Another bomb rattles Kashmir, and another web of lies unfolds in Delhi.
The recent Pahalgam incident, a tragic lapse in India’s own security, was swiftly converted into a theatrical blame game. Without investigation, without introspection, fingers were pointed at Pakistan-yet again. This is not the first time the Indian government has tried to cloak its internal weaknesses with the veil of external threats. What is disturbing is how familiar and formulaic this pattern has become-one that endangers regional peace and misleads global opinion.
Take the Pahalgam incident: glaring intelligence failures, lapses in coordination, and lack of preparedness were all buried under aggressive posturing. Instead of launching transparent investigations, India chose to shout louder, and in doing so, silence accountability. In contrast, Pakistan, after a painful terrorist attack in Balochistan that claimed many lives, resisted the temptation of cheap blame games. It conducted swift operations, took responsibility, and acted resolutely-without screaming into microphones or concocting foreign plots.
This is where the 2020 EU DisinfoLab report becomes indispensable. The Brussels-based watchdog unearthed a shadowy Indian propaganda network running over 750 fake media outlets across 116 countries. Even a deceased UN official, Louis B. Sohn, was “resurrected” to lend legitimacy to fake NGOs promoting India’s narrative. This web of deceit-through print, digital, and electronic media-was designed not to inform, but to indoctrinate. In short, facts are manufactured, truth is mutilated, and dissent is demonized.
And who benefits? The ruling BJP.
Whenever the Modi government begins to feel the political ground slipping beneath its feet-be it economic downturns, social unrest, or electoral anxiety-it resorts to this worn-out formula: engineer panic, amplify through bots and paid media, and distract the public with a fictitious enemy. It’s a grotesque performance. Prime Minister Modi, ever the star of his own spectacle, often mingles with film stars, anchors, and influencers-living in a curated virtual reality where baseless narratives are not just floated but globally consumed as truth.
This strategy is not just misleading-it’s dangerous.
False flag operations, disinformation campaigns, and the weaponization of media serve only one goal: to paint India as a victim while camouflaging its role as the provocateur. From Pulwama to Balakot, from revoking Article 370 to the daily brutalities in IIOJK, India has eroded the very foundations of international law, yet faces no consequence. Why? Because its media muscle and geopolitical positioning give it the audacity to defy UN resolutions, suppress voices of Kashmiri self-determination, and label every critique as an “internal matter.”
And let’s not forget India’s knee-jerk move to unilaterally back out of the Indus Waters Treaty, a decades-old agreement. Why? To whip up nationalist fervor, to provoke Pakistan, to justify belligerence under the pretense of “retaliation”-even when nothing had been proven. This reveals a fragile state that thrives not on strength, but on hysteria.
If the world continues to reward such duplicity with silence, peace in South Asia will remain hostage to India’s ever-growing empire of illusion. It is time the world wakes up-not just to the cries of Kashmiris, but to the deceit that enables their continued suffering.
No longer can the global community afford to be swayed by firebrand speeches and glossy headlines. Accountability must replace accusation. Facts must rise above fiction. For only then can peace have a chance.