There is a Gen Z — smart, intelligent, and preparing to take on the mantle. And then, there is,

Whether it was a moment of opportunism driven by an agenda, or a premeditated act of testing what is considered beyond the limits, citizens of a nation understand both the sensitivity and significance of the actions of the armed forces and, by and large, do not question them.

The stakes are simply not comparable. Unlike these brave hearts, we are not putting our lives on the line day in and day out, from dawn to dusk. Ours, by comparison, is a small and comfortable existence, lived under the security and protection they provide.

Long hours of waiting during a holiday can certainly engender frustration. But turning that frustration into an opportunity to attack the reputation of those carrying out their duty is deplorable.

The reference to the locals, particularly Kashmiris, appeared to exploit a narrative of atrocities allegedly faced by them to garner crowd support, compounded by threats to raise the issue in Parliament, while force-fitting the plight of the sick and elderly who were stranded there. It was an odd mix of what seemed like a pre-existing mental list, somehow thrown together in the heat of the moment, with the order of priorities collapsing along the way. The whole argument sounded ridiculously nonsensical and, more importantly, had little to do with the undisclosed measures actually being taken by the security forces.

If she genuinely wanted to become the voice of the people affected, it would have been far more admirable to request the authorities to treat those in genuine need as special cases and make suitable arrangements for them. Without any doubt, such an approach would have worked out far better without embarrassing or embittering the people witnessing the drama, both at the location and across the nation, later.

The end result of the act, perhaps, has only pushed her back into a huddle with her handlers, trying to figure out a face-saving response - one that, going by the pattern, may once again be loaded with aggression and hatred.