India’s dangerous game

The Pahalgam attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) has, once again, become a pretext for the Indian government to stoke regional tensions and deflect from its internal failings. In response to India’s reaction to the attack, Pakistan held a huddle of the National Security Committee (NSC) on Thursday. Chaired by Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, the NSC rightly highlighted this alarming pattern with India – where every act of violence on Indian soil is met with reflexive finger-pointing at Pakistan, without a shred of evidence or a moment of introspection. India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty and revoke visas for Pakistani nationals is rash, disproportionate and downright dangerous. These unilateral actions are emblematic of a regime more interested in political mileage than regional peace. By playing to a domestic audience steeped in anti-Pakistan sentiment and Islamophobic rhetoric, the Modi administration has consistently tried to undermine decades of diplomatic frameworks and international treaties. And this is what it is doing now as well. The suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty is a provocation that can easily be seen as nothing short of an act of war under international law.

In sharp contrast, Pakistan’s response has been mature, measured and anchored in a desire for regional stability. The NSC’s statement on Thursday was unequivocal in condemning terrorism in all its forms and rejecting war hysteria. This restraint is not weakness but responsible statecraft. It also makes a broader point: Pakistan, itself a repeated victim of cross-border and funded terrorism – most recently evidenced in the tragic Jaffar Express attack – does not celebrate bloodshed, even when it occurs across a hostile border. It mourns, as civilised nations do. What makes India’s posture even more baffling is the wider geopolitical context. With its western border already tense due to security threats from Afghanistan, it defies logic for Pakistan to open another front in the east. Regional experts have rightly questioned the Indian narrative, suggesting that the real story is one of domestic failure – security lapses and intelligence breakdowns now conveniently blamed on Pakistan; some have even suggested a false-flag operation, though that would require more evidence.

The Modi government’s approach also risks entrenching internal divisions. Its anti-Pakistan rhetoric has too often morphed into anti-Muslim sentiment at home. This conflation is not accidental. By externalising blame, Modi has always tried to deflect attention from its own excesses in Occupied Kashmir, where political disenfranchisement, demographic engineering and state oppression have fueled an organic backlash. These are hardly Pakistan’s machinations; they are the consequences of India’s own policies. The India-Pakistan equation remains one of the most volatile fault-lines in the world, and any misstep – especially one rooted in nationalist bravado rather than fact – could have irreversible consequences. For decades, regardless of the political party in power, Pakistan has consistently extended an olive branch, and called for dialogue and peace. It is India, under the current regime, that has hardened its stance, refused engagement and taken steps that systematically erode the possibility of reconciliation. The world must now call time on this brinkmanship. Peace cannot be held hostage to the ambitions of any one government. As history has shown us time and again, ignoring warning signs in favour of political expediency is a perilous path. Kashmir needs peace. Modi’s India is not the answer for that.