BREAKING NEWS
These terrorist groups implicitly obey the orders they receive from ISI and as such panning and carrying out attacks on their own is just out of question, especially when it is out of the ordinary like killing tourists after subjecting them to religious profiling. So, it’s not possible that the Pahalgam massacre could have been the handiwork of rogue elements within terrorist ranks
A Gruesome Terrorist Attack
Though every terrorist attack is despicable, the Baisaran Meadow carnage in Pahalgam [J&K] on April 22 in which 25 tourists and one local youth were killed is particularly revolting as the victims were subjected to religious profiling before being summarily executed.
According to eyewitness accounts, they were forced to undergo the ignominy of exposing themselves in presence of their family members so that the terrorists could ascertain if the victims were circumcised or not. And just to be sure, the terrorists also ordered the victims to recite Kalma [declaration of faith in Islam], and those who couldn’t were riddled with bullets at point blank range.
While J&K has experienced numerous terrorist attacks in the more than three-and-a-half decade long proxy war being waged by the Pakistan army in J&K, terrorists have generally been avoiding large scale bloodletting at tourist spots. Hence, the inviolability of tourists visiting such sites was taken for granted.
However, the Pahalgam terrorist attack has shattered this illusion and the insensitivity shown by the cold blooded murders has shocked the world. In fact this horrific attack has evoked such severe revulsion worldwide that The Resistance Front [TRF] which had initially accepted responsibility for this attack subsequently denied any involvement in this incident.
The TRF Bluff
TRF is a virtual group that was created by Pakistan army’s spy agency Inter Services Intelligence [ISI] as a front for Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT] in 2019 to avoid negative publicity and international censure for sabotaging the peace process in J&K by specifically targeting minority communities and migrants.
In June 2024, TRF had claimed responsibility for an attack on a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims in the Reasi area of Jammu district, in which nine devotees including a minor were killed and 33 injured. That this attack happened about just an hour before Narendra Modi took oath as India’s Prime Minister is surely not a coincidence!
ISI has created a number of groups like TRF to shed the Islamic tag attached to terrorism in J&K and project these outfits as organisations opposing abrogation of Article 370. However, it has not been able to offer any credible explanation for TRF’s selective targeting of innocents based on religion and ethnicity.
For example, how does the targeting of Hindu tourists who don’t even belong to J&K help TRF in furthering its so-called stated objective of seeking Article 370re-introduction? One doesn’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to discern that outfits like TRF have been created with the sole aim of buttressing Islamabad’s claim that there’s no normalcy in J&K.
Coming on the heels of Pakistan army chief Gen Syed Asim Munir’s provocative statement that Hindus and Muslims couldn’t co-exist, the Pahalgam carnage [just like the Reasi pilgrim bus attack] isn’t a mere coincidence.
Gen Munir’s Report Card
It’s no secret that in Pakistan it’s the army chief that calls the shots and even though unaccountable, is solely responsible for both the internal and external situation in the country and that’s why Pakistan is referred to not as a country with an army but an army with a country.
So seeing the prevailing state of affairs in Pakistan and not-so-cordial relations with all its neighbours [less China], it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Gen Munir hasn’t done very well in ‘running’ his country.
By brazenly manipulating the 2024 General Elections and using the judiciary to keep the immensely popular Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf [PTI] party led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan out of power, Gen Munir precipitated a humongous political crisis from which the country hasn’t yet recovered. The people aren’t happy with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz [PML-N] - Pakistan Peoples’ Party [PPP] coalition government hastily cobbled together by Rawalpindi, since it’s only serving the army’s myopic interests.
The astronomical level of public resentment against the Pakistan army came to fore on May 9, 2023, when angered by the PTI chief’s arrest from court premises by Pakistan Rangers [which is officered by the Pakistan army], ran riot attacking and destroying military assets and facilities.
Though Gen Munir tried to downplay this clear manifestation of unbridled public outrage against the army by calling it a “conspiracy” orchestrated by inimical foreign powers using “digital terrorism” to create a gulf between the army, it’s absolutely clear that the army’s unabashed interference in politics has not gone down well with the people of Pakistan.
To make matters worse, despite being Rawalpindi’s protégé and having enjoyed its hospitality for a decade, the Afghan Taliban has refused act as Islamabad’s minion or take action to curb the activities of anti-Pakistan terrorist group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan [TTP] due to which this terrorist group has been playing havoc. According to Islamabad based Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies [PIPS], February saw a whopping 30 terrorist attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [KP] by TTP and its affiliates that left 45 dead and 58 injured.
Furthermore, by giving the army and other law enforcement and intelligence agencies under command carte blanche to use repressive measures like torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan in an attempt to defeat Baloch armed groups, Gen Munir has only ended up adding more fuel to the already raging separatist movement fire. By taking temporary control of highways on several occasions and pulling off the audacious hijacking of the Jaffar Express train, Baloch fighters have proved once again that they remain as strong and determined as ever.
