Terror Attack: Why International Community Must Take Concrete Action on Pakistan

  In the afternoon of April 22, 2025, a heinous jihadi terror attack took place in Pahalgam, a popular tourist destination in Jammu & Kashmir, India. The terrorists singled out their victims based on their religion. The main target was Hindu men. In certain cases, the terrorists even stripped some of their victims to ascertain […]

 

In the afternoon of April 22, 2025, a heinous jihadi terror attack took place in Pahalgam, a popular tourist destination in Jammu & Kashmir, India. The terrorists singled out their victims based on their religion. The main target was Hindu men. In certain cases, the terrorists even stripped some of their victims to ascertain their religion. The victims were also asked to recite the Kalma, or Shahada, which is the foundational declaration of faith in Islam.

In the attack, at least 26 people were killed and many were wounded. The armed terrorists executed their victims at gun point. The male victims were executed in front of their families, in many cases newlyweds. The attack was claimed by the Resistance Force (TRF), which is a proxy of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based Salafi-jihadi organisation and UN-proscribed terror outfit. The TRF and its alias, Peoples’ Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), are acknowledged as a rebranding of the LeT to evade the sanctions imposed on the latter. This has been standard practice by the Pakistani establishment for plausible deniability for its involvement with terror entities and to safeguard them from international scrutiny and sanctions.

The Pahalgam attack is perhaps the biggest terror attack in Kashmir since August 5, 2019, when India quashed Article 370 of the Constitution, which accorded greater autonomy to Jammu & Kashmir. After India abrogated Article 370, there was a concerted effort by Pakistan to rebrand the established terror outfits such as LeT and Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM; a Pakistan-based Deobandi Islamist militant group) in order to present these new outfits as indigenous resistance groups active in India.

Meanwhile, tensions are growing between India and Pakistan. The Indian media outlet The Hindu reported that Pakistani troops are continuing to violate the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) by resorting to unprovoked firing in Jammu & Kashmir’s Poonch and Kupwara districts. As tensions flare, Pakistan Minister Hanif Abbasi threatened India with nuclear retaliation, stating that Pakistan’s 130 nuclear warheads have been kept “only for India.”

Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir Asserted That Kashmir Remains Pakistan’s “Jugular Vein”; Pakistani ISI Employs Terror Entities As Proxies

In mid-April 2025, the likelihood of a major terror attack in Kashmir became clearer when Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir, addressing the First Annual Overseas Pakistanis Convention organized by Pakistani government in Islamabad from April 13-16, 2025, reminded participants that the state of Pakistan was created in religious-ideological opposition to India.

The ideological disposition of Gen. Munir strongly guides the country’s policy stance against India. He is known as a regressive and hardline officer within his professional circles. His ideological disposition was clearly reflected in the public address to the Pakistani diaspora, wherein, he announced his commitment to the so-called “two-nation theory” and asserted that Kashmir remains Pakistan’s “jugular vein.” He also revived a rhetoric that “Hindus and Muslims are completely different” and that Kashmir is a perpetual battleground where peace cannot be tolerated. Moreover, he urged that the young and future generations of Pakistan should be nurtured with the same thought process, reflecting the repressiveness of his mind, which incidentally is very akin to what the Islamic extremists believe and promote. He also told overseas Pakistanis that, after Medina, where Prophet Muhammad established the first Islamic state, Pakistan is the second Islamic state.

“You must tell the story of Pakistan to your children so that they do not forget it. Our forefathers thought that we are different from Hindus in every possible aspect of life. Our religion is different. Our customs are different. Our traditions are different. Our thoughts are different. Our ambitions are different,” General Asim Munir said, adding: “That was the foundation of the Two Nation Theory that led there. That we are two nations, we are not one nation. So, because of that our forefathers, they struggled, mounted that incessant struggle to create this country.”

Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir. “Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir’s recent speech on Kashmir is being widely seen as the precursor to the Pahalgam attack, where 26 people died at the hands of terrorists. Munir made the provocative speech… just five days before terrorists opened fire at Pahalgam’s Baisaran meadow, killing tourists on vacation.” (Source: Firstpost.com, April 26, 2025)

Earlier, in connection with Kashmir Solidarity Day, which Pakistan commemorates annually on February 5, Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Syed Asim Munir spoke at events in Pakistan and in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Speaking at events in Muzaffarabad, in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Gen. Asim Munir reiterated a statement of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, saying that “Kashmir is the jugular vein of Pakistan.” The army chief stated: “Cutting the jugular vein off the body means the end of life. Muslims are never impressed by the number of enemies or weapons. Allah’s group [of Muslim fighters] will always prevail based on faith, piety, and jihad in the way of Allah.”

It is also noteworthy that Gen. Asim Munir was serving as the Director-General of ISI at the time of the February 2019 Pulwama attack in which 44 Indian security personnel lost their lives.

In fact, Pakistan-based terror entities are deeply embedded in the network of the ISI, which regularly employs these terror entities as proxies to achieve its tactical or strategic objectives. Such terror operations continue despite how decades of global scrutiny reveal the enabling environment in Pakistan, in which terror elements not only survive but thrive.

It is worth noting that the Pahalgam terrorist attack pattern is very similar to ISI’s past tactics: Inflict pain, sow uncertainty in Kashmir, and provoke a reaction while maintaining a thin veneer of deniability.

