As warmongering rhetoric rises, Indians and Pakistanis are tweeting #SayNoToWar

New Delhi: There is no doubt that alarm bells have been ringing in both India and Pakistan amid tensions between the two countries. While there have been talks of war on both sides, civilians, including journalists, authors, activists, youth and civil servants have voiced their concerns on social media. There have been reports of further attacks in both Indian and Pakistani media after the Indian Air Force attacked a Jaish-e-Mohammad terror training camp in Balakot in Pakistan on Tuesday.

Following this, India said that in retaliatory fire it has shot down a Pakistani F16 fighter jet that had violated Indian airspace, while Pakistan claims that it had brought down two IAF aircrafts in Pakistani airspace and has arrested one pilot.

However, even as people on either side of the border indulged in warmongering, there were citizens from both the countries who took to Twitter to counter their views on social media with #SayNotoWar.

February 14 marked an intermittent end to diplomatic relations between the countries when the JeM attacked a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Kashmir's Pulwama, which killed 40 officers.

India's reactions

Many civilians, including journalists, authors, activists, youth and civil servants warned against the dangers of warmongering. A number of others said only politicians and corporates would actually benefit from war.

Reactions from Pakistan

Many Pakistanis, including Prime Minister Imran Khan's former wife Reham Khan, Fatima Bhutto, granddaughter of former Pakistani PM Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, and actress Mahira Khan tweeted against warmongering. A number of public personalities, journalists, filmmakers and entrepreneurs also tweeted using the hashtag.