PAKISTAN'S PROXY WAR IN BANGLADESH: A FLAWED THREAT BY A FAILING STATE

Recently, a provocative video featuring a Pakistani political figure began circulating, issuing a blatant "war threat." The claim was as audacious as it was absurd: that Pakistan would back the interim government in Bangladesh with "full force" if India intervened. As a Kashmiri who has lived through the fire and shadow of Pakistan’s state-sponsored cross-border terrorism for decades, I find this statement not just delusional but a desperate, gasping attempt by a failing state to retain relevance in a South Asia that has moved far beyond its medieval tactics.

It is the ultimate irony of our times that a country currently on its knees—choking under the weight of a bankrupt economy, fractured by internal civil unrest and surviving solely on the crumbs of foreign bailouts—is issuing war threats to the world’s fifth-largest economy. Pakistan, identified by every major global intelligence agency as the "Nursery of Global Jihad," now attempts to masquerade as a guardian of regional sovereignty.

To the world, Pakistan is a cautionary tale of what happens when a military-industrial complex hijacks a nation’s destiny. For a leader from such a nation to speak of "supporting" a neighbour is like a pyromaniac offering to lead the fire department. While their own citizens stand in miles-long queues for a single bag of flour, their leadership remains obsessed with the map of their neighbours, proving once again that the Pakistani establishment cares more about Indian territory than Pakistani lives.

Pakistan’s history is not one of state-building but of state-breaking. From the tribal invasions of Kashmir in 1947, where they sent raiders to rape and pillage the very people they claimed to "liberate," to the horrific genocide of three million Bengalis in 1971, the record is consistent: blood, betrayal and tactical failure.

In 1971, the Pakistani military establishment committed unspeakable atrocities against their own people in East Pakistan. They targeted intellectuals, students and minorities in a desperate bid to crush the spirit of a people who simply wanted their democratic rights. Today, by claiming to support a "new" Bangladesh, Pakistan is attempting to gaslight history itself. They expect the world to forget the 93,000 soldiers who surrendered in Dhaka—the largest surrender of troops since World War II. That surrender wasn't just a military defeat; it was the ultimate moral bankruptcy of the "Two-Nation Theory."

The recent political upheaval in Bangladesh has created a temporary vacuum and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is salivating at the prospect of regaining "strategic depth." For years, the secular government in Dhaka had successfully neutralized the terror modules that Pakistan tried to plant on India’s eastern flank. Now, with the rise of radicalized elements and the tragic reports of targeted violence against Hindu minorities, the signature of the "Janus-faced" state is visible once again.

Pakistan’s intent is transparent: to destabilize India’s borders from both sides. Having been decisively neutralized in the West, they are looking for a back door in the East. But they fail to realize that India in 2025 is not the India of the 20th century. We are a global strategic power with a military doctrine that no longer waits for the enemy to cross the gate; we strike at the source.

As a Kashmiri, I recognize this pattern because my people were the primary victims of it for thirty years. It begins with "moral and diplomatic support," which quickly turns into the infiltration of radicalized clerics, followed by the smuggling of small arms and finally, the deployment of brainwashed suicide bombers.

For decades, Pakistan sold a dream of "Azaadi" to Kashmiri youth while their own country was turning into a nightmare of radicalism and poverty. They used my home as a laboratory for their "thousand cuts" policy. But that laboratory has been permanently shut down. Since the abrogation of Article 370, the narrative in the Valley has shifted from stones to start-ups, from shutdowns to cinema halls and from fear to flourishing tourism. Having lost the battle for hearts and minds in Kashmir, Pakistan is desperately trying to transplant its failed "proxy war" model to the streets of Dhaka.

Despite the periodic "crackdowns" staged to satisfy the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan remains intact. The very groups that have brought misery to India—Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and their various hydra-headed offshoots—continue to operate under the protection of the "Deep State."

Pakistan’s pivot toward Bangladesh is an attempt to give these groups a new lease on life. By encouraging extremist elements in Bangladesh, Pakistan is not helping the Bangladeshi people; it is turning their sovereign soil into a potential battlefield. They want to turn a developing nation into another "Grey Zone," much like they have done to their own border regions with Afghanistan.

While India explores the moon and builds world-class infrastructure, Pakistan’s primary export remains terror and its primary import is debt. The contrast could not be sharper. India’s "Neighbourhood First" policy is built on the pillars of connectivity, trade and mutual growth. Pakistan’s policy is built on the pillars of disruption and religious extremism.

The Pakistani leadership should realize that wars are not won by viral videos or hollow rhetoric; they are won by economic resilience and national character. A state that cannot pay its electricity bills should not be making threats about "full force" military interventions. Their military hardware is aging, their morale is at an all-time low due to internal political purges and their international standing is that of a pariah.

The people of Bangladesh must be wary of this "Greek Gift" from Islamabad. Pakistan’s "friendship" is a kiss of death. Look at what they did to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan or the Baloch people within their own borders. They use proxies as cannon fodder and discard them when the heat gets too high.

The regional stability of South Asia depends on the containment of the "Pakistani infection." India stands as a wall against this radicalism. From the heights of the Siachen Glacier to the maritime boundaries of the Bay of Bengal, the Indian state is prepared to defend its integrity. We do not seek conflict but we no longer tolerate the export of instability.

The era of India’s "strategic patience" is over. The hollow threats of men like Kamran Saeed Usmani are met not with fear but with a firm, silent resolve. To the instigators in Rawalpindi, know this: your "thousand cuts" failed to bleed India; instead, they have left your own nation scarred and broken.

We, the people of India,—from the newly empowered citizens of Jammu and Kashmir to the furthest corners of the Northeast—stand united. Pakistan is no longer a strategic competitor; it is a regional nuisance that the world is tired of humouring. The sun has set on Pakistan's era of proxy wars. It is time for them to look into the mirror and realize that the only threat to their existence is the poison they have spent seventy years brewing in their own backyard.