Ehsan Ahmed Khan
Despite the haba haba of globalization, shining liberal world order and slogans of cooperation over competition, the world today flirts dangerously with an uncertain possibility of peaceful coexistence not just because of rising powers, but because of those who, enamoured by their might, abandon reason. A quote attributed to German realist philosopher Immanuel Kant “The possession of power unavoidably spoils the free use of reason” mostly aptly defines the simmering and potentially destructive fault lines that plague South Asia exemplified in the unfolding crisis between India and Pakistan. Intoxicated by its global relevance, economic and military power status and driven by Hindutva ideology, India’s hubristic assertion of power, its unrelenting disinformation campaigns and its disregard for regional balance risks igniting a catastrophe that can have global consequences.
India’s bull in the crockery shop posturing is not limited to Pakistan where it maintains an open hostility but has also cultivated a history of meddling in the internal affairs of all its neighbours. From supporting LTTE in Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war, and influencing electoral outcomes in Maldives to border blockades, economic pressure and political intervention in Nepal, Bhutan or Bangladesh, India has rarely missed an opportunity to subdue and coerce its smaller neighbours. However, with China, India has treaded far more cautiously, often withdrawing from positions or softening its rhetoric. This duality indicates India’s role-playing as a bully where it sees weakness and bows where it meets strength. This is the duplicity of behaviour that Kant warned against power, which if left unchecked by ethical restraints tends to breed irrational behaviour. India fits in perfectly.
The Indian information canvas, since the tragic events of April 22nd, has been an extension of an already well-documented Indian pattern of public fury led by a complicit media ecosystem; owners, anchors, field reporters and experts all-inclusive. Media houses became echo chambers of war chants, glorifying and exaggerating military capability that would decimate Pakistan in the blink of an eye. For long India has painted Pakistan as a source of exporting terrorism while in reality itself has engaged in covert actions in Pakistan. The Indian National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, has on record spoken about supporting terrorism within Pakistan’s Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The arrest of Kulbhushan Jadhav (a serving Indian naval officer) offers irrefutable evidence of Indian state-sponsored terrorism activities inside Pakistan. Findings of the EU Dis-info Lab’s “Indian Chronicles” exposed a sprawling, decades-long campaign of fake news outlets, fabricated NGOs, and falsified sources created to demonize Pakistan as the epicentre of terrorism. The disinformation tactics once used to deceive foreign audiences are now being deployed domestically to inflame war hysteria and drown out voices of reason. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2025, disinformation and misinformation now rank among the top global risks with the potential to trigger real-world military escalations. During the May 2025 crisis, Indian lies-producing factories kicked into hyperdrive once again using fabricated videos, unverified claims of Pakistani aggression, and theatrical “scoops” by Indian anchors like Goswami, Gauruv and pseudo experts like Bakhshi, just to name a few, played a key role in pushing public opinion toward confrontation. India’s mastery of narrative warfare has created a volatile new front in regional conflicts one where truth is the first casualty and where reason is extinct. The euphoria gave strategic planners and the Indian public a false sense of confidence that waring with Pakistan was an easy option. Alas for them it proved otherwise.
After what unfolded on the night of May 6/7 and later on 9th and 10th, the real terror lay not in the missiles exchanged or the swarms of drones, but in the reality that both sides stood nuclear armed. Accentuated with emotional hubris, the absence of any escalation control and risk reduction mechanism and geographical contiguity hardly leaves any space for a third-party intervention to avert Armageddon. While a degree of parity exists in the nuclear forces domain, it’s the growing conventional asymmetry that threatens regional stability. Much of India’s aggressive confidence is sustained by the arms, technology, and diplomatic cover it receives from Western powers. Framed as a counterbalance to China, India is being propped to a strategic prominence. By enabling a country that openly undermines its neighbours, violates basic norms of information integrity and increasingly seeks dominance through coercion and use of violence rather than consensus, the world must wake up and Western policymakers must ask themselves: Are we arming a democratic partner or enabling a regional rogue actor?
During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union, despite their hostilities, understood the stakes of nuclear brinkmanship. They built backchannels, arms control regimes, and crisis communication tools because they knew one misstep could cost millions of lives. What exists between India and Pakistan in comparison is nothing but utter silence. India’s behaviour in May 2025 was not just reckless but was a dangerous contradiction to the global nuclear order. To use disinformation, false flags and media manipulation to provoke conflict is not strategic maturity; but akin to an aggressive and unpredictable elephant under the influence of musth. When two nuclear weapons armed nations collide, the threat is not mutual but puts the entire world in severe jeopardy. The nuclear fallout respects no borders.
War is madness and what makes it even more dangerous is when that madness is deliberately engineered. In May 2025, India played a dangerous game, weaponizing nationalism, disinformation, and strategic ambiguity to provoke conflict. It underestimated Pakistan’s resolve, overestimated its own control, and placed millions of lives at risk in the process. The world must not be a passive witness to such unwarranted brinksmanship. It’s time to act and the sane world must intervene through diplomatic pressure, support regional peace frameworks and find an enduring solution to the root cause i.e. Kashmir dispute. Power must not be allowed to overshadow reason. Peace must be given a chance and South Asia deserves this peace.
The writer is a PhD scholar of International Relations at School of Integrated Social Sciences, University of Lahore. He can be reached at ehsanahmedkhan471@gmail.com
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