With the world's attention still gripped by the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, the sudden eruption of cross-border violence between Iran and Pakistan marked a stunning development in tensions that threaten to spill over into the heart of Asia.
But as Tehran and Islamabad begin to mend their relationship in the wake of their explosive spat, a far more dangerous and deep-rooted feud is brewing as India and Pakistan accuse one another of backing militant groups that could potentially take advantage of the rapidly spreading unrest.
"As we see it, India is fighting a hybrid war against us," Pakistani Permanent Representative to the United Nations Munir Akram told Newsweek. "There is, of course, the threat from the east, which is more conventional in nature, aggressive statements from India about attacking Pakistan and crossing the Line of Control and so forth."
"At the same time, I think their operations against Pakistan come from the west," he added, accusing India of sponsoring militants of both the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, as well as Baluchi insurgents along the nation's porous border with Afghanistan.
India is one of the few nations that signaled tacit support for Iran's strike last week allegedly targeting positions of the Islamist Baluchi separatist Jaish al-Adl militant group in Pakistan, pushing Pakistan to strike back two days later against alleged sites held by other Baluchi rebels in Iran. New Delhi has vehemently rejected any ties to such insurgent groups and has for decades charged Pakistan with supporting an array of militant organizations, including some in the disputed Kashmir region that divides the two nuclear-armed rivals along the nearly 500-mile de facto boundary known as the Line of Control.
After Pakistani Foreign Secretary Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi alleged on Thursday that Indian agents had carried out assassinations of two Pakistani nationals on his country's territory last year, the Indian External Affairs Ministry accused Islamabad of "peddling false and malicious anti-India propaganda," calling Pakistan "the epicenter of terrorism, organized crime, and illegal transnational activities."
Newsweek has reached out to the Indian Army and the Indian External Affairs Ministry for comment.
India and Pakistan also have opposing views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is now undergoing its deadliest flare-up since the feud first emerged from the United Kingdom's dissolution of its colonial mandate in 1948. Just one year earlier, the British withdrawal from the Indian subcontinent set the stage for the ongoing fight between the newly partitioned nations of India and Pakistan.
While New Delhi once fostered close ties with the Palestinian fight for statehood, becoming the first non-Arab power to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1974, India has fortified ties with Israel since establishing formal relations more than three decades ago in 1992.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has condemned mounting civilian casualties since Israel launched a massive offensive against Hamas in the wake of the group's unprecedented October 7 surprise attack against Israel. But he and his administration have not directly criticized Israel or its leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom Modi has cultivated close ties in past years.
Pakistan, on the other hand, has never recognized Israel. And, though the nation does not explicitly endorse Hamas, it has long leant support for Palestinian statehood, drawing links between this struggle for independence and that of those living in the India-administered stretch of Kashmir.
Akram, Pakistan's top envoy to the U.N., also drew a connection between India and Israel, saying both nations appear to be acting "with impunity" on the world stage, something he warned could pave the way for brazen acts of aggression.
"There is always a danger that India may overstep that sense of impunity and do something stupid against Pakistan," Akram said.
The Pakistani diplomat warned that this perceived confidence among Indian leadership, bolstered by the nation's rising power status and growing ties with both the West and regional countries, including key Muslim nations, breeds the "dangerous" notion that "no one will come to Pakistan's assistance in a crisis."
"That is a misperception," Akram asserted. "We believe that we still enjoy sufficiently close political, military and economic relations with the Gulf countries, notwithstanding their dependence on the Indian market, and I think that would be a mistake believing that the Islamic world will not support Pakistan's territorial integrity, sovereignty."
This apparent threat, compounded by an indisputable spike in militant activity now having a profound effect on regional stability, has the potential to only worsen with time if not remedied, Akram warned.
Pakistan, in particular, has suffered from a spate of violence launched by the likes of TTP, Baluchi separatists and other militant groups, including the Islamic State (ISIS), against both military and civilian targets. India too continues to face an insurgency waged by various groups in India-administered Kashmir, though unrest has diminished since New Delhi's decision to revoke the state's semi-autonomous status in 2019, a ruling upheld last month by the country's highest court.
"The efforts are going on for the final assault on terrorism, its ecosystem and unholy proxy war being sponsored by a neighboring country," Indian Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Gov. Manoj Sinha said Friday during a ceremony marking the nation's 75th Republic Day in remarks translated by the Press Trust of India.
"We have tried to create a new Jammu and Kashmir," Sinha added, "which has the power, strength of spirituality, modern and scientific facilities and response."
New Delhi has portrayed this move and the accompanying crackdown on dissent in Kashmir as a victory against terrorism and a crucial step toward achieving progress in the state. Islamabad has viewed the move as a unilateral violation of international efforts to find a lasting solution to the question of Kashmir's political status.
Meanwhile, the fate of Gaza also hangs in the balance as Israel and its ally, the United States, put forth differing visions for the future of the Hamas-held territory.
And while Akram argued that the unrest playing out around Gaza and the Middle East, which has seen direct participation from other non-state actors, mostly members of the Iran-aligned "Axis of Resistance" that includes Pakistani recruits, was a separate issue from the insurgencies plaguing South Asia, he asserted that only a ceasefire to the current Israel-Hamas war could halt the path toward escalation.
"This is something we feared," Akram said. "Therefore, it is imperative that we bring an end to the Gaza war, because that can then have the positive impact in terms of extinguishing the flames that are now arising."
But a peaceful resolution remains elusive as Israel and Hamas remain committed to their respective military campaigns, vowing to press on until victory.
"You have to look at the present situation," Akram said. "We live in dangerous times."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Based in his hometown of Staten Island, New York City, Tom O'Connor is an award-winning Senior Writer of Foreign Policy ... Read more
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