By Tarunjit Singh Butalia | Pakistan |
I come from a family with a two-century-old ancestral tradition of serving in the military for three nation states. My sixth generation ancestor, Sardar Ganda Singh Butalia, served in the Khalsa Army of the Sikh Empire in the early 1800s, while my grandfather, Capt. Ajit Singh Butalia served in the British Army in the 1930s. My father, Major Karamjit Singh Butalia, was in the Indian Army from the 1960s to the early 1980s.
I am a child of the India-Pakistan war of 1965 – I was born when my father was away fighting a war for the Indian Army against Pakistan. Today, when India and Pakistan are on the brink of war, I am reminded of my childhood in 1971 in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh. My father and two of his brothers were in the armed forces at war with Pakistan. I remember my brave grandmother, who on the outside was so proud of having three sons at war, but on the inside, she was torn apart – she wished at least one of her sons would come home when the war ended… I remember her telling me that the only people who want to go to war are the ones who have never seen a war.
To better understand yesterday’s (May 6, 2025) missile attacks by India on nine civilian sites (including two mosques) in Pakistan, we must understand some of the dynamics of the Pakistan-India relationship over Kashmir.
Kashmir, often called the paradise of South Asia, has a complex and tumultuous history. It has been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947. The region’s beauty, with its snow-capped mountains and lush meadows, has been overshadowed by decades of violence and political unrest.
India blames Pakistan for promoting insurgency in Kashmir, while Pakistan accuses India of doing so in Balochistan. The reality, however, is more nuanced – both nations seem to at least provide moral support to insurgents on the other side of the border between Pakistan and India.
The serene beauty of Kashmir has been juxtaposed with the horrific reality of killings and brutality for decades, by terrorists and security forces. The recent reminder of this came on April 22, 2025, when about 25 civilians (mostly Hindus) were brutally gunned down in the tourist town of Pahalgam in the Kashmir valley. And this happened when over half a million soldiers were present in this part of the restive Indian region.
One would expect a nation like India, which upholds the principles of democracy and law, to conduct a thorough, independent investigation into the Pahalgam killings. Surprisingly, India chose not to pursue this path, despite Pakistan’s offer to collaborate and the United States’ urging for an independent probe.
However, India, in a knee-jerk reaction without proper independent investigations into the Pahalgam massacre and without sharing much evidence linking the nine sites attacked to the April 22 massacre, just 14 days later yesterday launched several missiles into Pakistani territory under the pretext of “hitting terrorist camps” as a response to “the barbaric Pahalgam terrorist attacks.” The operation was titled “Sindoor,” referring to the red powder worn by a newly wed Hindu woman whose husband was killed in Pahalgam – this is a misuse of religious terminology to promote “patriotism of hate” – discussed later.
The missile strikes in India are being projected as justice for the Pahalgam victims, while Pakistan has called the strikes an “act of war”. This tit for tat between the nuclear armed rivals is now past sabre ratlling. Pakistan claims to have downed five indian fighter jets, and both sides admit to heavy firing as well as civilian casualties along some areas of the line of control dividing the two armies. We seem to be moving quickly into active warfare between these two nuclear-armed countries, with neighbouring China having declared its allegiance to Pakistan.
Let us not forget that this is not the first time India has carried out strikes inside Pakistan without proper independent investigations. In February 2019, in response to a suicide attack on a paramilitary convoy at Pulwama in Kashmir, within 12 days of the incident, the Indian Air Force carried out a strike inside Pakistan, claiming to have killed militants and terrorists responsible for the suicide attack. Satellite imagery analysis of the site hit showed “minimal damage to the buildings concerned.”
This is now the second time that India has launched a strike into Pakistan on the excuse of exacting justice for attacks in Kashmir, without proper independent investigations. In 2019, it acted within 12 days of the Pulwama attack, and this time, 14 days after the Pahalgam massacre.
For a democracy that claims to follow the rule of law, this is shameful. Without proper investigations, attacking sites in a neighbouring nation as a punishment for terrorist attacks undermines justice for the victims. The Pulwama victims were not served justice in 2019, and neither have the 2025 Pahalgam victims been served justice through the knee-jerk missile attacks carried out in both cases by India inside Pakistan.
My travels in South Asia have taught me a few lessons at a significant price. First, do not trust Indian media for news on Pakistan or Pakistani media for news on India. This also applies now. Both countries, aided by their media, are out to project a “holier-than-thou” image of their nation, with the other being evil and barbaric. Reviewing and making sense of news and developments in South Asia from multiple independent, reliable sources is needed, and social media should not be used to get news updates.
Secondly, Pakistani people love Indian people, but in general, resent the Indian government, especially the current Hindutva Modi government. On the other hand, Indians in general don’t make a distinction between Pakistani people and the Pakistani government – both are viewed as the same and as evil and enemies of India.
But there are pathways forward for the people of India and Pakistan despite their governments going to war. Let us remember that the people of India and Pakistan are not at war, even though their governments may be. Just as the Pakistani public nearly unanimously condemned the recent brutal attack in Pahalgam, I hope the Indian public will also condemn the recent missile attacks on Pakistan, which included two mosques in which women and children were killed. The people-to-people relationship between the two countries in the interest of peace and mutual security is ever more needed today than before.
It is time for peacemakers to stand up and share our empathy with those on the other side. For way too long, in South Asia, “patriotism of hate” – to love India, you must hate Pakistan and vice versa – has ruled the day. A paradigm shift is much needed, in which one can love one’s country and not hate the other. But this can only happen people-to-people on both sides of the border, interacting with each other, empathising, making friends, and building trust.
By ordering missile strikes under the pretext of securing justice for the victims of the Pahalgam massacre without proper independent investigations and without sharing much evidence linking the nine sites attacked with Pahalgam massacre, the Indian government has not only denied justice to the terrorist victims of Pahalgam (2025) but also makes a mockery of justice.
Since yesterday, I have been in touch with several friends and others from South Asia. I find it strange that most people in India don’t feel the necessity for a proper, independent investigation into the Pahalgam massacre to ascertain who carried it out. They further don’t seem to care if the nine sites attacked yesterday are connected to the Pahalgam massacre or not. The victims of the brutal massacre in Kashmir have been used as pawns of hate, while justice for them has been publicly claimed but in reality denied.
The sad part is that with yesterday’s missile attacks on Pakistan, justice has been served for the Pahalgam attack in the eyes of India; in their opinion, there really isn’t any need to carry out an independent investigation into the massacre that killed over 25 persons in Pahalgam just two weeks ago – a sham justice wrapped in patriotic religious terminology of missiles has already been served yesterday.
The victims of the barbaric Pahalgam attack deserve better than Modi’s attempt to subvert their brutal suffering for his internal Hindutva political agenda and for the people of India to buy this lie as a part of their patriotism. What a mockery of justice for victims of the brutal Pahalgam massacre…
Dr. Tarunjit Singh Butalia, a US-based interfaith activist and scholar with deep roots in East and West Punjab in South Asia, had served as Research Associate Professor at The Ohio State University. In 2021, he published My Journey Home: Going Back to Lehnda Punjab, based on a visit to his ancestral home in Pakistan more than 70 years after his grandparents left it in 1947.
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