Ceasefire or deceit of retreat: Pakistan’s strategy towards India

PEACE OFFERINGS

- PROFESSOR DEV TEWARI

WE DISCUSS and explore the 2025 India—Pakistan conflict that lasted for four days, which began on May 7 after India launched missile strikes on Pakistan in response to the Pahalgam terrorist attack on April 22, where 26 Hindus were mercilessly killed.

After the Pakistan debacle, the Pakistani Army approached India for a ceasefire. However, each ceasefire, each negotiation, and each moment of détente has often been met with scepticism, particularly from India. Critics frequently view Pakistan’s peace overtures not as genuine but as tactical responses, echoes of historical strategies of deceit masked as reconciliation.

A controversial narrative gaining traction among some Indian commentators is that Pakistan’s strategic mindset echoes early Islamic conquest practices, particularly embodied in the invasion of Sind by Mohammed bin Qasim in 700 and 1280.

In that historic event, diplomacy, religious fervour and strategic deceit played a defining role.

Some argue that this continues to shape Pakistan’s doctrine today. It is simplistic to note that this is a geopolitical conflict alone, it is also a war between Hindus and Muslims in the collective mind of Pakistan.

Recalling lessons from history, Muhammad Bin Qasim, a young general of the Umayyad Caliphate, invaded the Sindh Region of the Indian Subcontinent in 712 AD. The campaign was officially a response to piracy and attacks on Arab traders, but its deeper motivations were expansionist and religious.

Qasim’s conquest of Sindh laid the foundations for centuries of Muslim rule in the Indian subcontinent and finally partition in 1947. His use of political manipulation and religious justification was noteworthy, as it led to a betrayal of the Hindu population by promising them safety and religious freedom, only to later impose jizya (a tax on non-Muslims), dismantle temples and enforce Islamic rule.