their Ego.
Before concluding, I will just add this thread dedicated to Pakistan – Turkey friendship that was so at display during Op Sindoor!
:Thread:
So this wannabe Khalifa of the 21st Century makes clear his preference! In light of this, sharing a short thread on Pakistan-Turkey relationship at the very basic, people to people, level! https://t.co/c2CjqZuIdZ
NOTE : This Chain of Thoughts was shared on Twitter late on the night of 08 May 2025. Sharing it here for archival purposes.
So it begins .. the Fourth Round (not counting Kargil) ..
Let me share some thoughts that are still jumbled up in my head. Let’s see how it turns out. Here goes ..
At the outset, let us say a prayer for the hundreds of thousands of young men who will put their very lives on the line for the sake of the Motherland in the days & weeks to come. May they find victory .. by the ever-present grace of the Almighty.
NISCHAY KAR APNI JEET KAROON ..
Always remember one thing .. the sum total of men martyred / injured fighting Pakistan sponsored terror in Kashmir, Punjab and elsewhere in the country has already exceeded the fatalities in all wars with Pakistan thus far.
So, it makes sense to see the permanent end of this scourge to our West.
As they say, The Antidote of Poison, is Poison, NOT Nectar.
Some more pain in the short term is okay to bear, if and IF it ensures long-term peace and stability. Hence, the cautious optimism in me.
Before moving ahead, let me just offer a disclaimer : It might cease just as quickly as it has started. Or it may continue for a longer duration. I am not a clairvoyant so I cannot really say how it shall pan out.
Regardless, I’ll offer my own point of view. Feel free to disagree.
However, one thing is absolutely clear – This is a war about the future of our very civilization. I don’t mean a war that begun just a few hours ago. I mean a war that began in 712 AD, the day from where Pakistan traces its history .. a history that they feel is still incomplete.
A history, that they feel will only be complete once they capture India .. a history that they feel will only be complete once they complete Ghazwa ‘e Hind .. a History that they feel will only be complete when they demolish all our Temples and offer Namaz there.
Moving now from History to the Present, I’m quite sure that the Brown Panted Ones wouldn’t have, even in their wildest dreams, ever thought that a ‘simple’ terror attack would escalate things this far. Like I said some weeks ago, they overplayed their hand.
If this is not an announcement of much worse headed the way of Pakistan, then I don't know what else it is. The Paakis overplayed their hand in #PahalgamTerrorAttack. They thought they would sour the visit of Vance, just as they did during Clinton's timehttps://t.co/CFOZdNIDxc
Just like a scorpion cannot NOT sting due to its very nature, false ego & bombast of the Paakis will NOT let them just accept that they have been bettered & stop provoking India further. Heart of heart, they know they are no match for India. They have seen it in all previous wars.
You may fool everyone in the world, but you cannot fool the man staring back at you in the mirror. The same is true for Pakistan as well.
The biggest example is the utopian concept of Afghanistan being their ‘Strategic Depth’!
Think about it.
They knew they would lose to India. Hence, the bombast about fighting Indian Army from Afghanistan!
I bet many of us, and many of Pakistanis as well never saw it this way .. that the Brown Panted Ones were convinced of getting defeated.
So was Mr Lal Topi, btw!
A good analogy that is very apt for Pakistan would be that of a poor man investing all his savings in buying a new suit and saying that he belongs to the ‘high society’. But the fact that underneath that suit he is wearing torn and tattered undergarments would never leave him!
Once again, it is corroborated by none other than the erstwhile Brown Panted Chief, General Bajwa himself when he spoke to a group of journalists not very long ago. Must watch this video from the 3-minute mark, if not fully :
The Pakis’ ego has landed them in a situation where they have no way out except by getting slapped and kicked by the much hated and much vilified Kafirs of India. The analogy of Monkey-Trap fits them perfectly.
Their ego won’t let them stop.
Their aukaat won’t let them last long.
