ISI’s new game plan to disturb Kashmir has been uncovered by the Indian intelligence wing. ISI has orchestrated a LeT and ISPK alliance to intensify attacks in Jammu and Kashmir with the aim of internationalizing the Kashmir issue. ISPK, which demands an Islamic caliphate across the globe, if it enters the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir, will help Pakistan avoid the blame of being a terror supporter.
Indian intelligence sources indicate that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is pursuing a new strategy to destabilize Jammu and Kashmir. This plan involves using proxies such as the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) to revive terrorism without Pakistan’s direct involvement and to create a broader international terror narrative for the region. The new strategy is believed to be a response to Operation Sindoor and the improved security situation following the 2019 abrogation of Article 370.
Indian intelligence has reported to higher authorities that a new alliance is forming between the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), with ISI’s backing. Indian security forces are now aware of this new ISI game plan and are working on countermeasures to defeat Pakistan on this front as well.
IG BSF Kashmir Ashok Yadav said, “All the developments which are happening, our intelligence agencies are analyzing them very carefully, and on that basis, we do our operational planning. So it’s in everybody’s knowledge, and we are taking countermeasures on that.”
Intelligence inputs indicate that ISI is sponsoring and directing the activities of ISKP. ISI’s aim is to deploy LeT fighters alongside ISKP in operations against Indian security forces, mainly in Jammu and Kashmir. The plan to use ISKP is seen as an attempt to involve people based on religion across the country and re-internationalize the Kashmir issue by introducing a terror organization that aims to establish a global Islamic caliphate. Experts treat it as a major new threat, saying that motivating individuals in the name of religion is an easy way to gain support.
Defense journalist Rashid Rahil said, “If we talk about terrorism in Kashmir, which has been going on for the last three decades, India has succeeded in breaking it, and Pakistani agencies know it. So Pakistani agencies have approached Khorasan, whose ideology is to create an Islamic state. LeT and ISPK are two corners of a river, and if, as intelligence reports suggest, they meet, it’s really a new threat for the country. Indian agencies should unite and hold threadbare discussions on this because it will not only affect Jammu and Kashmir but the whole of South Asia.”
Religion is a very easy way to involve any faith-abiding person. If we talk about the involvement of the Islamic State, Pakistan will get a good opportunity to involve Muslims across the country, and this can create a big threat.
Pakistan has always tried to stay away, but when the intelligence report is out, how can it remain uninvolved? It too will have to feel the heat because, in reality, there is also no true Islam in Pakistan.
Although both organizations have different schools of thought — ISKP seeks to establish a global caliphate while LeT is Pakistan-centric and focuses only on the Kashmir issue — ISI believes the involvement of a global-caliphate-oriented group like ISKP would internationalize the Kashmir conflict under a wider terror umbrella. This could invite greater scrutiny and potential geopolitical repercussions, further complicating the situation.
The new alliance is orchestrated under ISI pressure, which overrides these long-standing ideological differences. The latest issue of the Islamic State Khorasan Province’s propaganda magazine, Yalgaar, mentions Kashmir and outlines a new agenda for ISKP’s expansion into the region.
