Masters behind the curtain: The Sharif brothers and the machinery of bloodshed

India-Pakistan relations have long been marked by cycles of hope and betrayal, but few figures encapsulate this dangerous pattern more vividly than Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif. Over nearly a dozen years in power combined, the Sharif brothers have perfected a duality that has left India battered and betrayed: smiling faces at peace summits and bloodshed on the ground shortly after. Far from being victims of Pakistan’s notorious military establishment, the Sharifs have played an integral role in perpetuating an anti-India agenda — orchestrating and enabling a strategy of proxy warfare while hiding behind the facade of civilian diplomacy.

Nawaz Sharif and the betrayal of Lahore

In 1999, Nawaz appeared to script a moment of historic reconciliation. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s bus journey to Lahore and the subsequent Lahore Declaration were hailed as diplomatic breakthroughs. But the ink on that declaration hadn’t dried before Pakistani soldiers and militants under the direction of General Pervez Musharraf launched a covert invasion in Kargil. This act of aggression stunned India and the international community undermining the peace process and revealing the duplicity of Pakistan’s approach.

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Nawaz later claimed ignorance, suggesting the military had acted unilaterally. But this claim rings hollow. If true, it showcases his impotence. If false, it reveals complicity. Either way, the outcome was the same: trust shattered, lives lost and a peace initiative sacrificed at the altar of militaristic adventurism.

Modi’s outreach and the mirage of normalcy

Fast-forward to 2015. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took an unprecedented step by making a surprise visit to Lahore to meet Nawaz Sharif — a gesture of goodwill intended to thaw relations. It was a moment charged with potential, rich in symbolism. But barely days later, the Pathankot Air Force base was attacked by militants from Jaish-e-Mohammed, a group based in Pakistan.

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As always, Nawaz condemned the attack. As always, nothing changed. The same groups, the same networks, the same denials. Once again, India learned that behind every peace gesture from Islamabad was a waiting dagger. It was the Lahore-Kargil script all over again, this time performed with new actors and targets.

Uri attack and India’s shift in posture

In 2016, Indian soldiers were killed in their sleep during a predawn raid on an army base in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir. The attackers were linked to Pakistan-based terror outfits. This time, however, India responded differently — conducting surgical strikes across the Line of Control. It was a turning point, signalling India’s refusal to distinguish between Pakistan’s military and civilian establishments when it came to state-sponsored terror.

Nawaz, then nearing the end of his third term, found himself diplomatically isolated. His government’s inability or unwillingness to dismantle terror infrastructure was no longer seen as a matter of political weakness — it was seen as a policy choice.

Shehbaz Sharif: A familiar script, more blood

Inheriting this strategy of covert aggression was Nawaz’s brother, Shehbaz Sharif. During his tenure as prime minister from April 2022 to August 2023, and again from March 2024 onwards, the narrative of duplicity deepened. His time in office has been stained by some of the most gruesome terrorist attacks on Indian soil in recent years.

On New Year’s Day 2023, gunmen stormed homes in Rajouri district, shot civilians at close range and planted explosives to inflict more damage. This was done by marking homes based on the religious identities of occupants. Hindus were targeted. Again, the TRF was suspected. The sheer brutality of the attack, targeting women and children, pointed to a re-escalation of communal and cross-border militancy.

Then, in June 2024, militants armed with American-made M4 carbines — weapons used by Pakistani Special Forces — launched an ambush in Reasi. While the TRF initially claimed responsibility and later retracted, Indian intelligence was unequivocal: the operation had the signature of state involvement. Once again, the hand of the Sharif establishment — veiled behind denials — loomed large.

The most devastating came in April 2025. In Pahalgam’s tourist-frequented Baisaran Valley, militants opened fire on unarmed civilians, killing 28 and injuring dozens. Several of the attackers were identified as Pakistani nationals. TRF justified the massacre by citing “demographic changes” — echoing Islamabad’s rhetoric on Kashmir. The symbolism was deliberate: to internationalise the Kashmir issue, inject fear and challenge India’s sovereignty.

Monsters behind the mask: The Sharifs’ strategic duplicity

The Sharif brothers have long positioned themselves as moderate, civilian voices within Pakistan’s power matrix. But this is a carefully cultivated myth. In reality, both men have functioned as willing participants — and at times, frontmen — of Pakistan’s deep state. Their peace overtures are never followed by policy reform. Terror groups continue to operate freely, rebrand, recruit and rearm under their watch.

This isn’t passive governance. It is active complicity. Their diplomacy is not aimed at building bridges, but buying time. Every handshake is a setup. Every summit a staging ground. Behind their smiles are strategic calculations aimed at keeping Kashmir inflamed, India on the defensive and global attention skewed.

Civil-military divide: A convenient myth

International observers often romanticise the civil-military divide in Pakistan, portraying figures like Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif as helpless idealists restrained by khaki-clad hawks. But this notion falls apart under scrutiny. While turf wars over power and control have indeed played out between the Sharifs and military generals, when it comes to Kashmir and India, the unity of purpose has been striking.

The military provides the guns, the Sharifs provide the global stage. The ISI trains, arms and directs terrorists. The Sharifs offer denials and diversions at press conferences and through statements. This seamless handoff between battlefield and boardroom makes Pakistan’s foreign policy under their rule not fractured, but frighteningly coherent.

Diplomatic fraud as State policy

The most dangerous legacy of the Sharif brothers is the normalisation of deception as state policy. Their approach has turned peace processes into booby-trapped rituals. From Kargil to Pahalgam, each diplomatic initiative has served as prelude to a bloodbath. These are not tragic coincidences, they are rehearsed betrayals.

India’s repeated attempts to engage — driven by democratic norms and regional stability — have been met not with reciprocation, but retaliation. The Sharifs’ Pakistan doesn’t negotiate in good faith. It negotiates in bad faith, with pre-planned fallback options involving Kalashnikovs and suicide vests.

Twelve years of treachery

Together, Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif have governed Pakistan for nearly 12 years. Their cumulative tenure has left behind not a trail of peace, but a scorched-earth legacy of sabotage, bloodshed and strategic deceit. Instead of dismantling the machinery of terror, they have ensured its survival and evolution. New names have emerged — TRF, People’s Anti-Fascist Front — but the ideology, funding and safe havens remain unchanged.

India, once hopeful of civilian engagement, now approaches every Sharif regime with hardened scepticism. And rightfully so. The legacy of these two men is not written in treaties or summits, but in the names of those who died at Rajouri, Reasi, Uri, Pathankot, Pahalgam — victims of a diplomacy that was never meant to succeed.

Never again fooled

The myth of the Sharifs as peacemakers must be retired permanently. They have not been architects of dialogue but engineers of deceit. The blood that has soaked Indian soil over the years has come not just from the barrels of terrorist guns but from the boardrooms of Pakistani power, where monsters masquerade as moderates and every olive branch hides a blade.

India must remember the cost of misplaced trust — and refuse to be fooled again.