One possible way out is this 👇
Hypothetically, the only 'honourable' way out for Bhikharistan is the 1971 template – Remove Asim Munir and bring Imran Khan back as Prime Minister. Granted, this will still leave the Brown Panted Snake alive to fight another day, but for right now, this seems their only option! https://t.co/zf50zI4zPj
Whether they take it or not, is anybody’s guess. But a fair assumption is that Asim Munir won’t last long as Brown Panted Chief. Either he loses the war & becomes President aka Musharraf, or gets thrown our aka Ayub / Yahya.
Of course, one more option, a VERY WELL PRACTICED ONE at that, is to simply surrender .. and call it a ‘game’ just like Niazi said in 1971. He went from ‘Never Surrender’ on 14 Dec to calling it a ‘game’ less than 48 hours later!
Now that this latest round has started, I can only hope that it gives a decisive blow so that these bastards cannot dare to look our way for the next 50 years atleast. Thanks to their inflated sense of self-worth, utter and complete humiliation is the only medicine that will work.
1971 kept them away for 54 years till now. They dared not breach our perceived red lines. They did a 26/11 with full confidence that we won’t react. They did Pahalgam also under the same premise, thinking that they had gamed and catered for likely Indian reaction.
Unfortunately for them, their bluff has been called.
I’m sure there would be a healthy dose of panic within GHQ at Rawalpindi at the giant next door who has had it with them. The visuals of Paaki awam at the time of Indian bombs landing in their cities are adequate proof as well.
The guns will fall silent eventually.
It might happen tomorrow, or after a month, or a year.
I think that this clash lasting for atleast three weeks would ultimately make the Brown Panted Ones crumble under sheer logistical strain once their one week worth of stocks they hold, run out.
In any case, the much touted and the much shouted ‘lashkars’ of Jihadis that they threatened would literally swarm Indian forces are either missing or dead in the recent strikes.
On that note, I wonder whatever became of this uncle from 2019! 👇
As I conclude this chain of thoughts, I think it is fit to leave a wishlist for when the guns finally stop booming. I would wait for the day Chicken’s Neck and Chhamb-Jaurian are back in Indian Control. These saw some of the most intense fighting in 1965 and 1971.
And of course, Kartarpur Saheb!
Now THAT is something which would put the Khalistani stooges of Pakistan in a spin!! It may or may not happen in this round. But it must eventually happen. And I hope to be alive at that time.
There's a whole lot more 'excitement' left to come in the next few years, IMO. I've maintained that if we are lucky enough to be alive at the end of the next decade, then the world that we die in will be much much different from the one that we were born in.#JustSayinghttps://t.co/U1aFB0cRRp
Note: This chain of thoughts was first shared on Twitter on the night of 06 May 2025, barely a few hours before Operation Sindoor launched by the Indian Armed Forces
Folks, sharing some thoughts on implications of the GOI decision to hold Indus Water Treaty in Abeyance in the aftermath of the Pakistan Sponsored #PahalgamTerrorAttack. The immediate trigger for the thread is this notification by the IRSA of Bhikharistan 👇. Here goes ..
I would find it very insulting to my Motherland when people would proudly say the the Indus Water Treaty continued to be respected by India even during the wars with Pakistan. This is purely and simply, a lack of शत्रुबोध on our side.
The enemy, on the other hand, is very clear. India is the eternal enemy for them. Always has been, and always will be. Yes, they will mooch off us and our generosity, but at the end of the day, they won’t hesitate in destroying us, given even half a chance
Talking about Bhikharistanis that come over to India for medical treatment, I was reminded of this bastard👇 They will mooch off India when in need, even if they hate us from the bottom of their hearts. Let their govt make hospitals for them instead of building missiles and nukes https://t.co/4gcLy98nqwpic.twitter.com/1Wqwmi2SDZ
Ironically, opening paragraph itself says that the Treaty is signed in a ‘Spirit of Goodwill and Friendship’.
