Preeta Chag

Pub by: Roli Book (2025)

“Covering conflicts is perilous. It is also heady.”

‘They Will Shoot You Madam-My Life Through Conflict’ is an incisive document on the conflict-ridden milieu of India.

Right from Operation Bluestar to the Abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir, the book covers an extensive landscape, giving behind-the-scenes insight into the volatile, stormy events that have dominated the Indian political and historical panorama.

Harinder Baweja got her first shot in Punjab. Setting aside the terrors her family faced in Delhi in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s assassination,  and her sikh identity,  she boldly went ahead, fuelled by her passion and got the chance to extensively cover the ongoings in the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar during Operation Blue Star and Operation Black Thunder.

And thus began her journey as a conflict reporter, recording momentous events that have afflicted the country. The book reflects her journey from 1984. She has been dogmatically relentless in her commitment to foray into dangerous terrain and documenting the same.

The narrative is divided into 12 chapters, each focussing on a specific conflict zone or a major event.  

Punjab. Babri Masjid. Kashmir. Chota Rajan. Afghanistan (“the most claustrophobic assignment of my career “). And lastly, a chapter on the deep, dark world of illegal immigration, a project she undertook while on a scholarship in the UK.

Her bravery in charting into dangerous territory is formidable. She is bold in reaching out to document the important, sometimes taking extreme risks. Like venturing to the hospital late at night in Srinagar to interview Yasin Malik, head of JKLF and the man responsible for the abduction of Rubaiya Sayeed. The night trip to the hospital and her interaction with Yasin Malik are revelatory of the dread and dangers she faced as a journalist and reflective of the perennially troubled times in the land.

Also, while the world was reporting in Mumbai in the wake of the attacks in November 2008, she was off to Pakistan and gained entry into Muridke, the LeT Headquarters in Pakistan.  Muridke was later destroyed during Operation Sindoor. Also, she had the opportunity to enter PoK twice, the second time with a group of international journalists and entered with great difficulty, and suffered a frightful night (165) ostensibly at the hands of ISI.

She was in Kashmir when the Babri Masjid demolition took place.

“Miles away from the surreal beauty of a wounded city, India’s secular dream was dying.”

The polticalisation of the mandir masjid dispute, the frenzy instigated and the demolition of secularism outline this chapter … vacillating claims by Shri L K Advani on the desecration of temples in Kashmir, and the author’s subsequent investigation with a trip to Kashmir… false claims and hair-raising moments for  Baweja and her photographer…the chapter talks right upto the present with text book revisions, Ram mandir prathisthasan. “Aaj tak and India Today television had  ‘ram aayenge’  emblazoned on its broadcast vans.”(page 140).

The book is full of hair-raising movement and delves into the events, trying to unearth the truth behind the apparent.

Harinder Baweja’s narrative is a great read to refresh India’s troubled history from 1984, and also for youngsters who need to know the tormented past to understand the present.

“Conflict zones are risky. They are also murky.”