“Everyone’s worried about stopping terrorism.
Well, there’s really an easy way: stop participating in it.”
The Pahalgam incident in April 2025 fits in the historical pattern of India, which includes a terrorist attack that looks like a security breach at first, but eventually culminates in an aggressive Indian response at the military and political level. A similar pattern is followed from Uri to Pathankot, and from Pulwama to Pahalgam. All these incidents have similar stories that unfolded from a terrorist attack to the accusation of cross-border connections without any evidence. After the Pahalgam incident, the political leaders in India issued strong statements against Pakistan, including PM Narendra Modi’s statement that they will punish “every terrorist and their backers”. However, India refused to allow any unbiased, transparent probes by a third party and the United Nations (UN) led investigations. Indian accusations are a deliberate attempt at narrative engineering with the help of their intelligence agencies, foreign office and state-sponsored media. India’s refusal to engage in impartial international mechanisms reveals a deliberate strategy of avoiding legal accountability.
On the contrary, India’s clandestine operations inside Pakistan are not just assumed: they are well documented. India is itself involved in terrorism, espionage, covert operations, and shadow networks in Pakistan. Pakistan has presented live evidence of Indian involvement in sabotaging Pakistan’s peace and regional stability in front of the whole world. In 2016, Pakistani authorities arrested Kulbhushan Jadhav, under the alias Hussein Mubarak Patel, a serving Indian Commander in the Indian Navy. A confession video of Jadhav was aired across the globe, in which he confirmed that he was involved in subversive activities in Pakistan under the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of India. He confessed that he was on a mission to back Baloch insurgent and terrorist groups like Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and Baloch Republican Army (BRA) to synchronise their notorious activities with RAW. He confessed to providing financial, logistic and material support to Baloch insurgents to induct 30-40 more RAW agents into Balochistan. According to his statement, he aimed to establish a sea front of Baloch insurgents along coastal areas to carry out precision attack against Pakistan Army and Navy. He confessed his involvement in RAW sponsorship of sectarian violence, various assassinations, and terrorist attacks, including IED attacks. RAW also established and ran websites for Baloch insurgents from Nepal for cyberattacks and cyber-terrorism. These confessions along with sufficient evidence, were the basis for the death sentence passed on Jadhav by Pakistani military courts. However, without denying these charges India approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for consular access under Article 36 of Vienna Convention. Pakistan had a strong stance that the Vienna Convention is inapplicable to espionage and terrorism case.
Jadhav’s case, combined with financial trails, video evidence, and foreign propaganda campaigns, points to a broader Indian subversion strategy to weaken Pakistan. India used information as ammunition to forge disinformation campaigns for shaping a negative global perception against Pakistan. EU Dis-info Lab 2020 debunked the Indian network of propaganda against Pakistan that consisted of 265 pro-Indian websites and thinktanks across 65 countries. Moreover, India has established Shadow Networks (consisting of people and organizations) with subversive intent to isolate ethnicities and support Baloch insurgents. The Study explored the tweets under the hashtag #BalochistanIsNotPakistan and categorized them according to different themes. Firstly, Twitter sociogram reveals that all shadow networks promote the agenda of state-recognised terrorist organization in Balochistan, like the Baloch Freedom Front. Secondly, the location of highest dissemination is India and Balochistan. Thirdly, these shadow accounts mention and tag international organizations to promote the narrative against Pakistan on human rights violations. Moreover, Pakistani recognized terrorist organizations are also mentioned in these tweets. Another tactic used by shadow networks is the use of similar hashtags that promote a similar agenda. The narrative pushed by these terrorist groups and shadow networks overlaps with India’s ambitions of destabilizing Balochistan region. Lastly, there is the detection of Bot activity by Botometer in the dissemination of information. Bot activity, nodes and various Twitter APIs are aimed at information warfare against Pakistan. India’s subversion in Balochistan was not mere tactical posturing; it signalled a new frontier of psychological operations against Pakistan.
India selectively uses international law as per its convenience, as it did in the case of Jadhav. In other cases, India undermines the international law and rules-based order. India violates Article 2 (4) of the UN charter, which prohibits states from interfering in the internal affairs of other sovereign states and threatening or using force against other nation-states. India violates customary international law and jus cogens norms by supporting and funding terrorism, insurgency, espionage and information campaigns. Moreover, India exploited Article 51 about self-defence in the Balakot strike as it was based on unverified intelligence. In addition to this, India repeated its pattern of violation of international law of respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity of nation states and waged a false flag Operation Sindoor on Pakistan. India avoids transparency and joint investigations that undermine its credibility and commitment to international law.
India’s subversive approach against Pakistan is evidence that India is an arsonist state in disguise that chants against terrorism but itself is an aggressor state. Firstly, India refuses to engage in a transparent probe by a third party that erodes its moral authority and raises questions about its claims to be a victim of terrorism. Secondly, India’s democratic values are strained by a nationalist driven foreign policy instead of legal and moral principles. Thirdly, India’s irresponsible behaviour has a human cost as well, as civilian casualties are reported in Operation Sindoor in Pakistan. Civilians in border areas remain caught in a vicious cycle of displacement, LOC clashes and economic neglect. Lastly, India is not taking aggressive actions in isolation; it has regional implications. It might get a tactical advantage by aggression and subversion; however, in the long term, it contributes to regional instability and undermines collective security. Extremism and terrorism are a transnational threat that transcends borders, and its blowback can be observed at the regional level.
Rules-based international order that ensures peace and stability demands consistency, not convenience. India chants anti-terrorism slogans and accuses Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism without proof. India’s actions are a part of the broader disinformation and defamation campaign against Pakistan. India itself is involved in terrorism and a shadow war in Pakistan. On the parallel, Pakistan has fought the Global War on Terror as America’s front-line ally and lost more than 70000 thousand civilian lives. This is the manifestation of Pakistan’s commitment and unconditional efforts to eradicate terrorism. Despite being target of Indian covert operations and terrorism, Pakistan has showed trust in international institutions like the ICJ for impartial judgment. If India truly is committed to rules-based order and eradicating terrorism from the soil of South Asia, it shall ensure it is not participating in it, in spirit or in letter.
Be the first to comment