I think that spirit got buried under the sands of the Indus Basin over and over again, in 1965, 1971, 1987, 1999, 2002. Various terror attacks by Pak only helped even more.
I will not go into the technicalities of the Treaty, except for just saying that it gave way more to Pakistan, at the cost of the interests of our own people. So much so that even the then J&K CM said so in 2014 : J&K suffered losses due to Indus Water Treaty: Omar Abdullah
So, coming on to what has been happening thus far, and what happens next ..
First and foremost, going far beyond the world of Surgical Strikes and Balakot Airstrikes, the impact of putting the IWT on hold is nothing short of a nuclear strike on Bhikharistan, IMO!
Let me elaborate..
Here is how it went previously:
Surgical Strikes : Paakis responded by blatant and vociferous denial that any such thing happened!
Balakot : Paakis responded by losing an F-16 to a MiG 21 and then being scared shitless by Indian threats into releasing Abhinandan ASAP!
Further, during both, the Balakot and the Surgical Strikes, India took great care in ensuring no collateral damage or harm to the non-military & non-terrorist Pakistani citizens. Of course, they were & continue to be ungrateful bastards, but that is a topic for another day!
In this particular instance of putting the IWT on hold, Pakistan has practically no answer except for huffing and puffing!
And this time, the action has hit home to practically each and every Bhikharistani that inhabits those lands of the Sindhu river that they stole from Bharat.
The Brown Panted Ones were anticipating another military strike (which, frankly, SHOULD still happen). They even mobilized their derelict pieces of military hardware towards the Indian borders amid much public fanfare!
But India?
Well India just yawned and didn’t mobilize at all!
Instead of moving its military, India just turned off the tap to the various rivers that had till recently, been flowing unimpeded into Pakistan! And then .. after a few days .. India opened the taps fully!
Poor Bhikharistanis .. they have absolutely no idea what to expect next!!
Basically, what India has done is something which the Brown Panted Ones had never thought of even in their wildest of dreams when giving the go-ahead for the Pahalgam Terror Attack. India introduced a paradigm shift in which, instead of uniting behind their army, Paaki population is cursing them! Moreover, this time they are also DIRECTLY feeling the impact of their wholehearted endorsement of the Pakistani terror infrastructure : ‘India can starve us’: farmers in Pakistan decry suspension of crucial water treaty
^^ So now they cry that they will starve.
Why?
Because in their (beautiful) minds, they believe that India overreacted to Packie terrorists killing 26 innocent Indian after confirming their religion!
I kid you not.
THIS is what they mean in this article screenshotted below!
But if you want a crisp summary, then this tweet 👇 says it all!
Yes, Indian simply cannot stop the flow of water into Pakistan. But what India CAN, and IS doing is to regulate the flow as per our desires & our requirements instead of foolishly adhering to the terms of a treaty with an enemy which in any case was blatantly biased in his favour. We may not have the capacity to store all the water for perpetuity, but we do have the means to decide when and how much flows into Pakistan.
A few weeks’ delay and a ‘little’ bit of moderation into inflows to Pakistan can ruin an entire sowing season out there. This is what is causing so much concern in that terrorist country at this moment!
It would be safe to assume atleast double the official estimates given below as the true figure, I’d say :
And in case you feel even an iota of sympathy for those people, do try and read this article below :
‘Proud’ aunt seeks Kasab's body "Even if he did something wrong, I'm proud he taught enemy a lesson in their own country"
THIS, folks, is an everyday Pakistani for you .. insanely proud that one of their own killed so many of us.https://t.co/khbFJS558S
If you STILL feel sorry for them, then I have a small exercise to help you get over it:
Step 1 : Take a deep breath.
Step 2 : Hold it for 26mins 11secs!
So what happens now, you ask?
Well for one, Sindh gets worried.
Why?
Because with India withholding water, Paaki Punjab will ensure that Sindh dries out first! There already were some reports of protests in Sindh about this some days back!
