first place, and then for their subsequent ineptitude in failing to act while the aircraft was still within Indian territory. 26/11 told us, even a decade later, the situation was still as chaotic.

We know today that a crisis management group comprising high-level intelligence officers, defence personnel and bureaucrats met late at night on November 26, 2008 after officials received calls – either to ‘turn on the TV’ and see what was unfolding, or from journalists calling to ask for information. Convening a meeting was, in fact, standard procedure when a crisis unfolded. But officials present that night say it was chaotic and no one was able to take quick, critical decisions. A day after the attacks, as special commandoes of the National Security Guard landed in Mumbai, topAssociation also tries to ensure that the line between national interest and political interests stays clear. In 2015, the BJP-led government sent notices to three channels for their coverage of the hanging of Yakub Memon, the brother of one of the masterminds of the serial Mumbai blasts of 1993. In another case, the government cited national security and tried to ban NDTV India for a day over its coverage of the attacks on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot in January 2016 where the government alleges that ‘sensitive information’ about the vicinity of the air base was reported. In both cases, given a history of adversarial relations between the networks in question and the party running government, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting show cause notices didn’t