The article argues that Pakistan’s recent terrorist attacks in Kulgam and Kishtwar confirm continued use of cross-border terrorism as state policy once FATF scrutiny ends, and that international silence enables this approach.

It rejects optimism about dialogue, citing Field Marshal Asim Munir’s statements that portray India as an existential threat, treat terrorism in Kashmir as a legitimate struggle, and insist the issue can only be resolved by transferring J&K to Pakistan.

The piece concludes that terrorism will persist as an unalienable part of Pakistan’s foreign policy, requiring India to develop effective countermeasures while political parties refrain from exploiting attacks for partisan gain.

Terrorism as State Policy

In a piece captioned Why Pakistan will Escape FATF Grey-Listing [published in Eurasia Review on October 2], the author had written, “If Pakistan army’s proxy war in J&K is currently at a low key, it’s just because of FATF’s Plenary and Working Group meetings scheduled later this month.” 

Adding that “Once it’s over, and Pakistan is not Grey-listed, one can expect a surge in Pakistan sponsored terrorist activities as being in a desperate situation, Pakistan’s ‘failed’ marshal has to do something across the Line of Control to save face. Therefore it would be puerile to place too much hope on FATF.”It was also prognosed that “This winter in J&K is likely to be hot.” 

This near-precise assessment however deserves no prize or adulation as it wasn’t the result of deep research or information painstakingly obtained from highly placed sources from across the Radcliffe Line. Au contraire, it was merely ‘fast-forwarding’ what has been happening in the past.

Coming less than two weeks after conclusion of the FATF meet, Wednesday’s hit-and-run terrorist attack on a police check post in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district followed by the dastardly killing of two special police officers by terrorists in Kishtwar district of Jammu a day later proves how easy it is to deceive the world’s terror financing watchdog. 

The international community is morally complicit in these killings as its stoic silence on use of cross-border terrorism as an instrument of state policy by Pakistan has emboldened its army to flaunt its nexus with terrorist groups. What else explains audacity of the Pakistan army’s rank and file in uniform attending funerals of........

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