Internal water war in Pakistan. (Video from Pak Twitter). Sind is up in arms against the network of 6 new canals that will channel water from the Indus river to irrigate Punjab’s Cholistan region pic.twitter.com/SVoDhnaiIW
Mind you, even in the best of the times, Paaki Punjab has been stealing waters from Sindh. And now when the going gets tough, it is only fair to assume the ‘tough’ Punjabis will only hoard more of Sindh’s waters!
Which brings me back to the visuals of Pak Army mobilization that I talked about earlier in this thread. Did you notice that almost ALL such videos are about their mobilization in Punjab, and almost NONE in Sindh?
Interesting, no?
Just as the Brown Panted Ones gave up East Pakistan for the sake of West Pakistan in 1971, if they give up Sindh for the sake of Punjab in the next round (whenever that happens), I won’t be surprised at all!
After All, Sindh, Balochistan and KPK are all meant to serve Punjab!
What about China, where Indus and Sutlej and Brahmaputra originate, you ask? Well, firstly there is no water sharing agreement existing between India and China. Secondly, bulk of the inflows into these rivers happen on INDIAN side of the Himalayan watershed.
And lastly, even if China decides to temporarily ‘regulate’ flows into the Indus and the Sutlej, they would, in effect, be cutting off Pakistan’s water because India can just withhold outflows into Pakistan for that much longer!
Pakistan is well & truly fcuked, I’d say. Which also brings us to the possibility of a potentially bombastic/desperate measure from their Govt. They already tried the UN route & got shown their true aukaat earlier today as per this report :
Further, they have been told to ratchet down their nuclear sabre rattling that goes off the moment any hint of Indian retaliation to Pakistani terror attacks comes by. Life for them gets more and more interesting each passing minute!
What India has done is that they have turned the threats of Paaki nuclear blackmail on their head, by mobilizing the population and the administration into doing Civil Defence Drills! Not only are these necessary for a potential nuclear flare-up, but they are also equally an exercise in signalling to the world at large that this time is not like the last so many times. The Indian narrative/info warfare this time has been top-notch, I’d say.
Unfortunately, for the Brown Panted Ones, who are the true rulers of Pak, (regardless of Shehbaz Sharif prancing around as if he is the actual PM!), the only way out is to either accept defeat which their egos will never permit.
Or to strike India, which only brings more pain!
Of course, the threat of an Indian military strike still remains.
Why do I say this? Well, because of the extremely strong actions thus far and the extremely harshly worded statements from the Prime Minister, Raksha Mantri and Home Minister.
BREAKING: India issues NOTAM (notice to airmen) on India-Pak border areas of Rajasthan for a big IAF South Western Air Command air exercise for May 7-8. pic.twitter.com/N2RWUyTxLR
The Brown Panted Ones have been testing India’s limits of tolerance since 14 Aug 1947 itself. It is only now that India is returning the favour, and that too with added interest. On a side note, here is why they are called Brown Panted Ones!
Btw, talking about 'War', this is what their erstwhile Brown Panted Chief had to say about their famed Brown Panted Army! Just watch this video from the 3-minute mark. This was their CHIEF speaking! pic.twitter.com/XmFRcQOrF0
One other way out for them, possibly, is an internal coup within the Pakistan Army, something similar to the one that happened after their humiliation in 1965 wherein the self-styled Field Marshal Ayub Khan was forced out by Yahya Khan.
I am sure that atleast one section amongst the Brown Panted Ones might consider this to be possible way out, i.e., offering to remove Asim Munir by (rightly) assigning all blame for the current fiasco to him.
By now we all know what happened. Tourists were asked their religion & those who were adherents of the 'wrong' faith were killed without second thoughts by those who follow the 'correct' deen. The first thought that came to my mind upon hearing this was the speech by Asim Munir. pic.twitter.com/SiUMKoTjEG
But even if .. and that is still a BIG IF .. that happens, will some such thing be acceptable to India?
Will the IWT be restored by India?
Will the three western rivers flow unimpeded as before?
