How the India-Pakistan fighting affected children near the border and across the country

Over the past ten days, whenever Mushtaq Ahmed heard drones or helicopters nearing his home in Kashmir, around 100 km from the border with Pakistan, he immediately checked whether his children were watching cartoons on television.

If they were not, he turned on the device. If they were already in front of it, he ensured that cartoons were playing and turned the volume up as high as possible so that they would not hear the machines. Sometimes he made them put on headphones and played the cartoon Doraemon for them on mobile phones.

Ahmed’s children are seven and 14 years old. When India and Pakistan began to attack each other on May 7, they grew anxious for their safety and would sometimes go into a panic. “They were so anxious that they began to throw up,” Ahmed said. “When they heard the helicopters and drones, they got very scared, so I tried to drown out the noise.”

But Ahmed also ensured that the television was not playing a news channel, many of which broadcast shrill misinformation aimed at stoking fear and anger. “Whatever they were showing on TV was very scary,” he said.

The family tries to avoid discussing anything about the conflict inside the house. However,...

Read more