Exclusive Analysis: Pak tried to trigger communal tensions but Indians foiled plan by seeing through their evil design: Gen Bakshi
Major General (Retd.) G.D. Bakshi has alleged that Pakistan’s strategy behind recent terror attacks is to incite communal unrest in India by selectively targeting victims based on their religion. Referring to the terror attacks in Pahalgam and Kulgam, the former Army officer said the objective was to provoke retaliatory violence, disrupt peace in Jammu and Kashmir, and damage the region’s economy by hurting tourism. However, Indians saw through Islamabad’s evil designs and maintained peace. In an interview with IANS, Maj Gen Bakshi said, “The message they were trying to convey in Pahalgam. What they were trying to do in Pahalgam was as per a very ulterior design of the ISI sanctioned by Field Marshal Asim Munir. He ordered them to ask the people their religion before shooting them, so that riots start in India against the Kashmiris, against the Muslims. He aims to instigate riots and anger in India by selective killing based upon religion, so that you create religious riots in India. You create riots against the Kashmiri people who will be singled out for such retaliatory attacks in India; that was their hope.”
He, however, said that the alleged strategy did not succeed because people across the country understood the intent behind the attacks. “However, the Indian people showed tremendous intelligence in seeing through this design and the Kashmiri people understood that this was to try and get them murdered, to stop the tourism, economic gain that they get from tourism. So many livelihoods in J&K are dependent upon tourism. That is what they (Pakistan) were trying to stop,” he said. The retired Army officer also warned that Pakistan should not assume that India’s military response had ended with Operation Sindoor.
Key Takeaways
- Strategic Indian defense modernization.
- Technology induction and operational readiness.