However, the statements that have emanated out of responsible establishment figures and the almost hysterical and jingoistic discourse in our media make India a convenient whipping boy. Zia-ul Haq is credited with evolving the leed India with a thousand cutspolicy and operationalising it with Punjab as the target in the late 0s and early 0s, it was taken to the next level by the powerful director-general of the ISI the late Hamid Gul.Gul led the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) in 1987-1989 and laid the foundations of the violence that hit the Kashmir Valley in the 0s. Does it suggest a shift in the Pakistani deep state basic philosophy of how it would now use the network of its semi-state actors.

There are two fundamental impulses that drive the Pakistani strategy of bleeding India with a thousand cuts. For the entire high-decibel rhetoric that has been emanating out of India qua the situation in Balochistan, India does not believe in fomenting terror; it is not a part of the intrinsic DNA of the Indian state.

At a recent conference on regional security in South Asia, a Pakistani official made a rather startling remark: ven if you resolve Kashmir, it does not mean terrorism would stop The comment if it reflects more than an individual opinion is pregnant with meaning for its sheer portentousness.What has then changed Is it that the publicly-acknowledged operations along the LoC on September 29 is making the Pakistanis drop the pretence of Kashmir being the alibi for their depredations How should India respond to such a situation There is no difficulty with a tit-for-tat, however intrinsic being the risk of uncalibrated escalation that may come about due to situations that may have nothing to do with India but can become a trigger.

India or its instrumentalities would have had nothing to do with the attack. There were a host of unemployed fighters from the days of the Afghan jihad Custom Light Box letter Signs Manufacturers against the erstwhile Soviet Union who needed to be redeployed for their presence in Pakistan was creating problems for social stability within that country and thus Kashmir became the cause of choice.Earlier too on August 8, the chief minister of the provincial government of Balochistan, Sanaullah Zehri, was quick to blame India for a bomb blast in a Quetta hospital that killed 93 people even before the police could say who was responsible for that horrific attack.While Gen. Subsequently, Pakistan stepped up the scale of its operations and brought the proxy war to the Indian mainland by the turn of the millennium. Sher Afghan informed the press that the attackers acted on directions from Afghanistan and the initial investigation suggests the terrorists were affiliated with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al Almi, a terror group known to be supported by the Research and Analysis Wing, India external intelligence agency. Gen. However, Kashmir continued to remain the permanent excuse.For instance, the attack on the police academy outside Quetta on October 25 in the restive province of Balochistan. Inspector-general of Frontier Corps Maj. The first is revenge for the humiliation of Bangladesh and the second is Kashmir. Quetta is also where the Taliban Shura is based.From 1990 onwards, Pakistan has perpetrated this myth that Indian oppression in Kashmir was motivating young men to wage a proxy war in India.