Pakistan Fuels Jihad In Kashmir While Its Own Backyard Burns – OpEd

Last week, on February 5, Pakistan marked Kashmir Solidarity Day– a calendar event that serves as a thin veil for nefarious propaganda to be spewed to garner some ounce of support for terrorist activity.

This time around, too, the country’s state machinery in Rawalpindi and Islamabad indulged in the same tired rhetoric: that Pakistan will one day take control of Jammu and Kashmir. However, beyond those hollow claims is a stark reality– Pakistan itself is in freefall as it reaps the fruits of terrorism it sowed, faces economic collapse, and growing international isolation.

For tens of years now, Pakistan has nurtured jihadist groups. The nation’s machinery functioned under the delusion that these could be wielded as strategic tools to undermine India its neighbours like India. That delusion is now crumbling.

The very extremists once funded, trained, and armed by the Pakistani establishment are turning against their former patron, wreaking havoc within Pakistan’s borders. The country still remains adamant, choosing to fuel the flames of jihad in Kashmir instead of reassessing its failing policies that have set its own house on fire.

The Jihad Factory: Pakistan’s Obsession with Kashmir

Since 2004, Kashmir Solidarity Day has served as a platform for Pakistan’s leaders– politicians, generals, and jihadists alike– to spew anti-India vitriol, reaffirming their commitment to the Islamist cause in Kashmir. This year, the rhetoric took an even more sinister turn.

On February 5, Anwar ul Haq, the so-called Prime Minister of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), openly called for jihad against India at a rally in Muzaffarabad. His speech, punctuated by chilling chants of “Al-Jihad, Al-Jihad,” left little room for misinterpretation. He brazenly declared that his administration would mobilize all available resources to remove what he described as “10 lakh Indian troops” from Jammu and Kashmir.

Haq’s speech, while not surprising given Pakistan’s history, was remarkable in one key aspect: his rally was attended by Hamas leaders, including Dr. Khalid Qaddoumi and JeM’s Talha Saif, the brother of Masood Azhar. The so-called “Kashmir Solidarity and Hamas Operation Al Aqsa Flood” conference was a clear testament to Pakistan’s new strategy– internationalizing jihad in Kashmir by co-opting pan-Islamic terrorist networks.

Pakistan’s Experiment Backfires

But even as Islamabad sponsors global jihadists to target India, Pakistan itself is collapsing under the weight of its own extremist policies. The country’s long-standing support for jihadist proxies has spectacularly backfired, and the very terrorists it once nurtured are now turning their guns on Pakistan’s military and government institutions.

January 2025 alone saw a 42 percent surge in terrorist attacks inside Pakistan. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) carried out suicide bombings and coordinated assaults, killing dozens. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have become hotbeds of insurgency, with militants launching 46 attacks in a single month, killing over 60 people.

In Frankenstinian fashion, the Pakistani military– once seen as the master puppeteer of jihad– is now a helpless spectator to the monster it created. The irony is unmistakable: while Hamas leaders were welcomed in PoK, Pakistan’s own mosques, police stations, and military outposts were being bombed by jihadists it once armed and trained.

Pakistan’s security forces are spread thin, battling homegrown insurgents even as they continue to obsess over destabilizing Kashmir. The security and safety of the Pakistani people is what suffers.

A Smokescreen for Domestic Collapse

Pakistan’s fixation with Kashmir is not just about territorial ambition– it is a desperate attempt to distract from its own unraveling. Islamabad and Rawalpindi, facing growing unrest within PoK itself, continued to incite anti-India sentiment to deflect from their own failings.

Yet, the situation in PoK is growing more volatile by the day. PoK residents are openly protesting against Pakistan’s military oppression, decrying economic hardships and forced disappearances. Recruitment for terror outfits in Kashmir has all but dried up, forcing Pakistan to rely on Punjabi jihadists and foreign mercenaries to continue its proxy war. Even its traditional allies in the West are losing patience. The United States and Europe are prioritizing counterterrorism over Pakistan’s Kashmir rhetoric, signaling a clear shift away from Islamabad’s tired narratives.

Pakistan’s Duplicity Exposed

Pakistan’s double game has never been more apparent. On one hand, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke of peace with India, urging New Delhi to “move past August 5, 2019″– the day Article 370 was revoked. On the other, his government actively patronized terrorist networks operating out of PoK.

But unlike in the past, Pakistan’s Kashmir propaganda no longer holds the same weight. The Modi government has made it clear: terrorism will be met with direct retaliation. The 2016 Surgical Strikes and the 2019 Balakot airstrikes set a new precedent in this regard.

New Delhi’s stance remains firm: “Talks and terror cannot go hand in hand.” And as Pakistan’s economy continues to collapse under inflation, a plunging rupee, and a floundering IMF bailout, its attempts to use Kashmir as a rallying cry ring increasingly hollow.

What Lies Ahead: The Road to Further Isolation

Pakistan’s attempts to stoke tensions in Kashmir are failing, and its global standing is eroding rapidly.

The United States no longer buys into Pakistan’s terror playbook. Washington’s 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan marked the end of its reliance on Pakistan, and today, Islamabad is no longer a priority in America’s strategic calculus.

China remains Pakistan’s only major backer, but even Beijing is growing wary of Pakistan’s instability. With the Baloch insurgency directly threatening Chinese investments under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Beijing’s patience is running thin.

The Arab world has deprioritized Pakistan in favor of stronger ties with India. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have increasingly aligned their economic and strategic interests with New Delhi, further isolating Islamabad.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Pakistan had gathered 80-100 foreign terrorists in PoK just last week, hoping to reignite militancy ahead of the summer infiltration season. But India is prepared, and any misadventure will invite swift retaliation.

Pakistan is no longer the puppet master– it is the puppet caught in the tangled web of its own making. By continuing to fuel jihad in Kashmir while its own nation teeters on the brink of collapse, Islamabad is waging a losing battle on multiple fronts. The world sees Pakistan for what it is: a failing state synonymous with jihadism, economic ruin, and military dictatorship.

The real question now is not whether Pakistan will ever take Kashmir—it won’t. The question is whether Pakistan can even hold itself together long enough to survive its own disastrous policies. And at this rate, the answer is far from certain.