Well, the short answer to all these questions is a BIG NO!
The Brown Panted Ones have overplayed their hand this time, and given a golden opportunity to India to do the unthinkable. A line has been crossed, that will never be reverted to now. The rules of the game have been changed for good.
The Indus Water Treaty, as it existed for past 65 yrs, is well and truly dead.
If the Paakis have any sense, they will sit down to renegotiate. Come to think of it, they don’t have a choice in this matter. Either they renegotiate a new, more balanced treaty, or they lose it all!
It is a Lose-Lose situation for them.
The only choice they have is to decide HOW MUCH are they willing to lose.
And knowing them, they will lose much more by being obstinate instead of pragmatic. It is their true nature, just like it is the nature of a scorpion to sting.
To be honest, I do not feel bad for them at all. After all, they are a country that teaches their six-year olds this 👇
If you think Munir was out of his mind in talking this trash against Hindus, then I have a white coloured building in Agra to sell to you! Don't believe me? Well, here is what a top Indian diplomat came to hear from a six-year old girl in Pakistan.https://t.co/xU0lZBljF0
Then these very six year olds grow up and ask the religion of innocent Indians and kill all who call themselves Hindus.
There is only one solution to this disease called Pakistan that has been festering on our lands since long. The sooner it is taken care of, the better it is.
31/31 I'll just leave this photo of a bumper sticker on a car somewhere in Delhi to this thread. pic.twitter.com/uGQ70w0xjQ
Yes, there WILL be pain in the short term, but for sake of long term peace, it should be acceptable.
With this, I conclude this chain of thoughts. Hope you found it interesting. I shall just leave 3 prior threads on the Indus Water Treaty since it is so much in news currently.
In light of this statement on the issue of Ravi river waters flowing untapped into Pakistan by @capt_amarinder, replugging an old thread chronicling my own thoughts on the same.https://t.co/szYxuIPZRw
Folks, sharing some data points on the traditional names of various places / rivers in the Kashmir Valley and the Jammu / Ladakh Regions .. names that are slowly but surely being erased from our collective memories. That, and a bit about the Kashmir Valley in the Vedic Era.
Here goes ..
During the Rig Vedic Period, Kashmir was under the SatiSar lake, created by Lord Shiv for Sati Mata. Within it resided the demon ‘Jalodgar’ who had a boon from Lord Brahma that he couldn’t be killed while he lived in the Satisar Lake. He terrorized inhabitants in & around the lake.
Fed up with his tyranny, Rishi Kashyap prayed to Lord Vishnu and with his blessings, drained out the Satisar Lake from a place that came to be known as ‘Varah Mool’, or the Molars of the Boar (Lord Vishnu as Varah dug up an exit for the lake).
Varah Mool is present day Baramula.
But with the lake drained and the Varah Mool Pass now open, the area was devoid of water. Thus Rishi Kashyap once again prayed to Goddesses Parvati, Saraswati and Lakshmi and urged them to incarnate in the form of life-giving rivers.
Devi Saraswati & Devi Lakshmi descended as Rivers Rumbiara and Veshaw respectively.
Devi Parvati descended as the Vitasta River into which these first two rivers drained.
Vitasta was renamed by invaders as the Jhelum. She is Ma Parvati herself, flowing and nourishing these lands.
The source of River Vitasta is said to be Vernag, where Lord Shiva struck the ground with his Trishul, creating the source of the River Vitasta.
Vitastā, means “the spanning one” or “the river that extends widely”. It is still revered & celebrated on the Vitasta Festival, that was recently revived by the Govt.
(Painting by Bishan Singh, 1872 : Kashmiri Hindus performing Sūrya Namaskār at the banks of the Vitasta)
The name Kashmir itself is said to have been derived from the name ‘Kashyap Meru’ as it came to be known after Rishi Kashyap established his ashram there once the three Goddesses descended down as the three key rivers in the valley.
