World is turning a blind eye to Pakistan terror. US is Dhritarashtra, China Gandhari

The Print

19-05-2025

The world needs to understand in no uncertain terms that Pakistan is a rogue nation born of terror. It lives by the promotion of terrorism and is in existence purely to extend the goals of terrorists. It is unfortunate that in the seven decades since its birth, Pakistan has successfully duped the global radar and gone undetected as a terror-sponsoring state.
During the 77 years of terror unleashed by Pakistan in the Kashmir region, the world has similarly chosen to turn a blind eye to the country's actions of sponsoring terrorism. And the consequences have been laid bare for all to see.
In a heart-wrenching scene from the Mahabharata, when Draupadi is dragged into the sabha by Dushasan, she pleads with the elders to intervene. Everyone in the assembly hall turns a blind eye, like the sightless King Dhritarashtra and his blindfolded wife Gandhari, who chose to ignore the vile actions of their sons.
India's pleas have fallen on deaf ears, which has been detrimental to India's aspirations for peace. It is only after being pushed to the wall that India has finalised a plan under PM Modi's 'New Normal'. It is now determined to give a 'befitting response'. India will no longer tolerate 'nuclear blackmail' or 'differentiate between the government sponsoring terror and the masterminds'.
Leopard's spots
Geopolitical considerations and regional interests have kept Pakistan in the good books of the Western powers. During the Cold War and the Afghanistan unrest, for instance, Pakistan provided the US with strategic support and access to its ports and naval bases, keeping Washington in the game. Therefore, the US was reluctant to condemn Pakistan outright and label it a nation sympathetic to terror. It was only when clear evidence pointed to Pakistan harbouring the 9/11 perpetrator, Osama bin Laden, that the US actually woke up and 'smelled the coffee'.
The Trump administration recently appointed Ismail Royer, a convicted terrorist with links to Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, a pro-jihad scholar, to the White House Advisory Board. Trump is choosing the Dhritarashtra path. If he continues to blatantly disregard the long shadow of terror, these very jihadists will one day create havoc in the US, as it has done in the past.
Osama bin Laden and the murder of Daniel Pearl have been forgotten too soon. The day Royer and Yusuf were appointed to the board, there was an 'act of terrorism' in California.
Pakistan has successfully stayed off the list of terror watch dogs such as the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), Maryland. The GTD, which records terrorist attacks, including those by organisations operating on Pakistani soil, does not designate Islamabad as a sponsor of terror. The Financial Action Task Force placed Pakistan on its grey list for money laundering and terror funding in 2018, but in 2022, removed the country from the list after an attempt to whitewash its activities.
A leopard can't change its spots. The UNSC's Counter Terrorism Committee is a toothless tiger today, a useless appendage of an increasingly irrelevant organisation that does not have the gumption to address terror in black-and-white terms. The South Asian Terror Portal and the RAND are more strident in calling out Pakistan's terror connections, but these organisations also stop short of designating Pakistan as a rogue nation sponsoring terrorism.
It is the Big Five in both the UNSC and the Five Eyes Alliance that need to take a strong stand on Pakistan. The country is doling out Rs 14 crore to Masood Azhar, a designated terrorist, using tax collected from citizens. Allowing it to be bailed out with IMF funds seems to be a reward for the Pahalgam attack.
How was Pakistan even allowed to develop its nuclear capacities when NATO and the Western powers were fully aware that the country never consistently had a stable, democratically elected government? There is no rocket science involved in reading between the lines.
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A successful narrative
Pakistan has successfully spun a story to the world. By cosying up to Western media, it has consistently created an anti-India narrative. British political commentator David Vance has called Western media 'absolutely atrocious and biased in favour of Pakistan', accusing it of ignoring India's legitimate security concerns.
Pakistan has permeated global think tanks such as Chatham House, where a recent article by academician Farzana Shaikh spoke about 'India's frustrated attempts to 'marginalize' Pakistan internationally'.
'India announced – without evidence – that the gunmen had 'cross-border' links to Pakistan and threatened retaliation,' she wrote.
What more evidence does India need, beyond the pictures of Masood Azhar's family members being given a state burial and globally designated terrorist, Hafiz Abdul Rauf, officiating the funeral services?
Turkey's national channel TRT gave a platform to Pakistani Nasir Qadri, who has been pushing the Islamic Brotherhood and Jamaat-e-Islami narrative that India and Israel share a strategic alliance. This completely ignores the fact that India established diplomatic relations with Israel only in 1992. Prior to this, New Delhi was close to Palestine through the Non-Aligned Movement.
According to geoeconomics researcher Prem Mahadevan, India's discourse has not resonated abroad as it conforms to 'vague global norms' of decency and humanitarianism rather than 'adherence to specific national interest', which is better understood by foreign governments. Pakistan does not make the same mistake regarding its international rhetoric with respect to Kashmir.
The Islamic card
Pakistan has always tried to play the Islamic card and gain sympathy from the Islamic Brotherhood. On the global stage, it portrays Kashmiri Muslims as victims and spins the narrative of Hindu majority oppression. This ploy has drastically backfired in the current scenario. No longer are sensible, progressive Islamic leaders buying into Pakistan's story like the blind Dhritarashtra.
The Pahalgam attack was a barbaric assault on tourists in the name of religion. No sensible Islamic state wishes to soil its hands with the blood of innocents. King Abdullah II of Jordan condemned the 'ghastly terror attack' at Pahalgam and insisted that there can be no justification for terrorism. Saudi Arabia also strongly condemned the attack and reiterated its firm stance against all forms of violence, extremism, and the targeting of civilians. At the same time, an Iranian delegation touched down in New Delhi, and Pahalgam was on the agenda.
Pakistan's jihadist agenda is also apparent in an August 2024 YouTube video posted by New Zealand travel vlogger Karl Rock, who travelled extensively through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir on his motorbike. At one point, en route to Gilgit, he encounters a couple of young boys collecting funds for a local madrasa. He is repeatedly asked to recite the kalma, and the boys, not older than 11, aggressively assert that Rock should embrace Islam as it is a better philosophy.
The incident has eerie echoes in the terrorists' demand that Hindu men recite the kalma in Pahalgam before they slaughtered them. Neither Saudi Arabia nor Iran, and not even Afghanistan, wishes to be associated with this radical form of Islamic propaganda. After Pahalgam, Taliban-led Afghanistan also made overtures of support to India with its strong condemnation of terror.
The world needs to remember that India is home to over 21 crore muslims, not far behind Pakistan's 23 crore. It is the only secular nation in the world to house such a large Muslim population.
Also read: Bangladeshi nationals are joining terrorist ranks. Bigger problem is the culture of denial
Turkey and China
Turkey, China, and Azerbaijan are the countries that have chosen to stand in open solidarity with Pakistan. China's reasons are clear as the day—it seeks a geopolitical alliance partner in the region for its dominance. Rock's YouTube video shows a highly developed Karakoram Highway, also known as the China-Pakistan Friendship Highway, funded with Chinese Yuan and dotted with Chinese signs. China's Gandhari–style blindness to Pakistan's terrorism will cost it dearly, as the country has been cracking down on the Uyghurs, Turkics, and Kazhaks in the Muslim–dominated Xinjiang Autonomous Region. It is only a matter of time before China faces a backlash from the snakes it is protecting in Pakistan.
Under President Erdoğan, Turkey has its own axe to grind. It wants to reassert itself as a leader in the Muslim world. Supporting Pakistan helps Ankara in two ways. First, it allows Turkey to position itself as a mediator or moral voice on issues affecting Muslims, including Kashmir. Second, building a bloc with Malaysia and Pakistan helps counterbalance the Saudi and UAE–led axis.
At Pakistan's behest, Turkey has often raised the Kashmir issue at international forums, echoing Pakistan's stance. This bolsters its credentials and helps leverage its influence in the Islamic Brotherhood. Pakistan also offers a market to Turkish military equipment, such as the drones used against India. Where Turkey goes, Azerbaijan follows.
The IMF saga
Last week, I wrote about how Pakistan is likely to use the IMF's unconditional bailout to further fund anti-India activities and sponsor terrorism. Better sense seems to have prevailed. Rather than turning a blind eye to injustice like Dhritarashtra, the IMF has imposed 11 new conditions to strictly monitor the loan disbursed to Pakistan. These include a Governance Action Plan aligned with IMF expectations, debt surcharge cap removal, and most relevant, the imposition of an Agricultural Income Tax, which will shake up Pakistan's highly feudal and agriculture-based economy. These fiscal reforms are expected to shake up the complacency of Pakistani leaders and ensure that IMF funds are not diverted to sponsor terror.
It is pertinent to recall Vidur's words from the Mahabharata: 'None so blind as he who refuses to see, and none so deaf as he who refuses to listen. They do not know the fate that is in store for them.'
If the world continues to ignore Pakistan's actions, no god will be able to save it from what will follow.
Meenakshi Lekhi is a BJP leader, lawyer and social activist. Her X handle is @M_Lekhi. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)