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They Will Shoot You, Madam': My Life Through Conflict
Award-winning journalist Harinder Baweja has ventured deep into conflict zones, bringing to light stories from difficult terrains. From the bloodied streets of Punjab to the volatile battleground of Jammu and Kashmir, and onwards to Pakistan and ravaged Afghanistan, where the Taliban refused to look her in the eye, she has borne witness to the fractures that define nations and people. The book reflects her dispatches from ground zero and captures the sociology and psychology of violence and the role of religion in radicalization. It also examines how political decisions and government apathy can stoke and inflame fires and birth fresh fault lines.
Baweja’s reporting journey began in 1984, a catastrophic year that altered India and, in many ways, her own life. After covering the anti-Sikh riots that followed Indira Gandhi’s assassination, and mapping the aftermath of Operation Blue Star, she grappled with questions of identity, humanity and the cost of conflict. These experiences not only shaped her as a journalist but also as a person who confronted the darkest chapters of contemporary India’s turbulent history.
Belonging to a generation that ‘walked the talk’, she chronicled narratives through relentless on-ground reporting, building trusted sources, braving hair-raising situations, and focussing on the non-combatants, forever caught in the brutality of violence. For Baweja, journalism was never just a profession. It was a calling – the kind that cannot be learned in a classroom. This book is a detailed account of seismic events that have shaped India’s contemporary history – a must-read for those seeking to understand the stories behind the headlines and the country’s many frissons.
Baweja’s reporting journey began in 1984, a catastrophic year that altered India and, in many ways, her own life. After covering the anti-Sikh riots that followed Indira Gandhi’s assassination, and mapping the aftermath of Operation Blue Star, she grappled with questions of identity, humanity and the cost of conflict. These experiences not only shaped her as a journalist but also as a person who confronted the darkest chapters of contemporary India’s turbulent history.
Belonging to a generation that ‘walked the talk’, she chronicled narratives through relentless on-ground reporting, building trusted sources, braving hair-raising situations, and focussing on the non-combatants, forever caught in the brutality of violence. For Baweja, journalism was never just a profession. It was a calling – the kind that cannot be learned in a classroom. This book is a detailed account of seismic events that have shaped India’s contemporary history – a must-read for those seeking to understand the stories behind the headlines and the country’s many frissons.
412 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 22, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 5, 2026
Rating - 5 stars
NPS - 10 (Promoter)
India could point a firm finger in Pakistan's direction because it was able to record conversations between the 10 terrorists and their handlers in Pakistan. Mukhtar, who should have been awarded for his gallantry, was instead arrested and jailed for criminal conspiracy and for having links with militants. Intelligence agencies don't like being outed. In this case, the police had dared and succeeded in penetrating the ranks of the organization that wreaked havoc in Mumbai. Mukhtar was eventually released and all charges dropped. By then he had spent an agonizing three months in jail. No one pins medals on the chests of undercover agents who risk their lives in the national interest.
What a read.
A brave journalist, that too a woman, who has visited various conflict zones including The Golden Temple after Operation Blue Star, Afghanistan during the 1996 Taliban takeover, spent time with infantry soldiers during Kargil war, POK camps, Kashmir after the Pandits were murdered/Babri Masjid was demolished, gone to Pakistan post 26/11 - especially being the only Indian journalist who got to visit the LeT Headquarters; this is a riveting and thrilling read.
I learnt so many things about conflict zones and how murky politics can be.
A must read if you are an Indian.
A really good memoir.
I was more frightened of Punjab’s gun wielding militias than I was of Kashmir’s Kalashnikov warriors. Punjab’s terrorists were brutal and cold blooded, quite unlike Kashmiri militants who were later joined by hardcore mercenaries exported from Pakistan.
NPS - 10 (Promoter)
India could point a firm finger in Pakistan's direction because it was able to record conversations between the 10 terrorists and their handlers in Pakistan. Mukhtar, who should have been awarded for his gallantry, was instead arrested and jailed for criminal conspiracy and for having links with militants. Intelligence agencies don't like being outed. In this case, the police had dared and succeeded in penetrating the ranks of the organization that wreaked havoc in Mumbai. Mukhtar was eventually released and all charges dropped. By then he had spent an agonizing three months in jail. No one pins medals on the chests of undercover agents who risk their lives in the national interest.
What a read.
A brave journalist, that too a woman, who has visited various conflict zones including The Golden Temple after Operation Blue Star, Afghanistan during the 1996 Taliban takeover, spent time with infantry soldiers during Kargil war, POK camps, Kashmir after the Pandits were murdered/Babri Masjid was demolished, gone to Pakistan post 26/11 - especially being the only Indian journalist who got to visit the LeT Headquarters; this is a riveting and thrilling read.
I learnt so many things about conflict zones and how murky politics can be.
A must read if you are an Indian.
A really good memoir.
I was more frightened of Punjab’s gun wielding militias than I was of Kashmir’s Kalashnikov warriors. Punjab’s terrorists were brutal and cold blooded, quite unlike Kashmiri militants who were later joined by hardcore mercenaries exported from Pakistan.
April 16, 2026
“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 (163) 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 brings up to date to 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.”
‘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 (163) 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 brings up to date to 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.”
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews