On April 22, 2025, a brutal terrorist crime disrupted the peace in Pahalgam, a town that was once famous for its serenity. What was a peaceful night for tourists soon turned into chaos. The brutal attack took 26 innocent lives—25 Indians and one Nepali tourist—leaving the country in shock. This was no act of random violence. Hashim Musa, a Pakistani-trained man from the elite Special Services Group (SSG), pulled the trigger. Musa wasn’t an ordinary terrorist, he had been an army soldier of Pakistan’s forces before taking up membership of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
This raid was terrorism—and then some, a harsh reminder that Pakistan’s military establishments tolerate terrorism not passively but quite actively.
Evening at Pahalgam started as usual. Travellers enjoyed the magnificence of snow-capped mountains and valleys full of flowers. There were honeymooners, devotees, and families, all in search of peace and calm. But that peace was short-lived. Terror outfit Resistance Front (TRF), which has close connections with Pakistan-based outfits, took responsibility for the attack.
In the wake, Indian intelligence discovered a chilling fact: Hashim Musa, the main attacker, was a former member of Pakistan’s top SSG. This clandestine unit is known for its stealthy and high-risk operations. This was not an impulsive act of violence. This was a military-grade operation, carried out with chilling precision.
Hand behind the trigger: Pakistan’s elite war machines
The Special Services Group (SSG) is not an ordinary fighting unit. It is Pakistan’s military pride. These agents—saboteurs, high-altitude fighters, and stealth masters—are meant to guard Pakistan’s borders. But they consistently cross those borders, entering India, training proxy terrorists, and conducting terror raids masquerading as local insurgencies.
This network is not in isolation. At its core is Pakistan’s infamous intelligence organization, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). For decades, ISI has funded, equipped, and harbored outfits such as LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and the Haqqani Network.
Rather than fighting extremism, ISI has militarized it, employing terrorism as an instrument of statecraft to advance Pakistan’s national interests at the cost of international stability.
Pattern of terror: Not an isolated incident
The Pahalgam attack is not singular. India has witnessed a harrowing pattern of attacks traced back to Pakistan’s military and intelligence outfits. SSG commandos infiltrated the Line of Control during the 1999 Kargil War, posing as militants. The 2008 Mumbai attacks, orchestrated by LeT with the backing of ISI, resulted in more than 160 fatalities.
The Uri attack of 2016, perpetrated by Pakistani terrorists, also attested to a grim reality: these attacks are not ad hoc. They are carefully planned and funded by Pakistan’s military and intelligence establishment.
In both instances, one incontrovertible factor is present: the direct action of Pakistan’s military or intelligence agencies. These are not “non-state actors” or so-called rogue elements. These are agents of mayhem operating with the active support or silent connivance of foreign policy-makers in Pakistan.
Global implications of Pakistan’s terror nexus
The global community has closed its eyes for years to Pakistan’s perilous double game. One day it says it fights terror; the next, it gives shelter to well-known radicals. This is its duplicity that hurts India, destabilises Afghanistan, and imperils Europe and even the US.
Why then does this hypocrisy persist? Pakistan knows how to use its geopolitical leverage. By acting as a go-between between China and the West, it walks a high-wire act on the international front while exporting terror at the same time. Until the international community wakes up, innocent blood will keep flowing.
Justice demands more than words
The Pahalgam massacre has to be an alarm call. An SSG-trained militant leaving no ambiguity of complicity whatsoever cannot be and the world can no longer entertain any denials on the part of Pakistan, not to mention devious deflection: the terrorist surrogates of Pakistan and its military forces are synonymous.
It is time for global institutions—like the UN, FATF, and regional alliances—to have real consequences. Uniformed perpetrators who enable terrorism need to be brought before international courts, barred from travel, and subject to financial penalties.
The Pahalgam tragedy is not only an Indian problem; it’s a world issue. If a state employs terrorism as a means to achieve an end, anyone can be unsafe anywhere.
Anything that has happened in Kashmir today can spread to Kabul, Paris, or New York tomorrow. Accountability starts with the truth. The truth is unequivocal and irrefutable: Pakistan’s SSG and ISI are complicit not only in terrorism, they are in the construction of a transnational network of terror. The network becomes bolder day by day.
