Pakistan slams Indian propaganda over Pahalgam attack

ISLAMABAD: A suspected attack on tourists in the Pahalgam area of Indian illegally occupied Kashmir on Tuesday afternoon has once again fuelled suspicions of India orchestrating false flag operations, with senior Pakistani officials and analysts rejecting Indian media’s attempts to link the incident to Pakistan.

Security sources said Indian media wasted no time in launching a smear campaign against Pakistan following the incident, using the religious identity of the victims to project the attack as targeting non-Muslim tourists — a narrative Pakistan termed “fabricated and misleading.”

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif categorically denied any Pakistani involvement in the attack. “Pakistan has nothing to do with the Pahalgam incident,” he said.

He added that India was trying to divert global attention from ongoing unrest across several of its states, including Nagaland, Chhattisgarh, and Manipur.

He accused India of oppressing minorities and fuelling domestic insurgencies, while continuing to blame Pakistan for internal failures.

“We don’t support terrorism anywhere. Innocent civilians must not become victims of such conflicts,” he said.

“Levelling accusations against Pakistan is convenient for India, but we have already provided evidence of Indian involvement in terrorist activities, especially in Balochistan.”

Former ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani called the Indian media campaign “baseless propaganda,” saying such attacks often coincide with the visits of foreign dignitaries to India.

It should be noted here that the Kahalgam attack comes a day after Indian prime minister Narendra Modi met with US Vice President JD Vance, who is on a four-day tour of India with his wife Usha and children.

“It’s a familiar tactic used to shift focus from the deteriorating situation in occupied Kashmir,” Jilani said, stressing that India’s intelligence agencies have a history of staging such incidents.

Additionally, Brigadier (retd) Haris Nawaz said, “This is a typical false flag operation by India. Tourists were deliberately targeted to malign Pakistan. India must abandon such dangerous practices.”

Other analysts, including Abid Latif, Maj Gen (retd) Zahid Mehmood and security expert Syed Muhammad Ali, echoed similar views, saying that false flag operations have become routine for India when attempting to deflect attention from human rights abuses in Kashmir.

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“Whenever high-profile guests are expected in India; these types of incidents conveniently occur. It is the media’s duty to expose these realities to both the world and the public,” said Ali.