A Tension Unlike Anything Felt in Decades

As the conflict between India and Pakistan has escalated, with its impact felt well beyond the border in the disputed region of Kashmir, this is the tensest time I can remember since 1971.

That was the year of the last major declared war between India and Pakistan. I was in seventh grade, and I can recall the sirens, the blackouts, and drills — much like what has been happening over the past couple of days.

In those days of intense conflict, the main source of information was a couple of radio stations. People would gather around a radio for accounts of the war, like a dogfight between the fighter jets of the two sides in northern India.

This time, the action again has been in the north of India, where the two countries share a border. The escalation has been very rapid. It is clear that a lot of strikes have taken place on both sides, and in unprecedented ways, like the use of drones and missiles to target populated areas.

What is drastically different this time, besides the new weapons, is the flood of disinformation on social media and television screens. It has made the job of reporting extremely hard, and it has added to a sense of panic among people. It is perhaps the most confusing information space I can remember in my three decades of reporting.

The nationalist fervor is the same, even if the expressions of it are very different now.

India was a largely poor country in the 1970s. Villages and schools, including the one I attended, organized local fund-raisers for the army, donating money or bringing food and water, snacks and tea to the roads wherever army convoys would pass through.

India is the world’s fifth-largest economy now, and increasingly a technological power. But that also has raised the risks of a wider conflict, as advanced weapons and drones from both sides render borders irrelevant and turn every part of the country into a potential target.