The Familiar Blueprint: Pakistan, Proxies, And Decades Of Terror In India

News18

10-05-2025

Last Updated:
The masks may vary, but the machinery hasn't. From LeT to TRF, Pakistan's proxy war on India has thrived on deniability, ISI backing, and decades of impunity
For over three decades, India has endured a relentless campaign of cross-border terrorism, with Pakistan-based terror groups launching some of the deadliest attacks on civilians and security forces alike. The April 22 massacre in Pahalgam, where 26 civilians were gunned down, is the latest in a long line of such assaults — each marked by the same familiar blueprint: jihadist proxies, ISI backing, and safe havens across the border. From the 1993 Mumbai bombings to Pulwama and now Pahalgam, the arc of Pakistan-sponsored terror remains unchanged — brutal, ideological, and calculated.
Below is a detailed timeline of major attacks carried out by Pakistan-based terror outfits — many with proven operational or logistical support from Pakistani intelligence agencies.
March 12, 1993 – Bombay Serial Bomb Blasts
A meticulously planned series of 12 bomb blasts tore through India's financial capital, killing over 250 people and injuring more than 700. The attacks were carried out by the D-Company network led by Dawood Ibrahim. According to reports, this was the first time RDX was used to make bombs in the country.
While the original plan was to conduct serial bomb blasts in April 1993, on the occasion of Shiv Jayanti, later the date of the bombing was revised following the arrest of Gul Mohammad Sheikh alias Gullu on March 9 by Mumbai Police for rioting, as per a News18 report.
India's CBI investigations, testimonies of arrested operatives, and intelligence intercepts pointed to direct assistance from Pakistan's ISI, which allegedly facilitated the training of the bombers in explosives and logistics in Karachi. In 2006, the TADA court convicted Yakub Memon and others, noting clear foreign support.
December 13, 2001 – Indian Parliament Attack
The attackers belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed — both Pakistan-based. One assailant wore a suicide vest, which detonated after being shot, resulting in his death. The remaining four were also killed during the attack by security forces.
The investigation fell under the jurisdiction of the Delhi Police's anti-terror squad, the Special Cell, established in 1986 to prevent, identify, and investigate terrorist incidents. Mohammad Afzal Guru and his cousin Shaukat Hussain Guru emerged as the prime suspects, along with Hussain's wife Afsan Guru, and S A R Geelani, an Arabic lecturer at Delhi University.
Afzal Guru, a former Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) militant, faced the death penalty and was subsequently hanged in Tihar Jail in 2013.
July 11, 2006 – Mumbai Train Bombings
Seven RDX-laden bombs exploded on Mumbai's suburban railway network within 11 minutes, killing nearly 200 and injuring over 700. The attack targeted India's middle-class commuters during rush hour.
Investigations revealed the involvement of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), with key planners receiving training in Pakistan. Maharashtra ATS and Mumbai Police traced funding and communication links to LeT handlers in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The bombs were assembled in a flat in Mumbai's Govandi area using RDX smuggled via Gujarat and ammonium nitrate procured locally. They were packed inside pressure cookers and planted in first-class compartments across the Western Railway line. In 2015, after a prolonged trial, a special MCOCA court convicted 12 accused — five were sentenced to death and seven to life imprisonment. The court acknowledged the cross-border dimension of the conspiracy, noting that the planning and training occurred in Pakistan with logistical support from ISI-linked LeT operatives.
November 26–29, 2008 – 26/11 Mumbai Attacks
Perhaps the most defining instance of cross-border terrorism in modern Indian history, ten Pakistani nationals trained by LeT landed on Mumbai's shores via sea and unleashed a 60-hour siege that killed 166 people, including six Americans.
The lone captured terrorist, Ajmal Kasab, confessed during trial to being trained at a LeT camp near Muridke in Pakistan. Investigators uncovered GPS data, intercepts, and financial trails. David Headley, a Pakistani-American involved in the reconnaissance, confirmed ISI's involvement in coordinating the attacks alongside LeT.
