FPJ Analysis: Pakistan’s War Scare Tactics

Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif seems more focused on manufacturing a war scare than addressing the serious issues plaguing his own country. His baseless assertion that a military incursion by India is “inevitable” is nothing but a figment of his imagination — and a dangerous one at that. It appears to be part of a deliberate agenda: to provoke tensions with India and divert attention from Pakistan’s own internal failures. Despite the ceasefire agreement, unprovoked firing from across the border has continued unabated ever since the gruesome terrorist attack on tourists at Baisaran, near Pahalgam. Naturally, India has had no choice but to retaliate in a measured and commensurate manner.

Investigations into the Baisaran attack have revealed disturbing facts. Three of the attackers — Adil Hussain Thaker, Ali Bhai, and Hashim Musa — are Pakistani nationals. Even more alarming is that Hashim Musa was an ex-commando of the Pakistan army’s special forces, highly trained in terrorist operations. His current association with Lashkar-e-Taiba, a group operating freely from Pakistani soil, leaves little doubt about Islamabad’s complicity. Pakistan cannot wash its hands off this crime; the evidence points squarely at it. Asif’s inflammatory rhetoric seems aimed at covering up this involvement. His own past admission is telling: in an earlier interview, he openly confessed that Pakistan had engaged in terrorism at the behest of the United States, the United Kingdom, and other Western powers during the Cold War era. While those operations targeted Soviet influence in Afghanistan, never were they intended to harm India. Nevertheless, Asif’s candid confession that “We have been doing the dirty work for the US for the past three decades” highlights Pakistan’s long-standing use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. For years, Pakistan has denied sponsoring terrorism. Yet, here is a senior minister exposing the hollowness of those denials. The world should take note.

India, by contrast, has shown restraint and maturity. While diplomatic steps were necessary following the Pahalgam attack, India has no appetite for war. As a rapidly rising economic power, poised to become the world’s fourth-largest economy, India has everything to gain from stability and peace — and everything to lose from unnecessary conflict. Unlike Pakistan, a failed state teetering on economic collapse, India is a responsible nuclear power. It has never brandished nuclear threats in its dealings with Pakistan or any other nation. In sharp contrast, loose and reckless talk of nuclear retaliation by Pakistani leaders like Asif only underscores their desperation. The international community must see through Pakistan’s diversionary tactics. War may be the last refuge of a failed state, but it is certainly not India’s path. Peace, not provocation, must guide the subcontinent’s future.