Jagran Opinion: Pakistan Is A Threat To World Peace

The brutal terrorist assault in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam in April this year marks yet another grim chapter in Pakistan’s continued patronage of cross-border terrorism. The killing of 26 innocent civilians, mostly Hindus, by terrorists affiliated with The Resistance Front (TRF), a known proxy group for the Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), once again highlights the persistent threat emanating from Pakistani soil. This calculated massacre was not just an isolated act of violence but a deliberate geopolitical provocation, resurrecting the dark legacy of state sponsored terrorism and once again destabilising the security architecture of Jammu and Kashmir.

Despite global scrutiny and years of international pressure, Pakistan has not only failed but also refused to dismantle terror infrastructure operating under its watch. The Pahalgam attack follows a familiar pattern of non-state actors nurtured by Pakistan military wing ISI to strike targets in Jammu and Kashmir, while Islamabad responds with its usual textbook tactic of outright denial and deflection. The fingerprints of Pakistan’s intelligence apparatus on these proxy networks are well documented, and the TRF’s operational links to Lashkar-e-Taiba make it implausible to argue that such an audacious attack could occur without the approval at the highest levels in Islamabad.

After the Pahalgam terror attack, India’s response was swift and expected. It was an outright condemnation of Pakistan’s sponsorship of terrorism and the immediate strike on the terror infrastructure within Pakistan under Operation Sindoor. In contrast, Pakistan resorted to its usual playbook of accusations of a false flag operation and retaliatory measures that lacked both credibility and moral authority. Pakistan’s yet again harped about the suspension of already suspended trade, talk of abrogation of the Simla Agreement, and airspace closure to Indian flights are not signs of principled diplomacy but actions of a regime cornered by its own duplicity. New Delhi’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty, a landmark agreement that has sustained through all previous wars and diplomatic lows, highlights how deep Pakistan's credibility crisis has become. India, long patient and restrained in its approach, is now signaling that Islamabad’s continued harboring of terrorist entities will no longer be tolerated diplomatically, economically, or militarily.

Pakistan’s refusal to acknowledge its role in enabling the TRF and LeT, but instead spinning conspiracy theories, underscores a deeper dysfunction of a national security doctrine still rooted in exporting terror to compensate for strategic insecurity and internal failures.

Kashmir’s tourism industry that was slowly recovering after decades of turmoil, has once again been thrown into uncertainty. The economic cost of Pakistan’s actions isn’t limited to Kashmir alone as diplomatic rifts have further stymied trade, investment, and regional cooperation across South Asia. With Pakistan shutting down visas and air routes, and India retaliating by suspending the Indus Water Treaty, the broader vision of a connected, economically vibrant South Asia is crumbling thanks largely to Islamabad’s refusal to abandon terror as state policy.

The Phalagam terror attack was also aimed at deepening the social divisions within India and Jammu and Kashmir. Anti-Pakistan sentiment is at a high in India, and rightfully so, given the recurrent threats emanating from across the border. Unfortunately, this environment also risks amplifying communal tensions within India, a secondary consequence of Pakistan’s external aggression. Meanwhile, in Pakistan, state propaganda and denialism continue to suppress critical self reflection or accountability, pushing its population further into a pseudo nationalistic echo chamber.

Far from being a victim, Pakistan is increasingly viewed as a pariah state on matters of counterterrorism. The Pahalgam attack has renewed international concerns about Pakistan’s harboring of extremist elements. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which has previously kept Pakistan on its grey list, will now face pressure to reevaluate Islamabad’s compliance with global norms. Pakistan’s image as a responsible international actor has taken yet another blow, and its aspirations for economic investment and development are likely to suffer further setbacks.

The tactical nature of the Pahalgam attack of targeting civilians and Hindu tourists reveals a dangerous shift in the modus operandi of Pakistani backed militants. Since the year 2021, the Pakistani backed terrorists have majorly targeted the security forces primarily in the Jammu region. The Pahalgam terror attack is the first major terror attack in the valley of Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370. The change in modus operandi by attacking Hindu tourists, they have a clear cut aim to provoke societal instability across the country and undermine BJP led government’s developmental efforts in Kashmir.

India’s security response has rightly focused on a multitiered approach of fortifying intelligence, increasing boots on the ground, and expanding counterterrorism operations to pre-empt any future strikes especially during the ongoing Amarnath yatra. With an approximately hundred Pakistan backed terrorists still operating in Jammu and Kashmir, the task for the security forces is extremely cut out. With hostilities under pause between both the nations, Pakistan would seek to use these proxy terrorists as strategic weapons. With IWT in abeyance, there is a high risk that these terrorists would target the critical infrastructure within Jammu and Kashmir with an intent to put further pressure on the Indian government for some sort of a resumption of bilateral dialogue with the larger aim of internationalisation of the Kashmir issue later. India has made its intentions very clear and any further terror attack could lead the two countries into another round of fighting. That would bring in international pressure and possible mediation attempts, something that falls into Pakistan's future calculus on its illegitimate Kashmir policy.

Thus for India, the Pahalgam attack is just not a tragedy but also a turning point as it defines the changing strategic response to continued terror from Pakistan. Pakistan’s long standing policy of using terrorism as a state tool has not only jeopardized peace in South Asia but has also turned it into a liability for global security. The time for half measures and diplomatic engagement is over. Only by directly confronting and dismantling Pakistan’s terror infrastructure through political, economic, and diplomatic means can bring a lasting peace in the region. It is time to hold Pakistan accountable not just for Pahalgam, but for every life lost in its decades long proxy war.

(Raja Muneeb is an independent journalist and a columnist with special focus on Geo Politics and National Security. Views expressed are personal.)