A month after Pahalgam: How every Indian can expose Pakistan’s terror playbook

It has been one month since the brutal Islamist terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir (April 22, 2025), where civilians were deliberately targeted and killed after being asked their religion — a cold-blooded and calculated act of violence. The incident stands as yet another grim reminder of the enduring and well-orchestrated threat posed by Pakistan-based Islamist terror networks.

In response, India launched Operation Sindoor, a precision military operation aimed at dismantling terror launchpads and training facilities across the Line of Control (LoC). Far from being an isolated military reaction, Operation Sindoor marks a deliberate continuation of India’s evolving strategic doctrine, what has come to be known as the “new normal”, characterised by swift, proportionate retaliation to cross-border terrorism.

As this assertive approach takes root, it is imperative to simultaneously globalise the discourse on Pakistan’s longstanding complicity in sponsoring terrorism, not just through formal statecraft but also via civil society, citizen activism, and transnational advocacy.

While the Indian government is sending at least seven multi-party parliamentary delegations comprising members of parliment (MPs) and former diplomats to 33 foreign places, including the US, UK, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Malaysia and several African and European nations, to present its case with a unified voice, the move is not without its domestic political undertones.

On the one hand, it represents a rare consensus on national security, a signal to international observers that India’s fight against terrorism transcends party lines. On the other hand, critics argue that such outreach often coincides with electoral narratives, where muscular responses to terrorism are used to consolidate political support.

Nonetheless, the effort reflects a timely, calculated strategy to internationalise the issue of cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan’s soil in forums such as the UN, Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and G20, especially as Pakistan seeks renewed economic assistance and diplomatic normalisation. In this context, civil society support can act as a moral and factual force multiplier, preventing the politicisation of national security from undermining its legitimacy on the world stage.

A Pattern Repeated, A Doctrine Reinforced

The Pahalgam terror incident fits into a pattern that India has endured since the 1990s, a hybrid warfare strategy pursued by Islamabad’s security establishment using Islamists and jihadists (non-state actors) as proxies. While these groups have different names from Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and the off-shoot of LeT, The Resistance Front (TRF), their objectives, funding channels, and ideological support systems have remained unchanged.

However, India’s political and military response has evolved significantly, especially since 2014, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. From covert restraint in the 2000s to the surgical strikes in 2016, the Balakot airstrikes in 2019, and now Operation Sindoor (2025), the Indian counter-terror doctrine has decisively shifted towards proactive kinetic deterrence. These actions not only seek to degrade and decimate militant infrastructures but also signal to both state and non-state sponsors that India will not absorb aggression passively and can reach deep into the heartland for a blitzkrieg.

This evolution is also reflected in diplomatic engagements. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri recently reiterated that while India remains committed to peace, it will no longer tolerate terror on its soil. This message, however, must transcend diplomatic circles and resonate in civil societies and parliaments globally, especially in countries that continue to provide strategic or developmental cover to Pakistan.

The Role of Indians: Citizens and Diaspora

Herein lies the opportunity for every Indian (citizen or diaspora) to take the initiative to bring global attention to the issue of Pakistani complicity in terrorism. With a sizable Indian diaspora across the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Europe, and Australia, the potential for influencing public discourse and policy conversations is considerable.

Diaspora-led delegations could engage lawmakers, think tanks, and local media with well-documented dossiers on Pakistan’s terror infrastructure, drawing from UN Sanctions Committee reports, FATF evaluations, and open-source intelligence.

Testimonies from victims of attacks like Pahalgam and Pulwama could humanise the cost of terror in global forums. Furthermore, visual exhibitions, academic symposia, digital campaigns (#GlobalAgainstPakTerror), and strategic commentaries in global media could amplify the issue beyond South Asian strategic circles.

The model is not unfamiliar altogether, of course. Jewish, Tibetan, and Uyghur communities have long leveraged diasporic networks to spotlight their causes effectively. It is time for global Indians to rise.

While international advocacy by the diaspora is crucial, sustained domestic engagement is equally vital to build the factual and moral foundation of India’s global case against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Civil society organisations, community leaders, and academic think tanks within India must take the lead in systematically documenting incidents of cross-border terrorism, producing credible research, and preserving victim narratives, especially from communities directly impacted, such as Kashmiri Hindus, Hindu pilgrims or tourists, and security personnel in Kashmir. These efforts should be institutionalised through the creation of digital archives, public memorials, and open-access databases that catalogue patterns of religiously motivated attacks, links to Pakistani handlers, and judicial proceedings in terror cases.

Indian think tanks and policy groups should not consider ‘Islamism’ or ‘jihadism’ as taboo subjects anymore. They can very well devote resources and can further supplement the effort by generating data-driven white papers and policy briefs for both domestic audiences and diplomatic use. Social media campaigns (eg, #NeverForget #NeverForgive on X, Facebook or YouTube etc) led by citizen volunteers, student groups, and survivors can play a crucial role in countering misinformation, amplifying India’s narrative globally, and ensuring that civil society remains an active participant, not a passive observer, in the national security discourse. A coordinated domestic front, grounded in research and advocacy, will thus serve as the intellectual and emotional reservoir of India’s international campaign for justice and accountability.

Why This Matters Now!

There are primarily three reasons why this effort is urgent and necessary now, following the Pahalgam terror attacks. First, Pakistan’s narrative machinery is in overdrive, portraying itself as a victim of terrorism even as it hosts UN-designated terrorists and allows platforms like Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Jaish-e-Mohammed to operate under charitable guises. These narratives find traction in sections of Western academia and media, often due to a lack of countervailing information.

Second, as Pakistan navigates an economic crisis, external actors, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and multilateral donors, continue to funnel assistance with few strings attached. Global citizens must demand that terror accountability and deradicalisation reforms be part of the conditionalities for international aid.

Third, the international counter-terror regime is shifting focus toward emerging threats such as cyber-terrorism, biosecurity, and lone-wolf actors. While necessary, this transition should not overshadow the ongoing threat posed by state-supported terrorism in South Asia. Civil society must ensure that these legacy threats are not dismissed as regional anomalies but must be addressed as global concerns.

Towards a Global Coalition of Accountability

Globalising the accountability for terrorism is not an anti-Pakistan campaign. Instead, it is a pro-justice, pro-peace, and pro-security effort. India’s credibility in the global arena today rests not only on its strategic clarity but also on its democratic resilience and citizen participation.

A globally coordinated grassroots campaign can strengthen India’s national narrative with a moral urgency that is hard to ignore. Such an initiative will also be a testament to India’s soft power, where citizens act not as passive spectators but as active participants in shaping the international order. As terrorism evolves in form and geography, so must the architecture of resistance, rooted in facts, rights, and collective resolve.

The message must be clear: ‘Terrorism has no borders, and neither will truth.’ Therefore, Pakistan’s decades-long playbook of denial, deflection, disinformation, and double-speak must be met with a chorus of facts, not just from ministries and diplomats, but from us, Indians everywhere.

This article originally appeared in Firstpost, May 23, 2025.