Beyond Indian Propaganda: Atrocities in IIOJK
This was again seen in the 22 April 2025 attack in Pahalgam, a town in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) as India tried to deflect its own failures onto Pakistan in its wrong direction shift policies. India attributed the attack to Pakistan without any solid proof and cited the incident to the Resistance Front (TRF), which is a local Kashmiri group. This was by no means the first era when India resorted to such propaganda to hide the fact that a resistance against its oppressive policies was growing more on the Kashmiri front.
Mere Claims and Conflicting Statements
Indian media as the Indian officials claimed that the TRF has conducted the attack; this was directly after the incident occurred and that the TRF has been sponsored by Pakistan conveniently. Pakistan however transparently denied these claims and said that it had nothing to do with it. TRF even refused to give the reactions but according to them they only attack Indian security personnel, not civilians. Nevertheless, this did not stop Indian media to repeat the same story and provide no concrete evidence to base their statement on.
Not only did Pakistan deny the allegations, but it also proposed an independent investigation by both the countries to find out the true culprits. India refused. Even more is that there was no international or any other country that supported the claim that India made. None of the states made an official accusation against the Pakistani government. Even the US State Department failed to mention Pakistan in their official statements and diplomatic notes concerning the Pahalgam incident and this shows that the Indian version was not supported by the world nations.
Moreover, India has a history of accusing Pakistan of whatever activity that goes against any act of resistance in IIOJK. The policy enables it to evade responsibility in respect to the violation of human rights perpetrated by its security and defense agencies. India tries to cover the truth about the cause of unrest in the whole world by guiding all local resistance groups as a Pakistani proxy since it does not want people to know it is occupying and oppressing the people of Kashmir.
TRF was established following the abrogation of Article 370 of the constitution of India in August 2019 and which had extended special status to the territory of Kashmir. The group is broadly interpreted as the local movement that came into existence due to the ever-growing oppression, surveillance, and violence conducted by Indian forces. TRF has always argued that their attacks are strictly on military facilities and there are no civilian killings taking place. Irrespective of their arguments, the Pakistan position is very clear; it does not sponsor or support terror at any level and it continues to fully support the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people as defined by the international law.
It is more than three months after the attack at Pahalgam and yet the Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA) has failed to figure out who were the actual criminals. This procrastination further indicates that India lacked any substantial grounds when it launched accusations against Pakistan right away.
Even the Indian officials have admitted to internal issues. Manoj Sinha, who is the Lieutenant Governor of IIOJK, stated that it was a case of bad intelligence and laxity on the part of local security forces that led to the attack. Nonetheless, the government made the decision alluding to the outside rather than taking ownership.
Pakistan has always said that it does not provide space to armed groups to work. It has been identified as a dedicated counter-terrorist member by the international partners. In June 2025, during a House Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington, General Michael Kurilla, the commander of the US CENTCOM forces offered compliments to Pakistan as a fabulous partner in fighting terrorists. These are the words that go against the Indian allegations.
As India implicates Pakistan in supporting such a group like TRF, it does not touch its own contacts with militant groups in other countries. One of the brightest illustrations is Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) which has been recently declared a terrorist organization by the United States. Despite this, India has been using the BLA to cause unrest in Pakistan. According to the Indian authorities, Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian Navy officer, was arrested in 2016 in Pakistan and admitted to collaborating with the BLA in the execution of attacks. In the more recent episode Jaffar Express hijacking in March 2025, the Indian media had aligned itself with the militant’s version by airing the spokesperson of the BLA. These activities demonstrate the hypocrisy on the part of India; on the one hand, it accuses the rest of the world of terrorism, but on the other it sponsors or facilitates groups already on the blacklist of the international society.
The media in India tends to be the mouth of government with false or exaggerated stories being fed to people in favor of the government. Particularly, Indian news networks fell into this trap of reporting that their government had fallen into inaccurate reporting, claiming that the United States had connected TRF with Pakistan, when no American official had ever stated such a thing. This was a calculated and intentioned vanity at deceiving local and international people. The terrorist act was condemned by all the countries including Pakistan itself, but no one stood on the allegation of India. In the same way, with Operation Sindoor, Indian media did allegations that Indian forces had attacked Karachi and Lahore harbors. This allegation was ridiculous, more so, Lahore is a landlocked city which could not even access the sea. These are instances of how the Indian media propagates false information to make the government seem right even when the evidence points to the contrary.
The primary factor of the conflict is not the interference of the foreign side but violence of India in IIOJK. Human rights watchdogs such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and even the United Nations have reported in details on the human rights violations in India in the region. These are extra judicial executions, forced disappearances, firing of pellet guns against peaceful demonstrators including children, mass arrests under draconian laws, media silence and internet shutdown. These measures have contributed to anger and despair among the Kashmiris and has seen many of them fight back. Such formations like TRF are an immediate consequence of Indian violence and not Pakistani assistance.
Even as there is mounting evidence of Indian repression, most powerful nations continue to keep silent with respect to India mainly due to their economic and strategic considerations. The UN Human Rights Office has reasserted frequently that gross violations were being committed in Kashmir. Not a lot has been done, however, to hold India accountable.
India must get out of its accusation and propaganda attitude and accept the reality. Kashmir conflict is not related to terrorism. Rather, it has to do with self-determination and freedom, justice, and human dignity. Accusing Pakistan or TRF cannot conceal the truth behind violence, i.e. Indian military occupation and agonies of millions of Kashmiri people on daily basis.
People of the world should speak up. Failure by the international community to speak out further will aggravate the situation. By making India answerable and facilitating a non-violent resolution that is founded on the desire of the Kashmiri people, it is the only way to ensure peaceful resolution.
Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this article are exclusively those of the author and do not reflect the official stance, policies, or perspectives of the Platform.
