Pakistan using terrorism as state policy against India since 1947, claims report

New Delhi: A document detailing major terror attacks orchestrated from across the border between 1947 and 2025 was released on Wednesday by NatStrat, a think tank, to coincide with the 17th anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks.

“The history of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism against India needs to be told and retold,” the report compiled by NatStrat, an independent, not-for-profit centre for research on strategic and security issues, said.

Records stretching back to 1947 suggest a consistent strategy by Pakistan’s military and intelligence apparatus, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), of using terrorism as a state policy against India.

According to the report titled ‘Chronology of Pakistani Terror Attack on India 1947-2025’, terror activities from Pakistan can be divided into five parts -- 1947-71 as an era of foundational conflicts; 1972-89 as rise of proxy warfare; 1990-2000 as escalation and urban attacks; 2001-09 as targeting national symbols; and 2010-25 as adaptive terrorism and hardened response.

Former diplomat Pankaj Saran, with an experience of four decades, is presently the convenor of Delhi-based NatStrat. Saran has served in key positions in the Prime Minister’s Office, the National Security Council Secretariat, Ministry of External Affairs and in several Indian Missions abroad, including as India’s Ambassador to Russia and India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh.

He also served as the deputy national security advisor.

The report chronicles the significant acts of aggression and terror-related activities originating from Pakistan or territory under its control, illustrating a decades-long policy of hybrid warfare against India.

It also highlights India’s remarkable resilience in withstanding such assaults.

“They have not stopped India’s march as a nation. Instead, Indian society and polity have pushed back attempts to divide the country or slow down its progress,” the report said.

The report termed terrorism an affront to humanity, and said state-sponsored terrorism and its use as an instrument of state policy is dangerous and a source of grave instability and also contrary to the principles of international law and inter-state relations.

“It is a scourge that affects the whole world and must be fought unitedly, without reservation or double standards,” the report said, dedicating the compilation as a homage to all the victims of terrorism and a tribute to all those who fought against it.

Phase I: The Foundational Conflicts (1947–1971)

1947–1948: Poonch rebellion and the tribal invasion was orchestrated by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir to force its accession to Pakistan, prompting the first India-Pakistan war.

Since 1960s: Support to insurgents in Northeast India; the ISI began using asymmetric warfare, establishing training camps in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to arm and fund Naga and Mizo insurgents to destabilise India.