NEW DELHI: India must persist in exposing Pakistan’s alleged links with terrorist organisations and its continued reliance on proxy warfare against neighbouring countries, as Islamabad has long escaped meaningful accountability due to international indifference, according to a recent report published in Eurasia Review.
The report argues that New Delhi should strengthen its counter-terrorism framework to tackle what it describes as Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, while also exploring non-kinetic measures alongside military responses to impose significant costs on Islamabad.
Writing in Eurasia Review, former army officer Nilesh Kunwar contended that global mechanisms meant to monitor and sanction terrorism lack effectiveness. He criticised the UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team under the UN Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee, describing it as largely reliant on inputs from member states without independent verification or enforcement powers.
Kunwar referred to the monitoring team’s 37th report, which, according to him, linked the Pakistan-based proscribed outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad to the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam attack and the November 9, 2025, Red Fort suicide car bombing. The report also mentioned the group’s announcement of a women-only wing, Jamaat-ul-Muminat, purportedly formed for global jihad activities.
However, Kunwar argued that the UN report stopped short of formally endorsing these findings, instead attributing the observations to a member state—implicitly India—thereby limiting their diplomatic weight. He maintained that while the monitoring mechanism lacks “teeth” and does not function as a strong deterrent, it nevertheless provides India with diplomatic leverage.
The article further claimed that Islamabad’s assertion that Jaish-e-Mohammad is “defunct” is contradicted by evidence cited by New Delhi. It also pointed to statements by former Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who had publicly acknowledged the presence of JeM chief Masood Azhar in Pakistan, even commenting on his health condition. This, the report said, undermines denials by Pakistan’s military media wing regarding Azhar’s whereabouts.
The article concludes that India needs to adopt a more assertive diplomatic strategy, including a “name and shame” approach, to highlight what it calls Pakistan’s continued use of terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy.
