A circus here, a circus there—circuses everywhere. I can’t seem to focus on just one. Every time I start surfing through Indian news channels, the circus is in full swing—relentless, limitless and free of charge. Amid this orchestrated chaos, stalls selling wild claims and flimsy evidence of attacks on Pakistan put on a clown show—full of laughs, absurdity and hollow theatrics. It comes as no surprise that India has confined good journalism to bedrest, offering no respite since launching missiles into Pakistan and taking innocent civilian lives. Instead of holding power to account, India’s major media outlets have transformed into parodies of military command centers. Indian newsrooms now mimic war rooms, with anchors donning combat gear, speculating on missile ranges, precision strikes and strategic warfare against Pakistan. This surreal theater underscores a deeper crisis—the swift cannibalization of serious journalism in India. One fine day, the Pakistan Air Force showed up, did its job with such finesse that the media circus scrambled to make sense of a situation. Experts who’d spent weeks chest-thumping were suddenly out of hot takes, mumbling, wait… did that just happen? This entrenched narrative stems from India’s lingering “imperial fantasy,” where mainstream news channels have turned into Bollywood performers in a national comedy circus—eagerly inviting others to join the spectacle. Pakistan Air Force (PAF) demonstrated notable professionalism and operational effectiveness, garnering attention from international observers. Reports indicate that Pakistan took down five Indian jets and conducted ballistic missile strikes on Indian military sites, actions that contributed to a US-brokered ceasefire. Largely absent from mainstream Indian journalism are the precision strikes which destroyed Indian aircraft, security failure in Pulwama and the harsh realities of the country’s deep-rooted social crises—such as the epidemic of sexual violence, suicides of famers, the abandonment of children and the widespread neglect of the vulnerable religious minorities. Over 29.6 million orphaned or abandoned children and approximately 1.8 million homeless people struggle daily, forced to live on pavements, railway platforms, roadside corners, under flyovers or in exposed and unsafe spaces. In India, approximately 163 million people—more than the population of Russia—lack access to clean drinking water, according to a 2023 report by WaterAid. Each year, an estimated 1.5 million girls under the age of 18 are married, making India home to the highest number of child brides globally. Instead of amplifying their voices, the Indian media has largely abandoned them to their fate. This erosion of journalistic integrity has fostered deep public mistrust and has compromised the moral compass of the press, ultimately serving the political interests of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Indian media’s obsession with Pakistan no longer deceives the world. Its narratives—spanning fabricated civil unrest, exaggerated military strikes, unfounded accusations of terrorism—reveal how the so-called democracy of India has slipped into a state of restlessness, irrelevance and theatrical absurdity. At this critical juncture, Pakistan stands united, fully aware of how to protect its sovereignty and borders. India now leads the propaganda race, pushing ludicrous tales——staging nothing more than a sensational tabloid show for global viewers. By elevating fiction to headline news—India has secured its top spot in the propaganda Olympics, caricaturing serious journalism. —The writer is contributing columnist.