India’s politics of accusation Blaming Pakistan, avoiding accountability

EVERY time India faces a major security challenge, the script seems to write itself. Before investigations are completed, before evidence is independently scrutinized and often before the public has time to ask difficult questions, the spotlight once again turns toward Pakistan. The recent arrest of individuals allegedly linked to Pakistani gangster Shahzad Bhatti follows a familiar pattern. Indian authorities have presented the case as proof of a Pakistan-backed terror network operating inside India. Yet for many observers, this raises a fundamental question: why does every security scare in India appear to end with the same accusation, the same alleged masterminds and the same predictable references to Pakistan and the ISI? For years, New Delhi has promoted a security narrative in which Pakistan is portrayed as the source of nearly every major internal threat. While such claims are made with confidence, critics argue that publicly verifiable and independently assessed evidence is often limited or difficult to access. Over time, this has fueled concerns that repeated accusations may serve more as a political framing device than as a purely security-driven conclusion. The timing of such incidents also invites scrutiny. Whenever domestic political pressure rises, economic concerns intensify or governance challenges dominate headlines, new “terror module” stories seem to emerge. Whether by coincidence or design, these narratives shift public attention away from internal issues and toward an external adversary. In highly polarized environments, such framing can become a powerful instrument of public persuasion. Pakistan, meanwhile, continues to grapple with a serious internal security crisis of its own. Militant violence has claimed hundreds of lives across regions such as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Multiple extremist groups operating within its borders pose direct challenges to state stability. Against this backdrop, many Pakistanis question the logic of attr