EVERY time India faces a major security challenge, the script seems to write itself. Before investigations are completed, before evidence is independently scrutinized and often before the public has time to ask difficult questions, the spotlight once again turns toward Pakistan.

The recent arrest of individuals allegedly linked to Pakistani gangster Shahzad Bhatti follows a familiar pattern. Indian authorities have presented the case as proof of a Pakistan-backed terror network operating inside India. Yet for many observers, this raises a fundamental question: why does every security scare in India appear to end with the same accusation, the same alleged masterminds and the same predictable references to Pakistan and the ISI?

For years, New Delhi has promoted a security narrative in which Pakistan is portrayed as the source of nearly every........

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