Baramula itself was called the Varahamulaksetra or Varahaksetra, after the incarnation of Lord Vishnu that helped create an opening for draining the Satisar Lake.
Coming on to the original names of the other rivers in the region .. I got hold of this map some years ago. Took a while before deciphering the current names of these rivers mentioned here.
Sindhu, in the initial part, was called the Rasaa River. It was also called as the Vaajinaavati in Ladakh before becoming the Rasaa and thereafter the Sindhu River as it cleared the Himalayas.
Shyok was called the Trishtama.
One of the tributaries of the Shyok River was called the Anitbha .. or the one with a dull colour.
Gilgit River is said to be the Shwetyavari River, or the one that is white in colour.
Zanskar River is said to be the Oornavati River, while the Shigar River is the Susartu River.
Silaamavati was the original name of the Suru River.
Of course, many know that Chenab was the Chandrabhaaga River.
Kishanganga has been renamed as the Neelum by Pakistan because of obvious reasons.
Name of Sarayu River got corrupted over the ages to become present day Haro River.
O Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvati, Shutudri, Parushni, follow my praise! O Asikni Marudvridha, Vitasta, with the Arjikiya and Sushoma, listen! – Rig Ved
In fact the Sutlej was called the Sutudra till as late as 18th Century. Guru Gobind Singh Ji concludes the Chaupai Saheb as: भाद्रव सुदी अष्टमी रविवारा तीर सतुद्रव ग्रंथ सुधारा(This book was competed on the banks of Sutlej on Sunday, the eighth Sudi of the month of Bhaadro)
Now coming on to the original names of towns / villages / other places in Kashmir.
Tithwal was called Teerthwal.
The full name of the Dal Lake was the Sureshwari Dal, after Ma Durga.
Gulmarg was Gauri Marg where a temple for Lord Shiva and Ma Parvati existed. The temple was destroyed by Yousuf Shah, who ruled Kashmir in 16th century. He renamed the place as Gulmarg. Maharaja Hari Singh built a new temple there for his queen, now called the Maharani Temple.
Pampore was Padmapura.
Bijbehara was Vijayeshwara,
and Ganderbal was Gandharapura.
Anantnag was the land of Nagas with King Ananta as their ruler.
Bhaderwah was BhadarKashi. The town is variously referred to as Bhadarwasa, Bhadarkashi, Bhadar Avakash and Bhadar Pura. Here is an extract from the Wikipedia page on Bhaderwah:
Kishtwar was KashtNiwar / Kashthavata.
Pir Panjal was Panchaldhar.
Mattan was Martand.
It is Hari Parbat, not Koh ‘e Maran.
It is Shankaracharya Hill, not Takht ‘e Sulemani.
And it is Martand Surya Mandir not Shaitan ki Gufa, as christened by some Bollywood idiots! It was the zenith of Kashmiri architecture, constructed by the legendary King Lalitaditya Muktapida. Of course, the invaders destroyed it too.
Then there is Pahalgam, which is very much in news these days. It means the First Village, i.e. the beginning of the Shri Amarnath Yatra. Interestingly, here is what the late Rishi Kapoor had to say about Pahalgam in his Autobiography :
Some more names, though not part of Kashmir are: Ghaggar used to be a tributary of Sutlej (Satadru). Its original name was Drishdvati.
Peshawar was Purushpur.
Afghanistan itself was Asmavraja.
Of course, Delhi itself was Indraprasth!
As I bring this thread to a close, let me ask you a question – Can we go back to OFFICIALLY naming these places / rivers back to their original, Sanskrit names?
An addendum for those who think it will cause some issues – Do you talk about Burma, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras or Ceylon by their old or new names? Heck, even Turkey has become Türkiye!
Food for thought, no?
In the end, I will just plug this Twitter thread here. Parts of it give some more context to what I wrote above:
This is the history they erased.
Kashmir’s story isn’t about “freedom.” It’s about brutal colonization and the violent erasure of an indigenous civilization.
Harpreet's Blog 