Pakistan’s guilty conscience speaking? Rattled ex-president Alvi fears India may use aggressive option

Dr. Arif Alvi, the former Pakistani president, on Wednesday (April 23) “strongly condemned” what he described as a “tragic attack” in India’s Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Taking to X, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader said combating terrorism was a “shared responsibility” of the world and presented Pakistan as a victim of terrorism.

“Combating this scourge is a shared responsibility of the civilized world. Pakistan, having endured the devastating impact of terrorism for decades, continues to face it and fight it with resilience. We insist on peaceful resolution of all conflicts,” he wrote.

While he expressed his condolences to the families of the victims, he also warned India against “unjustly implicating Pakistan in this act”.

“Any attempt to unjustly implicate Pakistan in this act, or to exploit it for reckless escalation, will be met with the unified strength of our nation,” he added.

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No mention of Pakistan by Indian leadership yet

Interestingly, Arif Alvi’s warning against implicating Pakistan comes even as no Indian official or government representative has pointed fingers at Pakistan for the unfortunate incident.

But it’s not just Arif Alvi who expressed his ‘guilty conscience’ on the matter; several other Pakistani leaders too have started defending Pakistan even as there is no such anti-Pakistan messaging from New Delhi as of now.

For instance, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that the country has “nothing to do” with the situation in Pahalgam.

“We have absolutely nothing to do with it. We reject terrorism in all its forms and everywhere," adding that “locals acting against the government” and a “revolution” and “homegrown forces” within the union territory are to blame for the attack.

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Guilty conscience speaking?

Notably, Pakistan-based entity is reported to have claimed the responsibility of the ghastly attack in which 26 people lost their lives.

On Tuesday (April 23), an outfit linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) known as The Resistance Front took responsibility for the attack. Its leadership, including Sajid Jatt, Sajjad Gul and Salim Rehmani – all are associated with LeT. According to media reports, a total of seven terrorists may have been involved in the attacks, including at least two local militants. The rest are believed to be Pakistani nationals.

Additionally, a provocative speech given few days back by Pakistani Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir Ahmed Shah is making rounds on Indian internet, further reinforcing speculations about Pakistan’s involvement.

In his speech, Asim Munir said the Kashmir issue was the “jugular vein of Pakistan", referring to Islamabad’s longstanding support to proxies active in the region that target Indian armed forces and civilians.

Indian intelligence agencies believe that Munir’s provocative speech, in which he also talked about two-nation theory and civilisational divide between Hindus and Muslim, may have encouraged the attack.

India has now vowed to identify and bring to justice everyone who conspired against it.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday issued a stern message to the terrorists, saying, “We will not only reach out to those who have perpetrated this incident. We will also reach out to those who, sitting behind the scenes, have conspired to commit such nefarious acts on the soil of India."