The Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, causing at least 28 casualties, mirrors the Pulwama massacre six years ago. With Article 370 abrogated and Jammu and Kashmir split into two union territories, the Modi government has been claiming that Pakistan is deterred and terrorism contained, if not eliminated. The latest attack undermines that narrative, despite recent peaceful local elections in J&K.

There were multiple warning signals, ignored by the custodians of Indian security. First was the belief that Pakistan’s preoccupation with subduing militancy in Balochistan and the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan left them no capacity to target India. Pakistan has been alleging an Indian hand in fomenting that trouble. India thus smugly ignored those signals, relishing the Pakistani army’s distractions.

Next was Pakistan’s internal political churn, pitting army chief General Syed Asim Munir against persecuted former prime minister Imran Khan. Their differences date back to Imran Khan’s suspected role in 2019 in getting the then army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, to remove him as the head of ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence). Subsequently, the army developed differences with Imran Khan, once their favourite to counter the Bhutto and Sharif dynasties. Amongst other issues was Pakistan adopting a more independent foreign policy, abandoning its traditional pro-US orientation. In fact, Imran Khan was in Moscow when Russia attacked........

© Free Press Journal