Pakistan army’s brutal intervention in Balochistan has also spurred a mass peaceful public movement headed by Balochistan Yakjehti [Unity] Committee [BYC] under the leadership of 32 year old Dr Mahrang Baloch demanding an end to enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of innocent Baloch people by Pakistani security forces. Despite using strong-arm tactics and imprisoning its leadership, anti-Pakistan demonstrations continue unabated, drawing international attention and strong criticism from rights groups, which is causing major embarrassment to Islamabad.
Based on current trends, PIPS has projected the likelihood of more than 3,600 fatalities this year and this could make 2025 one of “Pakistan’s deadliest years.” This scary but scientifically extrapolated prognosis reflects Pakistan’s de facto ruler Gen Munir’s abysmal report card.
Gen Munir’s Gamble
It would be pertinent to mention that the ISI had created an Islamist jihadist organisation called Muttahida [United] Jihad Council [MJC/ UJC] way back in 1994 to exercise control over terrorist groups fighting Pakistan army’s proxy war in J&K.
These terrorist groups implicitly obey the orders they receive from ISI and as such panning and carrying out attacks on their own is just out of question, especially when it is out of the ordinary like killing tourists after subjecting them to religious profiling. So, it’s not possible that the Pahalgam massacre could have been the handiwork of rogue elements within terrorist ranks.
With no tangible achievements to his credit, Gen Munir would have realised that in order to redeem his tottering public image, he needed to do something that would appease both the domestic audience as well as the army. Knowing that the anti-India and religion cards never fail to deliver, he cunningly raised the Hindu-Muslim incompatibility issue, and thrilled by the heartening public response, tried to ride the popularity wave by approving the Pahalgam terrorist attack ensuring that only Hindus were targeted.
Having got away with the 2024 Reasi Pilgrim bus attack, Gen Munir may have thought that New Delhi would also take the Baisaran Meadow terrorist attack in stride and restrict its reaction to verbal accusations. However, his Pahalgam ‘face-saver’ has culminated in New Delhi holding the Indus Water Treaty [IWT] “in abeyance with immediate effect” and pushed India and Pakistan to the brink of war.
In short, Gen Munir’s ill-considered image redemption stratagem has backfired, and even if India and Pakistan don’t go to war, the one thing that’s definite is that the terms and conditions of IWT [which currently are comparatively more generous for Pakistan] will never be the same again. Accordingly, the serious adverse implications for Pakistan on account of IWT being held in abeyance by New Delhi will definitely serve as the proverbial albatross around Gen Munir’s neck for the rest of his life!
Email:------------------------------nileshkunwar.56@gmail.com
These terrorist groups implicitly obey the orders they receive from ISI and as such panning and carrying out attacks on their own is just out of question, especially when it is out of the ordinary like killing tourists after subjecting them to religious profiling. So, it’s not possible that the Pahalgam massacre could have been the handiwork of rogue elements within terrorist ranks
A Gruesome Terrorist Attack
Though every terrorist attack is despicable, the Baisaran Meadow carnage in Pahalgam [J&K] on April 22 in which 25 tourists and one local youth were killed is particularly revolting as the victims were subjected to religious profiling before being summarily executed.
According to eyewitness accounts, they were forced to undergo the ignominy of exposing themselves in presence of their family members so that the terrorists could ascertain if the victims were circumcised or not. And just to be sure, the terrorists also ordered the victims to recite Kalma [declaration of faith in Islam], and those who couldn’t were riddled with bullets at point blank range.
While J&K has experienced numerous terrorist attacks in the more than three-and-a-half decade long proxy war being waged by the Pakistan army in J&K, terrorists have generally been avoiding large scale bloodletting at tourist spots. Hence, the inviolability of tourists visiting such sites was taken for granted.
However, the Pahalgam terrorist attack has shattered this illusion and the insensitivity shown by the cold blooded murders has shocked the world. In fact this horrific attack has evoked such severe revulsion worldwide that The Resistance Front [TRF] which had initially accepted responsibility for this attack subsequently denied any involvement in this incident.
The TRF Bluff
TRF is a virtual group that was created by Pakistan army’s spy agency Inter Services Intelligence [ISI] as a front for Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT] in 2019 to avoid negative publicity and international censure for sabotaging the peace process in J&K by specifically targeting minority communities and migrants.
In June 2024, TRF had claimed responsibility for an attack on a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims in the Reasi area of Jammu district, in which nine devotees including a minor were killed and 33 injured. That this attack happened about just an hour before Narendra Modi took oath as India’s Prime Minister is surely not a coincidence!
ISI has created a number of groups like TRF to shed the Islamic tag attached to terrorism in J&K and project these outfits as organisations opposing abrogation of Article 370. However, it has not been able to offer any credible explanation for TRF’s selective targeting of innocents based on religion and ethnicity.
For example, how does the targeting of Hindu tourists who don’t even belong to J&K help TRF in furthering its so-called stated objective of seeking Article 370re-introduction? One doesn’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to discern that outfits like TRF have been created with the sole aim of buttressing Islamabad’s claim that there’s no normalcy in J&K.
