India behind terrorism in Pakistan

Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, many Indians have argued that if the United States can defend its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq by citing the need to fight terrorism, eliminate WMDs, and overthrow oppressive regimes, then India can defend its attack on Pakistan in the same way. India used these tactics against Pakistan to introduce state-sponsored terrorism and non-state conflict- war by proxy, similar to how it familiarized the South Asian region with nuclear weapons. According to a report Indian External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha once stated that “India has a much better case to go for preemptive action against Pakistan than the United States did in Iraq”.

Recently Pakistan’s foreign ministry unveiled its most recent dossier, based on intelligence, which detailed evidence showing how New Delhi used terrorism to undermine Pakistan. Foreign Secretary Asad Majeed presented the information in the dossier to foreign diplomats a day after Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah claimed that India was responsible for a June 23 explosion outside the Lahore home of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed. In a press conference, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar said “These actions were being directed by a special cell that works directly under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

Over the past few months, India attempted to assemble a coalition of terrorist groups, including TTP and Baloch militant organizations BLA, BLF, and BRA. As a result, there was yet another uptick in terrorist attacks in Pakistan, particularly in Karachi, Lahore, and Peshawar. India also helped the TTP, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, and Hizb-ul-Ahrar reunite a few months ago. India has so far given the terrorist organizations Rs. 22 billion. Additionally, a 700-member militia that is supervised by 10 members of India’s top intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), had been organized to target CPEC projects.

To eradicate terrorism from its borders, Pakistan has made countless sacrifices. For the past several decades, terrorism has claimed the lives of many Pakistanis, including civilians, members of the armed forces, police, Rangers, and other agencies, as well as journalists and politicians who perished in the conflict. One such example of evidence that India was complicit in all acts of terrorism in Pakistan and was using various strategies for the purpose was the spy Kulbhushan Jadhav’s arrest and testimony.

The meticulously compiled report revealed the involvement of Indian diplomats, military personnel, and intelligence agents in planning and funding terrorist attacks inside Pakistan. Although India has previously denied Pakistan’s claims that it was responsible for the terrorist attacks, the dossier, however, demonstrates that there is “undeniable, indisputable” evidence about Indian involvement in terrorism in Pakistan and financing the terrorists more than $800,000 to complete the mission.

Although the dossier wasn’t the first of its kind but a more thorough and detailed one than before. Additionally, Pakistan has formally forwarded it to the UN secretary general along with information and proof that India was responsible for the deadly Johar Town blast in Lahore in 2021 as well as other terrorist attacks. Following the adoption of a statement by the UN Security Council warning of the growing dangers of militancy, representatives from India and Pakistan exchanged vehement accusations of terrorism with one another. A presidential statement on combating terrorism was included in the dossier distributed on the eve of the UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting while India was chairing the UNSC.

India has been successfully using terrorism as a diplomatic weapon against Pakistan in international forums, but now it’s more difficult for New Delhi to malign Pakistan due to  Pakistan’s anti-terrorism campaign and initiatives under FATF regulations. The existing challenge is to keep up the positive energy these actions have given the country. The international community, including Pakistan’s allies in the East and West, has supported a coercive strategy to address domestic challenges like TTP. However, the outlawed groups like the JuD and Jaish-e-Mohammed still have the power to undermine the nation’s achievements, because, they are currently inactive.  Many of their executives have received court-ordered punishments but if they reappeared, even in a politically altered form, India would never miss the chance to support them and defame Pakistan.

Qura tul ain Hafeez
Qura tul ain Hafeez
Qura tul ain Hafeez is a research scholar at the School of Politics and International Relations, QAU, Islamabad.