The attacks targeted iconic sites including the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, CST railway station, and Nariman House. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the FBI jointly established that the attackers were in real-time contact with handlers in Karachi who monitored the siege through satellite phones and VoIP calls. Despite India handing over multiple dossiers to Islamabad with detailed evidence, Pakistan denied state complicity, further straining diplomatic ties and stalling bilateral talks for years.
January 2, 2016 – Pathankot Airbase Attack
Four heavily armed JeM terrorists breached the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, Punjab, killing 7 security personnel. The gunmen were traced back to Pakistan through recovered call records and a Pakistani phone number.
The Indian government shared a 90-page dossier with Islamabad. Although Pakistan sent a Joint Investigation Team (JIT), its final report exonerated JeM, calling the attack 'stage-managed," despite overwhelming forensic and telecom evidence.
September 18, 2016 – Uri Army Base Attack
In one of the deadliest attacks on Indian armed forces, terrorists linked to the Jaish-e-Mohammed attacked an Army base, a brigade HQ, in fact, near the town of Uri in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district, killing 19 Indian soldiers and injuring 30 others.
British broadcaster the BBC called it 'the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir in two decades'. This was during a time when terrorist activity was extremely high in the Valley. The terror attack led to a six-hour gun battle in which all four terrorists were killed.
The infiltration route, weapons, and food packets bore Pakistani markings. The attack prompted India's first publicly acknowledged surgical strike across the LoC, targeting terror launchpads. Pakistan denied casualties but restricted media access to the region post-strikes.
February 14, 2019 – Pulwama Suicide Bombing
A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, killing 40 jawans. JeM released a video of the attacker, Adil Ahmad Dar, claiming responsibility.
India traced the vehicle, explosives, and radicalisation back to JeM modules. The Ministry of External Affairs produced dossiers proving Pakistan-based JeM's involvement. In response, India carried out airstrikes in Balakot — targeting JeM's largest known training facility.
April 22, 2025 – Pahalgam Massacre
The most recent attack targeted civilians — a rare and chilling shift. Armed militants opened fire on tourists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, killing 26, most of them Hindus. Eyewitnesses and survivor accounts reported that the terrorists checked the victims' religion and asked them to recite the kalima before executing them.
The NIA revealed on Wednesday—the same day when India carried out airstrikes on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in response to the Pahalgam massacre—that a 50-year-old Kashmiri and head of Lashkar-e-Taiba proxy The Resistance Front (TRF) who goes by the name Sheikh Sajjad Gul, was the mastermind of the April 22 killings.
Holed up in the Cantonment town of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, under the patronage of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Gul, who also goes by the alias of Sajjad Ahmed Sheikh, has been a planner of a number of terror attacks, including targeted killings between 2020 and 2024 in Central and South Kashmir, grenade attacks in Central Kashmir in 2023, ambush of J&K police personnel in Bijbehara in Anantnag, Gagangir, Z-Morh Tunnel attack in Ganderbal.
Patterns and Policy Consequences
Across three decades, a consistent pattern emerges:
Terror infrastructure protected inside Pakistan
Operational support and planning by ISI
Use of 'non-state actors" to deny formal culpability
Token or delayed action by Pakistan's civilian leadership
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Each attack has deepened public anger, strained diplomacy, and, in recent years, triggered calibrated military responses from India. In retaliation for the Pahalgam massacre, India launched Operation Sindoor, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Pakistan responded with missile strikes on Indian military installations, pushing the region to the brink of open conflict.
While tensions have since eased following a ceasefire announced on Saturday evening, the episode underscored how Pakistan-backed terrorism continues to endanger regional stability — and how swiftly proxy violence can spiral into near-conventional warfare.
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tags :
26/11 Mumbai attacks cross-border terrorism Pahalgam attack Pakistan ISI
Location :
New Delhi, India, India
First Published:
May 10, 2025, 20:34 IST
News india The Familiar Blueprint: Pakistan, Proxies, And Decades Of Terror In India