India’s decision to carry out fake encounters in Occupied Kashmir reeks not just of deception, but desperation. By going on a killing spree once again, New Delhi apparently wants to balm the wounds it received during the failed ‘Operation Sindoor’. The murder of three youths on Monday marks the beginning of yet another barbaric campaign under which illegally detained Pakistani citizens are feared to be killed in fake encounters before being paraded as terrorists involved in the Pahalgam incident. These disturbingly shameful actions being portrayed as “counterterrorism efforts” show how low the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to stoop just to resuscitate its narrative. This state-manufactured vengeance, that too coming without any convincing evidence, is condemnable in the strongest possible words.

Ever since the April 22 incident, India has been trying to pin the attack on Pakistan. These efforts intensified after New Delhi faced public embarrassment over Operation Sindoor. Now, after more than two months, the trigger-happy Indian occupation forces have launched a more sinister plot, namely “Operation Mahadev”, under which they killed three people in the Dachigam mountains near Srinagar for allegedly attacking Pahalgam tourists. The pixelated photos of their bodies, next to planted weapons, were soon released to the media to share the ‘success’ of the operation with the rest of the country. The very next day, Home Minister Amit Shah announced the success in the lower house of parliament or Lok Sabha, revealing the identities of those killed and absurdly presenting as evidence some wrappers of Pakistani chocolates recovered from them, along with some unverifiable video calls.

Interestingly, the minister’s claims were as hollow as a drum and raised more questions within the parliament than they answered. Without providing any forensic proof, he alleged that the cartridges recovered from the deceased matched those used in Pahalgam. Strangely, the young men’s identities were confirmed by unnamed villagers. The contradiction in Shah’s statement, in which he first claimed the slain were Pakistani nationals, and then insisted they were being sheltered by local Kashmiris, points to the laziness with which these narratives are crafted.

While the fate of 779 illegally detained Pakistanis languishing in Indian prisons might be hanging in the balance, the Modi regime cannot change the fact that despite the lapse of 100 days since the Pahalgam attack, not even a single credible arrest has been made, nor any independent evidence presented

The timing of Operation Mahadev also says a lot. It was rolled out precisely when questions were being asked about the dismal failure of Operation Sindoor. That, too, invited the wrath of the opposition members. The questions senior Congress leader P Chidambaram raised just hours after the staged encounters were not just valid, but also loaded. The same questions were repeated during the parliamentary session, and Modi was called out for not sharing facts about both the operations.

Rahul Gandhi played the role of a responsible opposition leader and rightly raised uncomfortable questions and highlighted the duplicity of his own government. Giving the devil his due, the democratic norms in India do actually allow public representatives on both sides of the parliamentary benches to question and criticize government policies and actions.

That being said, what the Indian masses need more than accountability is the truth. While the fate of 779 illegally detained Pakistanis languishing in Indian prisons might be hanging in the balance, the Modi regime cannot change the fact that despite the lapse of 100 days since the Pahalgam attack, not even a single credible arrest has been made, nor any independent evidence presented. It is high time the Modi government came to its senses and introspect instead of repeating the mistakes of the past. Dragging illegally detained people out of prisons just to shoot them down may satisfy the Modi government’s ego, but it can never quell the voices rising from within the power corridors.

The world must also wake up to the reality that Operation Mahadev, by all indications, is not about national security or military successes, but narrative repair. India must be pressed to end these state-sanctioned murders being committed under the garb of counterterrorism operations.