[Current Affairs] January 20, 2021 Top Pakistan Current Affairs for Entry Test Preparation

2. WhatsApp leak about the 2019 Balakot airstrike

What’s going on? There was reportedly a controversial text exchange between Indian TV anchor, Arnab Goswami, and former CEO of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) ratings agency, Partho Dasgupta.

Wait…what? Goswami and Dasgupta were supposedly chatting on WhatsApp three days before the February 26th Indian airstrike in Pakistan. Based on what they talked about, it sounded like Goswami knew about the airstrike in advance. He reportedly wrote: “something big will happen,” and “on Pakistan the govt is confident of striking in a way that people will be elated.”

The details: Even though Goswami didn’t spell it out, he suggested the airstrike would amplify support for Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, who was in the middle of his re-election campaign. Also, by writing “the govt is confident…” he implied that the Indian govt expected the airstrike to drum up support for Modi. Reminder: Goswami is the editor in chief/co-owner of Indian Republic TV, and known to be a big Modi supporter. Dasgupta reportedly said the attack on Pakistan would give Modi a “sweeping majority” in the general election (P.S. Modi and his Hindu nationalist party won in a landslide victory).

Tell me more: Mumbai police came across the WhatsApp chat transcript during an investigation into manipulated TV ratings. The police submitted the chat transcripts to a court as evidence. Republic TV issued a statement on Goswami’s behalf, accusing the Pakistani govt of conspiring against his station.

The context: On February 14, 2019, a suicide bombing in Pulwama (i.e. India-controlled Kashmir) killed 40 Indian soldiers. Pakistan-based militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack. India also accused Pakistan of helping the bombers, but Pakistan said ‘not true.’ Later on, Modi’s govt launched an airstrike in Pakistan’s town of Balakot, claiming it struck a terrorist training camp. However, Pakistan said the bombs actually fell in an empty forest. Then, Pakistani forces flew jets into Indian airspace, shot down an Indian fighter jet, and captured its pilot, (P.S. the one who thought his tea was fantastic). Pakistan released the pilot after other countries like the US and China said, ‘can the two nuclear-armed nations please calm down before things get out of hand.’

The bottom line: PM Imran Khan is saying ‘told ya so.’ He already accused Modi of using the Balakot airstrike for electoral gains two years ago. At the same time, India’s opposition Congress Party wants to know who leaked state secrets to a journalist. Congress Party lawmaker, Shashi Tharoor, said the Modi govt should conduct “a serious inquiry.” However, Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi, is convinced there won’t be any inquiry, since Modi himself was probably behind the leak.