Coming on the heels of Pakistan army chief Gen Syed Asim Munir’s provocative statement that Hindus and Muslims couldn’t co-exist, the Pahalgam carnage [just like the Reasi pilgrim bus attack] isn’t a mere coincidence.
Gen Munir’s Report Card
It’s no secret that in Pakistan it’s the army chief that calls the shots and even though unaccountable, is solely responsible for both the internal and external situation in the country and that’s why Pakistan is referred to not as a country with an army but an army with a country.
So seeing the prevailing state of affairs in Pakistan and not-so-cordial relations with all its neighbours [less China], it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Gen Munir hasn’t done very well in ‘running’ his country.
By brazenly manipulating the 2024 General Elections and using the judiciary to keep the immensely popular Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf [PTI] party led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan out of power, Gen Munir precipitated a humongous political crisis from which the country hasn’t yet recovered. The people aren’t happy with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz [PML-N] - Pakistan Peoples’ Party [PPP] coalition government hastily cobbled together by Rawalpindi, since it’s only serving the army’s myopic interests.
The astronomical level of public resentment against the Pakistan army came to fore on May 9, 2023, when angered by the PTI chief’s arrest from court premises by Pakistan Rangers [which is officered by the Pakistan army], ran riot attacking and destroying military assets and facilities.
Though Gen Munir tried to downplay this clear manifestation of unbridled public outrage against the army by calling it a “conspiracy” orchestrated by inimical foreign powers using “digital terrorism” to create a gulf between the army, it’s absolutely clear that the army’s unabashed interference in politics has not gone down well with the people of Pakistan.
To make matters worse, despite being Rawalpindi’s protégé and having enjoyed its hospitality for a decade, the Afghan Taliban has refused act as Islamabad’s minion or take action to curb the activities of anti-Pakistan terrorist group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan [TTP] due to which this terrorist group has been playing havoc. According to Islamabad based Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies [PIPS], February saw a whopping 30 terrorist attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [KP] by TTP and its affiliates that left 45 dead and 58 injured.
Furthermore, by giving the army and other law enforcement and intelligence agencies under command carte blanche to use repressive measures like torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan in an attempt to defeat Baloch armed groups, Gen Munir has only ended up adding more fuel to the already raging separatist movement fire. By taking temporary control of highways on several occasions and pulling off the audacious hijacking of the Jaffar Express train, Baloch fighters have proved once again that they remain as strong and determined as ever.
Pakistan army’s brutal intervention in Balochistan has also spurred a mass peaceful public movement headed by Balochistan Yakjehti [Unity] Committee [BYC] under the leadership of 32 year old Dr Mahrang Baloch demanding an end to enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of innocent Baloch people by Pakistani security forces. Despite using strong-arm tactics and imprisoning its leadership, anti-Pakistan demonstrations continue unabated, drawing international attention and strong criticism from rights groups, which is causing major embarrassment to Islamabad.
Based on current trends, PIPS has projected the likelihood of more than 3,600 fatalities this year and this could make 2025 one of “Pakistan’s deadliest years.” This scary but scientifically extrapolated prognosis reflects Pakistan’s de facto ruler Gen Munir’s abysmal report card.
Gen Munir’s Gamble
It would be pertinent to mention that the ISI had created an Islamist jihadist organisation called Muttahida [United] Jihad Council [MJC/ UJC] way back in 1994 to exercise control over terrorist groups fighting Pakistan army’s proxy war in J&K.
These terrorist groups implicitly obey the orders they receive from ISI and as such panning and carrying out attacks on their own is just out of question, especially when it is out of the ordinary like killing tourists after subjecting them to religious profiling. So, it’s not possible that the Pahalgam massacre could have been the handiwork of rogue elements within terrorist ranks.
With no tangible achievements to his credit, Gen Munir would have realised that in order to redeem his tottering public image, he needed to do something that would appease both the domestic audience as well as the army. Knowing that the anti-India and religion cards never fail to deliver, he cunningly raised the Hindu-Muslim incompatibility issue, and thrilled by the heartening public response, tried to ride the popularity wave by approving the Pahalgam terrorist attack ensuring that only Hindus were targeted.
Having got away with the 2024 Reasi Pilgrim bus attack, Gen Munir may have thought that New Delhi would also take the Baisaran Meadow terrorist attack in stride and restrict its reaction to verbal accusations. However, his Pahalgam ‘face-saver’ has culminated in New Delhi holding the Indus Water Treaty [IWT] “in abeyance with immediate effect” and pushed India and Pakistan to the brink of war.
In short, Gen Munir’s ill-considered image redemption stratagem has backfired, and even if India and Pakistan don’t go to war, the one thing that’s definite is that the terms and conditions of IWT [which currently are comparatively more generous for Pakistan] will never be the same again. Accordingly, the serious adverse implications for Pakistan on account of IWT being held in abeyance by New Delhi will definitely serve as the proverbial albatross around Gen Munir’s neck for the rest of his life!
Email:------------------------------nileshkunwar.56@gmail.com
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