On February 18, 2007, the Samjhota Express was on its way to Lahore from Delhi when explosions occurred in two of its coaches near the Indian city of Panipat. Seventy people were killed, the majority of whom were Pakistani citizens. As usual, the Indian media and government immediately started a smear campaign against Pakistan for the attack without an iota of evidence. The Haryana Police’s Special Investigation Team identify the criminals after arduous investigation. The perpetrators of this heinous terrorist attack were associated with Hindu extremist organizations like RSS-linked Abhinav Bharat and Jai Vande Mataram groups. Former IG of Maharashtra, S.M. Mushrif revealed in his book titled “Brahiminists Bombed, Muslims Hanged” that when the Special Investigation Team got close to the criminals, they were forcibly stopped from continuing their work. After that, the investigation into the Samjhota Express attack was buried in paperwork.
A horrific revelation in Samjhota Express case came when suspects of the 2008 Malegaon bombings were interrogated. Hemant Karkare, head of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, arrested Pragya Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit in connection with the Malegaon bombings. During the investigation, an Indian Army officer confessed that he had supplied the RDX for the Samjhota Express attack. India had already placed the blame for this attack on Pakistan worldwide. Had the truth come to light, it would have been an embarrassment for India on the global stage. Therefore, it is said that the Indian Intelligence Bureau pressured Hemant Karkare to close the case right there. That same year, during the Mumbai attacks, Karkare was killed by a suspicious bullet. Congress leader Vijay Vaddettiwar revealed last year that Karkare was not killed by the attackers’ gunfire; he was shot by a police officer linked to the RSS.
An Indian misadventure is destined to culminate in detrimental damage.
Numerous other examples exist where India blamed Pakistan for attacks without evidence, which later proved to be false. In 2017, immediately after the terrorist attack in Pathankot, India held Pakistan responsible. However, during the joint investigation of the attack, the truth came out. The chief of India’s National Investigation Agency, Sharad Kumar, publicly confirmed that Pakistan had no involvement in the Pathankot attack. Similarly, in March 2000, just hours before U.S. President Bill Clinton’s visit to India, a horrific incident of terrorism occurred in The Illegally Indian Held Kashmir. In the village of Chattisinghpura in Anantnag district, unknown assailants killed 35 Sikhs. India hastily accused the Pakistani organization Lashkar-e-Taiba without an investigation. Later, former Indian Army General K.S. Gill revealed in an interview that this massacre was perpetrated by India itself.
Indian longstanding modus operandi of committing acts of terrorism and then blaming Pakistan is an open secret. Just as India declared Pakistan guilty in the cases of the Samjhota Express and the Pathankot attack, a similar scenario appears to be unfolding in Pahalgam as well. Survivors of the Pahalgam attack have provided several accounts indicating that this could be India’s own attack. A surviving Indian woman lamented that her brother lay injured for an hour and a half without any help. “If the army were there, they could have come, but no one came”, she implored. In a place like the Illegally Indian Held Kashmir, where a freedom movement is underway, not a single official was assigned to ensure the safety of two thousand tourists. Congress leader Vijay Vaddettiwar exposed the lies of the Modi government, questioning the failure in security and dismissing the notion of killing based on religion as a drama.
Many thoughtful individuals in India are also labeling the Pahalgam attack as a false flag operation. They believe that the Pahalgam attack was orchestrated by India itself. Among these individuals is Aminul Islam, a member of the Assam Assembly. While addressing a public rally, he stated that, just like the Pulwama attack, the Pahalgam attack was also contrived by the BJP. The Pulwama attack has never been fully investigated. Aminul Islam was arrested on the same day. Will his arrest erase the questions he raised? The global community is of the same opinion; no country has officially implicated Pakistan in the Pahalgam attack. A recent report by The New York Times stated that it appears India is preparing its case for attacking Pakistan. Even U.S. President Trump did not issue any statement against Pakistan despite aggressive Indian propaganda.
Pakistan has demanded a neutral investigation into the Pahalgam attack. If a neutral investigation is conducted, the first question would be why security was not assigned for the protection of two thousand tourists. It will be examined why the Indian Army did not arrive on the scene for an hour and a half while the wounded were writhing in pain? It will be scrutinized how the attackers had enough time to deliberate on asking for religion before executing their killings? Questions will also be raised about why, if the attackers intended to kill only Hindus, a Muslim named Syed Adil Hussain Shah was killed, and how a Christian named Sushil Nathaniel was murdered? Investigators will look into how, if the attackers came from Pakistan, they managed to infiltrate 250 kilometers inside the Line of Control? The inquiry will also address how the attackers easily escaped despite the presence of Indian Army checkpoints everywhere? Lastly, the crucial question will be based on what evidence India determined to blame Pakistan for this attack.
Once these questions are answered, all lies of the Indian government and Indian Army will be exposed. This is precisely why India is evading a neutral investigation into this attack. By issuing threats of military action against Pakistan, it is desperately attempting to divert attention from the inquiry. Indian media and extremist elements have already created a war euphoria. Indian government and military must be mindful of the fact that Pakistan is a powerful nation equipped with state-of-the-art conventional weaponry and nuclear capabilities. An Indian misadventure is destined to culminate in detrimental damage.
The writer is Controller News at 365 News and can be reached at [email protected]