The dangerous delusion of false equivalence: How New Indian Express’ Pahalgam-Jaffar Express analogy echoes Pakistani propaganda

When horrid details of the Pahalgam massacre came out, most of us reeled in horror — not just at the loss of innocent lives, at the sheer brutality of the assault. Terrorists singled out men, asked them to recite Kalma, forced them to strip to identify non-Muslims and subsequently executed them in cold blood, even as their family members watched in utter horror their loved ones being massacred simply because they were Hindus.

But what unfolded a day later, in the pages of The New Indian Express in its recent opinion piece, was no less insidious—a thinly-veiled justification of terror by peddling an irresponsible and frankly absurd narrative that Pakistan’s attack on Indian civilians was somehow a “retaliation” to a train hijack by Baloch rebels in Quetta.

Authored by Neena Gopal and titled “End of the Kashmiri summer: Is Pahalgam the payback for the Jaffar Express hijacking?”, the opinion column was a stunning illustration of practicing yellow journalism—facts and gravity of the matter taking a back seat as sensationalism and canards took precedence.

This isn’t journalism. It’s parroting Pakistan’s press releases.

What is even more alarming is that it was penned by an Indian author, a day after the ghastly terror attacked claimed the lives of 27 people. There seems to be no moral responsibility among the leftwing intelligentsia and their footsies—exploiting a tragedy to provide a cop out to Pakistan, and instead place the blame of the carnage at the feet of the Indian security apparatus for purportedly orchestrating a train hijack in Pakistan, of course, with no evidence to support it.

Let’s call this out for what it is: a textbook case of legitimising state-sponsored terrorism against India by inventing false moral equivalencies. The article not only implicates India in a struggle that is inherently indigenous — the Baloch fight for freedom from Punjabi hegemony — but also subtly validates the Pakistani military’s long-standing, evidence-free accusations of Indian interference in its internal matters. It’s like handing your enemy ammunition and then pretending it’s an olive branch.

A fifth columnist doing Pakistan’s bidding: Deflecting attention from Pak COAS’ anti-Hindu bigotry

By weaving a causal thread between the Jaffar Express hijack in Balochistan and the massacre in Pahalgam, the writer inadvertently does what Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) couldn’t have dreamed of achieving — provide an Indian byline to their propaganda. The suggestion that “Pahalgam was payback” is not just intellectually dishonest, it’s morally bankrupt.

Pakistan has always cried hoarse about Indian involvement in Balochistan, ever since Prime Minister Modi had the audacity to mention Balochistan in his Independence Day speech in 2016. But till date, it hasn’t presented a shred of credible evidence to the world. What it has done, however, is nurture terror factories in its backyard — from the Lashkar-e-Taiba to the Jaish-e-Mohammed — whose only export is jihad and whose only customer is terror in Kashmir.

Drawing a false equivalence between the Pahalgam massacre and the Jaffar Express hijacking not only distorts the moral clarity required in condemning terrorism, but also conveniently serves Pakistan’s agenda of deflection. By equating a brutal, targeted attack on innocent Hindu pilgrims in Kashmir—allegedly triggered by Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir’s incendiary rhetoric—with a criminal hijacking incident, the narrative is diluted and accountability is blurred. Munir’s reference to Kashmir as Pakistan’s “jugular vein,” laced with sectarian undertones and anti-Hindu sentiment, has dangerously emboldened jihadist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Instead of confronting the consequences of state-sponsored Islamic terrorism, the opinion pieces helps Pakistan to muddy the waters, drawing baseless parallels to mask the direct ideological link between its military leadership’s provocative speeches and the bloodshed of innocent civilians.

Let’s be clear: Balochistan is not Kashmir

The comparison between Kashmir and Balochistan is laughably lazy, and dangerously misleading. Balochistan is a province under the jackboot of the Punjabi-dominated Pakistan Army. It is denied basic rights, its resources plundered, and its people “disappeared” in broad daylight. The Baloch struggle is not propped up by any foreign hand — it is a grassroots movement against a colonialist military that treats its citizens like chattel.

Kashmir, on the other hand, is a democratically governed territory, part of the Indian Union — with regular elections, courts, and constitutional protections. What it has suffered for decades is not a freedom movement, but an externally fuelled jihad that seeks to Islamise and balkanise India. There is no equivalence here — not morally, not politically, not historically.

So what if India did support the Baloch cause?

Even if, for the sake of argument, India has offered diplomatic or covert support to Baloch separatists (which New Delhi officially denies), why shouldn’t it?
Pakistan has bled India for decades through proxy terror, proudly boasting of its “strategic depth” policy using non-state actors. From Kandahar to Kargil, from Parliament to Pulwama — India’s streets are red with the blood of its citizens because Rawalpindi’s generals have made it their life’s mission to “bleed India by a thousand cuts.”

Is it not within India’s strategic right to strike back, not with suicide bombers or madrassas, but with support to oppressed nationalities yearning for freedom? If the Pakistani establishment can’t bear the heat in its own backyard, maybe it should stop setting fires across the fence.

The Real danger: Undermining India’s global standing

Opinion pieces like the one in The New Indian Express may sell well to a bleeding-heart crowd eager to believe in moral symmetry, but in the international arena, they do tangible harm. They will be gleefully waved at the UN by Pakistani diplomats, used as “evidence” that India justifies terrorism and meddles in Pakistan. This is not just academic folly — it’s a strategic own goal.

At a time when India is painstakingly building global partnerships, deepening its ties with the Gulf, and tightening counter-terror coordination with the US, such pieces undermine its moral authority. They offer Rawalpindi a fig leaf to cover its crimes, and give the impression that India and Pakistan are mirror images — both sponsors of violence, both equally culpable. That’s not just wrong, it’s dangerous.

We must reject false narratives, Not reinforce them.

Terrorism, by its very nature, is never justified. But even more important is to understand what terrorism is. The Baloch rebels in Balochistan have been waging a fight against the repressive Pakistani rule for decades as part of their freedom struggle. To categorize it as “terrorism” akin to the unprovoked and wanton massacre witnessed in Pahalgam is to insult their years-long struggle and understate the tragedy that befell the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack. The notion that a targeted civilian massacre of Indian tourists was somehow provoked by a freedom struggle action against a tyrannical military personnel in another country is not just flawed — it is despicable.

What we need now is clarity, not intellectual dishonesty. Strength, not self-doubt. Strategic vision, not rhetorical vandalism.

To those trying to find balance where there is only brutality, here’s a simple reminder: the Pahalgam massacre wasn’t about Balochistan. It was about Pakistan’s desperation, its diminishing relevance, and its perennial addiction to terrorism as state policy. And it’s high time we stopped pretending otherwise.

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