| With India sharing a 2,000 km border with Pakistan,
skirmishes along this corridor were treated as routine news by the media. There have been
deaths before in Kargil but nothing on the scale of what we are witnessing today. And
there is another difference. This is the first major military operation in India in the
full glare of TV cameras. It has made the war up-close and personal. War at the best of times is horrible business but heart-rending images of a
squadron leader's five-year-old son lighting his pyre, bereaved families and coffins make
for intense emotion and interest in the progress of the war. We have, therefore, devoted
many more pages than usual to the cover story in reporting
different aspects of it. However, the focus is the colossal failure of the country's
intelligence community in gauging the threat from across the loc. Our stories this week
try to answer some questions. How did this happen? Who is accountable? What is the
solution? These are not academic questions: the war has claimed several Indian lives.
Deputy Editor Raj Chengappa, Senior Editor Manoj Joshi, Associate Editor Harinder Baweja
and Principal Correspondent Ramesh Vinayak contributed exclusive reports about
intelligence failures, the battle zone and diplomatic options with Pakistan.
The week isn't without good news though. We featured 1978
World Cup hockey player Gopal Bhengra in an article on neglected champions ("Our
Forgotten Heroes", March 8). Bhengra broke stones in a quarry near Ranchi for a
thankless living. After reading the article, the Union HRD Ministry tracked him down. The
outcome: the Bihar Government appointed him hockey coach from June 1. Says Bhengra:
"The Government woke up only after the India Today article." As always, it is
good to know that an article we published made a positive difference to someone's life.
(AroonPurie) |
