The defining image of Operation Sindoor for me is that photograph of senior Pakistani military officers at the funeral of a dead jihadi. In the photograph, they stand behind a bearded jihadi who stands beside the coffin of his dead relative. The coffin is covered in the Pakistani flag and wreaths of red roses lie on it. The photograph has been viral on social media for days and the names of the senior Pakistani officers mourning the death of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist have been made public by our government.

This photograph, which I have looked at many times, left me stunned because of the utter shamelessness it depicts. Ever since the horrendous massacre in Pahalgam, there has been a collaborative campaign by Pakistan’s military and civilian rulers to convince the world that the old policy of using jihadi terrorism as a weapon of war has ended. When the Islamist Republic’s military rulers are unable to convince the world of their credentials, they usually summon English-speaking, attractive civilians from well-known political families to make the case for them.

This time it was Bilawal Bhutto and Hina Khar (she of the Birkin bag fame) who were tasked with denying that Pakistan has anything to do any more with jihadi terrorism. Bhutto admitted that official support for jihadist terrorism was something that happened once but in ancient........

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