“Pakistan’s long shadow of jihadism makes peace with India impossible”, First Post, May 25, 2026
“Last month, a senior foreign correspondent for a major international broadcaster asked me what it would actually take for peace between India and Pakistan. Not another temporary ceasefire. Not another carefully staged diplomatic handshake. Real peace. My answer was simple. Pakistan must stop terrorist groups responsible for mass-casualty attacks. Groups like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba are designated by the United Nations and much of the international community. Pakistan treats them like sports teams. Everything else flows from there. India ultimately wants good relations with Pakistan. Most Indians do. But no country can build lasting peace with a gun permanently pointed at its head.
That is the uncomfortable reality sitting at the heart of South Asia’s crisis. Before discussions about strategic doctrines, regional balance, covert operations, or nationalist rhetoric can even begin, there remains the unresolved issue that some of the world’s most notorious militant organisations emerged, operated, or found shelter within Pakistan’s orbit over decades. Until Pakistan fully confronts that legacy with clarity rather than ambiguity, trust will always remain fragile.
That is why Senator Sherry Rehman’s post on X on May 18, 2026, was so striking. In the post, she argued that the so-called “Doval Doctrine” had become a “spectacular failure” and accused India of attempting to destabilise Pakistan “through a thousand cuts…..”
Read full article at firstpost.com
