THE new sunday express Voices Anand Neelakantan Ravi Shankar Ajai Sahni Sunaina Anand Shampa Dhar-Kamath Mata Amritanandamayi MAGAZINE Buffet People Wellness Books Food Art & Culture Entertainment may 11 2025 SUNDAY PAGES 12 Ai generated image PAkistan Apocalypse Now Pakistan will not recover from a war with India politically, economically, geographically and socially B By ravi shankar eneath the Himalayan ramparts, where the Indus River etches a silver lifeline through Pakistan’s 240 million souls bound to a land of dust and destiny a , cataclysm has begun, its fuse ignited by the April 22 Pahalgam massacre. This is no fleeting border clash but a seismic collision of histories, ideologies, and wills, a timeless trap where fear and ambition hurl two nuclear-armed nations toward annihilation. Kashmir, the festering wound of 1947’s Partition—when the colonial pen dripping imperial arrogance sundered South Asia into India and Pakistan—is a crucible of existential strife. Here, Hannah Arendt’s banality of evil cloaks state-orchestrated carnage in ideological veneer, while existential anguish haunts a nation forced to define itself through bloodshed. The Pahalgam atrocity a meticulously crafted act of terror, is , not merely a strike but a philosophical gauntlet, challenging the legitimacy of state action and the morality of power in a world teetering on the edge. BLOOD AND POWERPLAY IN a SUNLIT VALLEY A Tableau of Terror On that crystalline morning, Baisaran Valley Kashmir, thrummed , with vitality Families unfurled picnic . blankets, children darted through meadows, and newlyweds framed selfies against snow-capped peaks. Unseen, death slithered out through the woods. Zipliners glided above, their cellphones—destined to become grim evidence—capturing the valley’s ephemeral joy Then, gunfire erupted, . a cordite requiem that transformed paradise into a charnel house. Twenty-six lives were snuffed out, marking India’s deadliest civilian assault since 2008. The perpetrators, tied to The Resistance Front—a flimsy front for Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Taiba, itself a proxy for Pak Special Forces commandos—singled out non-Muslim tourists, forcing them to recite Islamic verses to seal their fates. A wife’s desperate plea for her husband’s life met a chilling retort: “Go, tell Modi.” This was no spontaneous act but a calculated provocation, a terrorist’s dare to a powerful prime minister. It was Lashkar-e-Taiba, Pakistan’s hydra birthed in chaos, hurling a challenge rooted in 1947, when imperial retreat spawned two nations fated to grapple over Kashmir’s soul. The Pahalgam massacre’s savagery aimed to shatter the region’s fragile peace, to sow dread and defiance in equal measure. India’s response was swift and volcanic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to hunt terrorists “to the ends of the earth,” his words a rallying cry for a nation ablaze with grief and indignation. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh amplified the resolve: “I want to assure you that under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, what you desire will certainly happen. It is my responsibility to give a befitting reply to those who dare to attack our country India’s wrath exploded as .” Operation Sindoor, a spear piercing Pakistan’s terrorism-filled heart and Islamist pride, heralding a reckoning that could redraw South Asia’s destiny . The General MAKES A Perilous Wager Restoring Pak Army’s Shine Pakistan’s army chief, General Syed Asim Munir, treads a razor’s edge, his hand forced by a crumbling bastion. The Pakistan Army once the nation’s , unassailable deity falters as its , political hegemony erodes. The arrest of ex-ISI chief Faiz Hameed and three officers for corruption—unthinkable in Pervez Musharraf ’s era—lays bare the military’s fraying armour. With his November retirement looming, Munir stakes the Pahalgam massacre as a spark for a limited war, a Machiavellian gambit to rally a fractured nation behind the army’s tattered standard. It’s a wager steeped in Max Weber’s iron cage of efficiency over individuality with power seeking to , perpetuate itself, yet risks plunging Pakistan into anarchy’s abyss. The Pakistan Army with 6,50,000 , active personnel, is not merely a fighting force but the state’s backbone, wielding vast political, economic, and social clout. Revered as Kashmir’s champion and India’s nemesis, it commands loyalty as the guardian of sovereignty Yet, its legitimacy could . wane. A possible defeat by India, with its 1.2 million troops and superior arsenal, could unravel its mystique, triggering a crisis akin to 1971, when the loss of East Pakistan and 93,000 POWs seared the national psyche. That defeat birthed Bangladesh and a lingering trauma, a spectre now haunting Munir’s calculus. A 2025 loss could see tens of thousands of casualties, captures, or surrenders, shattering morale among troops indoctrinated to view India as the eternal foe. Desertions, insubordination, or factionalism could erupt, especially if soldiers blame leadership for strategic blunders. Officers, enriched by privileges, might face purges or power struggles as scapegoats are sought. Public fury fuelled , by economic collapse or high casualties, could spill into protests, emboldening civilian factions like Imran Khan’s PTI or populist upstarts. Yet, the army’s deep roots in state institutions suggest it would cling to influence, diminished but defiant, unless a societal earthquake topples it. Munir’s gamble is a leap into the void, where freedom to act brings the anguish of consequence. The army’s rank-and-file, trained to see India as the existential threat, would face a crisis of purpose. A loss could weaken the military’s ability to dictate terms, giving civilian leaders or rival factions a fleeting chance to assert control. Historical echoes like the 1971 war’s national trauma warn of protests, particularly if economic hardship or high casualties accompany defeat. The army’s entrenchment means it would likely retain power, albeit bruised, unless a broader upheaval akin to Rousseau’s contract—the government exists to serve the will of the people— now shattered upends the status quo. Pakistan is among the world’s most water-stressed nations, with per capita availability below 1,000 cubic metres Pakistan has $8 billion foreign reserves and $130 billion debt 40 per cent of Pakistanis already live below the poverty line Refugee flows would overwhelm cities like Lahore and Karachi, already strained by urbanisation and poverty India’s naval blockade will be a chokehold on Karachi’s trade arteries, spiking fuel and food prices to 20-30 per cent Pakistan’s Jinnah naval base in Ormara could With the Indus River treaty suspension, Pakistan’s wheat fields in Punjab will turn to dust and PoK’s Neelum-Jhelum turbines to relics be struck by long-range BrahMos missiles The Indus’ Fragile Vein Water, War and Desolation The first major Indian response was cutting off the supply of Indus waters controlled by upstream dams, to Its hospitals have only 0.6 beds per 1,000 people FAULT LINES: Pakistan Army chief Syed Asim Munir; (above) Pakistani soldiers inspect a building damaged by Indian missile attack near Muzaffarabad Pakistan. One of the world’s most water-stressed nations, teeters on a precipice. With per capita water availability below 1,000 cubic metres, climate change amplifies its fragility . The suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty means crops across the border would wither, famine loom, and the 2022 floods’ $30-billion toll would pale against the devastation. The Indus, a lifeline and a curse, embodies the paradox that a war, won or lost, brings ruin not redemption. Its waters, contested by dams and treaties, mirror the region’s fate—sustenance or starvation, peace or perdition. Pakistan’s youth, vibrant yet volatile, face a choice: the state’s patriotic drumbeat or the radical’s siren call. The army once a monolith, risks , becoming a relic, its power eroded by defeat and dissent. In this crucible, Pakistan must confront its identity— Turn to page 2