World
India
Following the deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, that killed dozens of civilians, a prominent American expert on security and foreign policy has drawn sharp parallels between the violence in India and the Hamas-led massacre in Israel last year.
Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon official and currently a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said the militants responsible for the Pahalgam killings used the same playbook as Hamas, who targeted civilians during their October 7, 2023 attack in Israel.
“That is exactly what went on when we had the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. It was directed specifically against Jews and not only against Jews, but among the most liberal Jews who were most prone to wanting peace and normalcy with the Gaza Strip. Targeting a vacation resort, middle-class Hindus, it is evident that the Pakistanis are trying the same tactic now. It should be no more successful for Pakistan than it was for Hamas. And frankly, it’s now the duty of India to do to Pakistan and to Pakistan’s ISI what Israel did to Hamas,” Rubin told ANI in an interview.
Rubin: India Must Dismantle ISI Leadership Like Israel Did with Hamas
Rubin didn’t hold back in his comments, urging India to go after Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the country’s most powerful spy agency. He said the ISI should not be seen as a legitimate organization but as a group that supports terrorism.
“We should stop embracing the fiction that the ISI is a legitimate military organisation. We need to convince Washington that the ISI should be treated like Hamas in Gaza Strip or for that matter Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Quds Force in Iran,” Rubin said.
He added that India must push its allies to treat the ISI as a terror group and take firm action against its leadership. “India must wipe out the leadership of ISI, which is the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan, and to treat them as a designated terror group,” he added.
Drawing Parallels to Soleimani’s Assassination
Rubin pointed out how the U.S. assassinated Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in 2020 during Donald Trump’s presidency. He suggested that India take a similar approach against General Asim Munir, Pakistan’s Army Chief, who recently stirred controversy with his statements about Kashmir and religious divides.
“If President Donald Trump, in his first term can target Soleimani, there is no reason why Prime Minister Narendra Modi can’t use the same example to demand Asim Munir ‘go the way of Qasem Soleimani’,” Rubin said.
Soleimani led Iran’s Quds Force, responsible for secretive military missions across the region. He was killed in a U.S. airstrike ordered by Trump while he was in Baghdad. Rubin implied that the same kind of targeting should apply to Munir.
“Pakistan Still a Terror Sponsor,” Says Rubin
Rubin didn’t mince words when talking about Pakistan’s role in global terrorism. According to him, while some might try to normalize ties with Pakistan, the reality hasn’t changed.
“One can pretend that Pakistan isn’t a terror sponsor but it remains a terror sponsor, no matter how much one tries to normalise it,” he said.
He also claimed the timing of the Pahalgam attack may have been strategic—to draw attention away from U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s visit to India, similar to how militants attacked during Bill Clinton’s trip to India years ago.
Calls for Munir to Be Declared a Terrorist
Rubin went a step further by comparing Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir to Osama bin Laden. In one of the boldest parts of his interview, he said:
“The only difference between Osama Bin Laden and Asim Munir is that Osama Bin Laden lived in a cave and Asim Munir lives in a palace, but beyond that, the two are the same, and their end should also be the same.”
Rubin also accused Munir of indirectly encouraging terrorism through his speeches. “Asim Munir’s latest speech seemed to ‘greenlight terror’,” he claimed.
“India Needs to Cut Pakistan’s Jugular”
According to Rubin, India needs to strike hard and eliminate the networks that allow terrorism to thrive inside Pakistan.
“India needs to cut Pakistan’s jugular,” he said, stressing that Pakistan has become a breeding ground for many terrorist organizations and the time has come for India to act decisively.
