Around 2–3 pm, reports of an incident in Pahalgam, in Indian-occupied Kashmir, began to filter through—and within minutes, every brigade of Indian social media was pointing the finger at Pakistan. I watched the reports pour in with growing alarm: around 2–3 pm that day—6.4 kilometres from the last checkpoint—communications abruptly went dark, and India was swift to assign blame abroad. But as an investigative journalist, one cannot help but ask: what evidence underpins such a hasty accusation? What fissures lie hidden in the official narrative?

First, consider the pattern of “fake encounters” along the Line of Control. Time and again, operations justified as responses to cross-border infiltration leave locals whispering of innocents caught in the crossfire of a larger strategic game. Then there are the tantalising yet unsubstantiated reports of an Israeli reconnaissance jet making an unscheduled appearance over Srinagar to deliver technical equipment, and claims that IED calls were not only traced to militants but to systems allegedly monitored by Indian intelligence. If accepted at face value, these details suggest more than a spontaneous attack: they imply a calculated operation designed to achieve multiple political and military objectives.

Over the past two decades, New Delhi has repeatedly trodden a familiar script: staging or timing high-profile “terror” incidents to coincide with diplomatic........

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