With the uptick in Baloch insurgency followed by frequent attacks on Pakistani military forces, the Pakistani COAS Asim Munir has resorted to his usual blame games. Passing the buck to India, he holds India guilty for the unsuccessful efforts by Pakistan in curbing militant activities in Balochistan. Stating that India's actions were a result of its "defeat in the Marka-e-Haq" war, he claimed that India is responsible for financing the Baloch freedom movement.
Pakistan seems to replay its narrative of India’s proxy wars in Pakistan. Ever since the attacks on Pakistan’s military forces have increased, so has Pakistan’ effort to push the blame on India’s external intelligence agency to deviate the attention from its own shortcomings of being incapable at managing the security apparatus in the region.
At an army workshop in Balochistan, General Munir referred to India, accusing New Delhi of backing “terror proxies” what he called a failed “bid to undermine Balochistan’s patriotism”, the ISPR said on Wednesday.
The Pakistan military establishment and its ISI have been consistent in labelling its own home-grown terrorists as “Indian proxies”. The very same groups who may have been funded, trained and established with the blessings of the ISI and its military. Pakistan’s playbook on counter terrorism has always meant to align with certain terror outfits or establish entirely new groups as an answer to those militant/terror outfits which are anti Pakistan. This is evident from the Dabori agreement which was a deal between the ISI and ISIS Khorasan (ISKP) to counter the Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Several reports, besides an article written by a former TTP core commander Ehsanullah Ehsan, have reiterated the claim of ISKP leadership being housed in Pakistani military guesthouses. Considering TTP is an offshoot of the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistan government believes that the Emirates of Afghanistan provides sanctuaries to the TTP leaders, while allowing Afghan soil to be used for anti Pakistan agenda. Ever since the relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan went sour, there has been an increment in the attacks by Taliban affiliated groups or those who pledged allegiance to Taliban.
It is apparent that Pakistan’s grand strategy to create Taliban to fight in Afghan Taliban war and then to garner strategic depth into Afghanistan through its Taliban connection has failed. The Taliban has sought to be acknowledged as a functioning government ever since they rose to power in 2021. It is evident that the Taliban puppet has snipped the strings from the puppeteer Pakistan and has tried to make calls in relations to its own interest and goals for its outfit.
Like the previous Afghan governments, the Afghan Taliban too, view the Durand line as an artificial entity and a blunder of the British Raj. The Afghans discount the Durand line and reject it as the international boundary, while Pakistan stakes its claims to the areas around the Durand line while acknowledging the demarcation. This has led to several armed conflicts and border skirmishes between the two nations. Also, with the rise in TTP claimed attacks in Pakistan, the Pakistani government ordered the refoulement of several Afghan refugees which was not agreeable with the Taliban government. Given the developments, it is expected for ISI to align with ISKP which is an arch-rival of Taliban.
The developing relations between India and the Afghan government have also catered to Pakistan’s disinformation warfare to suggest the probability of India meddling in Pakistan, without any concrete evidence.
Earlier this month, the Pakistani Army, led by Munir, accused India of a “terrorist attack” in Waziristan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, that killed 16 soldiers. India has swiftly hit back, firmly “rejecting the allegation with the contempt it deserves”
Director General of ISPR, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, who led Pakistan’s Psyops campaign against India’s Operation Sindoor, had repeated similar claims in his interview with Al Jazeera, making a reference to the Jaffar Express attack in March 2025. He claimed India to be the sponsor of the militant attack.
It is imperative to mention that Chaudhary is the son of a nuclear scientist who tried to hand over nuclear weapons technology to al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. It is worth noting that during the hunt for Osama, the perpetrator was located not far from a military academy in Abbottabad. Given the situation, it would be juvenile to perceive that his whereabouts remained unnoticed by the Pakistani military or ISI. Pakistan’s deniability was displayed in regards to Hafiz Saeed, Dawood Ibrahim and several other designated terrorists who are either under the protection of ISI or have turned into assets in exchange of safe havens.
