In a world increasingly shaped by transnational threats, few nations embody the paradox of being both victims and vectors of terrorism like Pakistan. For decades, Islamabad has danced perilously on a tightrope of danger, using terrorism as a clandestine instrument of statecraft to pursue its regional ambitions, particularly in Kashmir and Afghanistan. Though Pakistani officials routinely dismiss these allegations, the weight of evidence amassed by India, the United States, and independent international monitors paints a damning picture. From the blood-soaked streets of Mumbai to the mountain passes of Kabul, Pakistan’s record reveals a calculated embrace of terrorism that has destabilized the region and placed its future in jeopardy.
On April 22, 2025, a fresh scar was etched into the troubled landscape of J&K. In the tranquil Baisaran Valley near Pahalgam, 26 civilians mostly tourists were gunned down by terrorists affiliated with The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadowy outfit with direct links to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The Indian government has since produced intelligence connecting the attack to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), citing the use of sophisticated weaponry and trained fighters as clear indicators of external orchestration. The TRF, in a chilling press release, justified its act as retaliation against demographic changes in Kashmir referencing the issuance of 85,000 domicile certificates to “outsiders.” But the truth lies deeper: this was not a local act of defiance, but another strike in Pakistan’s long-standing proxy war.
That proxy war masked by plausible deniability and waged with non-state actors is part of a wider strategy to bleed India, internationalize the Kashmir dispute, and retain strategic depth in Afghanistan. Since 2019, the TRF has emerged as a rebranded version of LeT, operating under the same ideological umbrella but with a new façade to escape international scrutiny. India’s Ministry of Home Affairs has repeatedly cited Pakistan’s sponsorship of such groups. The recent Pahalgam carnage has not only shattered the fragile calm in Kashmir but escalated tensions across the subcontinent. In swift retaliation, India expelled Pakistani diplomats, suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, shut the Attari border post, and imposed visa restrictions on Pakistani nationals a clear signal that the cost of cross-border terrorism will be steep.
Adding fuel to the fire were comments by Pakistan’s Army Chief, General Asim Munir, calling Kashmir Pakistan’s “jugular vein” and echoing the divisive rhetoric of the two-nation theory. Such remarks, paired with tangible state links to terror outfits, show that the problem isn’t a rogue faction it is an entrenched doctrine. This dangerous strategy dates back to the Cold War, when Pakistan, with U.S. support, trained Islamist militants to resist Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Those networks would later evolve into the Taliban and al-Qaeda, spreading chaos across continents.
The 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 civilians in a coordinated assault by LeT operatives, were a watershed moment. The involvement of Pakistani nationals and the meticulous planning linked to ISI support left little room for ambiguity. Even former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2018 admitted the country’s hand in enabling such tragedies. The 2019 Pulwama attack, which killed 40 Indian security personnel, further exposed Islamabad’s deep state machinery, with a Pakistani cabinet minister inadvertently admitting to state involvement. These are not isolated incidents — they form a deliberate pattern of using jihadist proxies to keep Kashmir boiling and India off balance.
Across the Durand Line, Pakistan’s toxic influence in Afghanistan has further stained its credibility. It has long been accused by Kabul and Washington of harboring the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network, both responsible for countless attacks. Notably, the 2008 Indian Embassy bombing in Kabul, which claimed over 50 lives, was traced back to Pakistan-based operatives. U.S. intelligence repeatedly implicated the ISI, and in a stunning admission in 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan acknowledged that tens of thousands of armed militants lived on Pakistani soil. The final, irrefutable blow came in 2011 when Osama bin Laden was found not in some remote cave but in the military town of Abbottabad, less than a mile from Pakistan’s national military academy.
As the journalist Arnaud de Borchgrave famously remarked, “The fingerprints of every major act of international Islamist terrorism almost invariably lead back to Pakistan.” Indeed, the legacy of Islamabad’s terror-tied policies has left an indelible mark. While India and Afghanistan have borne the brunt, the blowback within Pakistan itself has been brutal. According to the Global Terrorism Index 2025, Pakistan ranks as the world’s second-most affected country by terrorism. The resurgence of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) following the Taliban’s return to Afghanistan has pushed the country into deeper internal chaos, accounting for over half of all terror-related deaths. Simultaneously, Baloch insurgent groups like the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) have intensified attacks including train hijackings and suicide bombings further destabilizing regions like Quetta and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Terrorism as statecraft is not just morally indefensible; it is strategically suicidal. In the pursuit of weakening its neighbors, Pakistan has infected itself with the very poison it helped spread. Instead of earning global stature, it has invited sanctions, diplomatic isolation, and a crippling economic crisis. For the people of Pakistan many of whom reject extremism, this policy has brought only suffering, instability, and a future mortgaged to militancy.
The Pahalgam massacre should be a wake-up call not just for India, but for the global community. It is time to hold Pakistan accountable not only for harboring terrorists but for weaponizing them. The world cannot afford to ignore a state that flirts so casually with chaos. For peace to truly take root in South Asia, it is imperative to confront the root cause: state-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan must be forced to choose between being a normal nation or a rogue one. There can be no middle path.