“Asim Munir Is The Enemy, Recognize The Enemy”

LeT and other Pakistan-based terror outfits have been involved in multiple terror attacks in India. Among them it is worth remembering, including: the November 26, 2008 Mumbai Attacks aka the “26/11 attack” by LeT, which killed 175 people and injured more than 300; and the February 14, 2019 Pulwama Attacks in Jammu & Kashmir, by JeM, that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.

Similarly, in October 2024, under the name of The Resistance Front (TRF), LeT carried out a terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, killing six migrant workers and one doctor.

In June 2024, under the name of TRF, LeT shot up a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims in Reasi in Jammu & Kashmir. The bus fell into a gorge, resulting in the killing of nine civilians and injury of 33 more.

In 2020, under the name of TRF, LeT killed five Indian security forces personnel in Kupwara in Jammu & Kashmir.

Commenting on the Pahalgam terrorist attack, Major (retd) Gaurav Arya, a noted security affairs commentator said: “Asim Munir is the enemy, recognize the enemy, please; this is my request. Please recognize your enemy: It is General Asim Munir, it is not Hafiz Saeed, it is not Maulana Masood Azhar, or Syed Salahuddin, they are not your enemy, the enemy is the Pakistani army chief…”

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is the founder of LeT; Maulana Masood Azhar is the emir of JeM, while Syed Salahuddin is the chief of Hizbul Mujahideen (HuM) – all Pakistan army-backed terror organizations active in Indian Kashmir. All these terror commanders are believed to be hidden by the Pakistani military.

Commenting on the terrorist groups, Major (retd) Gaurav Arya added: “I am telling you: These jihadis will dance on your head. They are in Kashmir today. They will enter Delhi tomorrow. They will carry out bomb blasts once again in Mumbai. They will kill people because they have previously killed people because it is their nature.”

Pakistan Is Deeply Unstable

The Pahalgam terrorist attack needs to be seen in the background of the prevailing political and security internal instability in Pakistan. Pakistan today is deeply unstable. Its economy is paralysed and is facing immense pressure from the Baloch and Pashtun populations.

Several pro-military politicians of Pakistan have now openly admitted that Pakistan’s grip on Balochistan has weakened, and that the Baloch people are actively supporting the independence movement and Baloch fighters. Pakistani Member of Parliament Zarfullah Zehri, speaking on the parliament floor of the house, stated: “Baloch women are selling their jewelry to support Balochistan’s independence.”

Earlier, speaking at a recent session of the Pakistani National Assembly, Pakistan MP Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman admitted that Pakistan lost its control in Balochistan, stating that a moment like that of 1971, when East and West Pakistan fought in the Bangladesh Liberation War, which led to the creation of Bangladesh on December 16, 1971, has arrived again.

Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman said: “I swear by my heart that, at this moment, there are five to seven groups in Baluchistan who, if they retaliate, will be granted independence and the country will break once again.”

Fazl-ur-Rehman has always supported the Pakistan army against the Baloch freedom movement. In his speech, Fazl-ur-Rehman informed the establishment of Pakistan that the Baloch people are becoming independent and that this development, in his view, is not good for Pakistan’s future. “If districts in Balochistan announce liberation, the UN will accept their independence and Pakistan will fall,” he said.

All the above have dented the image of the Pakistani army. Thus, like in the past, to deflect domestic focus from these issues, adventurism in Kashmir and India have become a political instrument for the military establishment to reassert its authority in the country. Each phase of heightened internal unrest in Pakistan coincides with escalatory action against India, with Kashmir as the prime focus.

“Kashmir Solidarity And Hamas Operation ‘Al Aqsa Flood’ Conference” Attended By Senior Hamas Leader Khaled Qaddoumi

On February 5, 2025, LeT and JeM jointly organized a conference titled “Kashmir Solidarity and Hamas Operation ‘Al Aqsa Flood’ Conference” in Rawalakot, in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, coinciding with Pakistan’s so-called Kashmir Solidarity Day. The event was attended by senior Hamas leader Khaled Qaddoumi. The event aimed to link the issues of Kashmir with Gaza.

In his speech, Maulana Taiha Al-Saif, brother of JeM founder Maulana Masood Azhar, stressed the need for “jihad” in Kashmir and made references to the October 7 massacre against Israeli civilians.

Furthermore, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir Prime Minister Chaudhary Anwar ul Haq has repeatedly declared his support for jihad against India and to mobilise resources to expel Indian forces from Jammu & Kashmir.

 

The International Community’s Lax Oversight Of Pakistan’s Activities

While Pakistan has always been a breeding ground for terrorism, its current resurgence is also due to the international community’s lax oversight of Pakistan’s activities. In 2022, Pakistan was removed from the Grey List of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organisation for curbing money laundering and terrorism financing.

As a consequence, in 2024, Pakistan has relaxed its laws on Madrassa Registration, permitting the madrasas to change their syllabus and manage their accounts with far more ease. This allowed terror outfits, such LeT and JeM, to run programs to further radicalise Pakistani youth.

Strong condemnation of the attack by the international community, although necessary, appears to be insufficient. Concrete action is urgently needed from the international community to rein in Pakistan’s rogue behaviour.