Since the abrogation of article 370, several Pakistani sleeper cells have been arrested by India in Kashmir. In an operation codenamed Mahadev, India’ special forces the Para SF neutralized the perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack (22 April 2025). Amongst the perpetrators was a Pakistani military officer Hashim Musa who was the mastermind behind the heinous attack. Several days later, two more Pakistani terrorists were eliminated by Indian forces in Operation Shiv Shakti in the Poonch sector. Pakistan’s efforts to destabilize India and win narratives was evident in 2022.
In a meeting in Turkey organized by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s secretive paramilitary group SADAT, a group of several Pakistani officials, which included a known felon Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, raised the idea of sending foreign fighters to wage jihad in Kashmir.
“Not only NATO but all the world powers, they said any volunteer, including Americans, you can go to Ukraine, you can fight shoulder-to-shoulder with the Ukrainian army, and they are called heroes. I endorse that. But my only point is: Are these volunteers going to be allowed to go to Palestine, to go to Kashmir?” said Fai, a Kashmiri-born convicted felon who served time in a US federal prison.
Fai’s statements were acknowledged by other participants in the meeting that was held by SADAT’s front organization, the Association of Justice Defenders Strategic Studies Center (ASSAM), on November 12, 2022. Fai runs a US-based organization, the Kashmiri American Council (KAC) - an outfit funded by ISI and a partner of SADAT and its affiliated organizations.
A report published by Nordic Monitor revealed how the IHH (İnsan Hak ve Hürriyetleri ve İnsani Yardım Vakf), also known as The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, networked with Indian proscribed Islamist organization the Popular Front of India (PFI) as part of the Turkish government’s outreach to Muslim communities.
The IHH is an outfit affiliated with several jihadist groups including al-Qaeda. It is known to be closely associated with the Turkish intelligence agency MIT, by Hakan Fidan, the person who is a logistics supplier for jihadist groups.
The campaign against India by Pakistani-Turkish jihadists have targeted not only the Indian citizens but also the Indian diplomats. In the past a Turkish militant group that was involved in murders, bombings and kidnappings, planted a bomb on a vehicle owned by an Indian embassy employee in Ankara in 1992 over Kashmir matter. On 12 December 1992, three members of the Tevhid Selam terrorist group, a proxy group of Iran’s Quds Force, planted a bomb on a vehicle used by Indian diplomat Yash Paul Kumar in Ankara. The vehicle was damaged when the bomb exploded, but Kumar escaped with no injuries. During police interrogation, Ferhan Özmen, one of the perpetrators stated that the attack in retaliation over Kashmir. Özmen was tried, convicted and sent to prison at the time. Soon after, majority of the members of the Tevhid Selam terrorist group were released from prison upon Erdoğan coming to power in Turkey.
During Operation Sindoor, Pakistan aired its dirty linen globally as it presented state honours to the slain terrorists while its officials attended the funerals of the terrorists. Additionally in an interview with Sky News’s Yalda Hakim, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khwaja Asif admitted to Pakistan funding and backing terrorist groups. Later the Ex-Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto also confirmed Pakistan’s history with terror groups by stating “As far as what the defence minister said, I don't think it is a secret that Pakistan has a past…”
Additionally with the extradition of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Tahawwur Rana to India, several links of Pakistani military’s affiliation to the perpetrators of the attack are being exposed. This is expected to disrobe Pakistan’s fake image and narratives before the international community. It may be assumed that the desperate self-decorated Field Marshall Munir will continue to deflect Pakistan’s lack of its security capabilities by blaming India for the terrorist attacks in Pakistan and will also be expected to divert the attention from the information coming to light about Pakistan’s involvement in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
With several fake narratives and no concrete evidence of India supporting terror proxies in Pakistan, Munir may have earned a lunch date with US President Trump. However, it would be a little wonder if the “pot” who called the kettle black may walk unscathed.
