Often claiming the moral high ground in international venues, India presents itself as a democracy under assault from terrorists. Underneath this well constructed picture, however, comes a startling reality: India is not just a victim but also a cause of instability in South Asia. From Kashmir to Kabul, from Dhaka to Delhi, India’s state machinery, under the pretence of national security, has methodically facilitated bloodshed, supported extremism, and quelled opposition. New Delhi is at the core of this regional turmoil.
Still one of the most militarized areas in the world, Jammu and Kashmir is choked by about 900,000 Indian soldiers. Not at all an “integral part” of India, the area is under occupation. Explicitly noting India’s use of forced disappearances, torture, arbitrary detentions, and pellet guns blinding hundreds of Kashmiri people, United Nations Human Rights Reports (2018 & 2019) A tipping point was reached when Article 370 was revoked in August 2019, therefore depriving the area of its limited sovereignty and fostering increasing violations of human rights.
The demographic targeting and monitoring policies of India were attacked by the 2022 UN Special Rapporteurs Human Rights Watch said in July 2024 five years on that fundamental liberties in the area still remain suspended. Published by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), a fifty-page paper called “Your Land is Our Land” exposed systemic land expropriation and persecution.
A top police official disclosed on May 3, 2025, a reported counter-insurgency operation in Pahalgam was proven to be a fake encounter. Instead of seeking justice, Indian officials reacted with curfews, mass arrests, and targeting of Muslim communities all around the valley. More than 600 houses were searched and around 350 Kashmiri young people were arrested between May 5–15. Following were curfews, closed mosques, and internet blackouts. Not real anti-terrorism measures, events like the Pulwama incident in 2019 and the Uri “surgical strikes” in 2016 were political theatrics meant to support BJP’s electoral narrative.
India’s bigotry reaches beyond Kashmir. Targets have also gone for Sikh dissidents. Under the harsh UAPA, seventeen Sikh activists were detained in May 2025 many without warrants. About 120 social media profiles were blocked, thereby silencing voices supporting Sikh rights. Cities like Amritsar and Ludhiana saw raids. Under the cover of National Register of Citizens (NRC) updates, Bangladeshi-originating workers have also been systematically persecuted. Over 1,500 persons in Assam and Bengal were given deportation orders; hundreds were arrested.
Hindutva, a supremacist worldview promoted by organizations like the RSS and Bajrang Dal, is India’s intellectual cornerstone for extremism. Hate-fuelled demonstrations under BJP control have exploded with slogans of “Jihadi Mukt Bharat” and demands for Muslim boycotts unbridled. India’s increasing sectarian violence was highlighted in the 2024 Global Terrorism Index, and even German intelligence cautioned about Hindu radicalizing spreading into the West.
The democracy of India terminates just at the edge of dissent. Independent reporters are often suppressed. Only in 2024–25, at least 13 reporters were imprisoned. Media outlets raided were Kashmir Walla and Maktoob Media. Covering police atrocities, reporters including Aarif Mushtaq and Nasira Shafi were taken into custody. Not new, veteran journalist Syed Kazmi was among the first victims imprisoned in 2012 for publishing stories contradicting the government.
Digital censorship now spreads internationally as well. The Indian Chronicles research by the 2020 EU DisinfoLab revealed a 15-year effort including 265 fictitious news outlets running across 65 nations. Run by RAW-linked performers, these sites created anti-Pakistan misinformation and pro- India stories. India’s cyber influence tactics are exported internationally to change policy and image, not just internal.
RAW, the spy organization of India, has often interfered in surrounding countries. There has been much documented Indian involvement on opposition activities in Bangladesh. 2015 saw Nepal experience an unofficial gasoline embargo as a coercive tool used to sway its constitutional choices. RAW was linked in Sri Lanka in helping Tamil militancy to be revived via diaspora networks. Most strikingly, in Pakistan, Kulbhushan Jadhav, a navy officer, admitted to under RAW’s direction funding terror networks within Balochistan.
India’s terror campaign continues beyond of its boundaries. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau exposed reliable proof in 2023 tying Indian agents to the murder of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjer. Indian nationals were arrested in the United States for planning murders under RAW agent direction. The Five Eyes intelligence coalition validated these conclusions by revealing India’s worldwide “kill list” policy.
From the 1992 destruction of the Babri Mosque to the 2002 Gujarat riots, where over 2,000 Muslims were killed, India’s official institutions have allowed Hindu nationalist violence. Malegaon bombings and the Samjhauta Express bombing connected to RSS-affiliated terrorists still enjoying political protection. One such person is Pragya Thakur, a seated member of parliament.
The state of Manipur had a pogrom of Christian Kuki-Zomi minority by Meitei Hindu mobs supported by RSS supporters in 2023–24. Women were attacked, churches were set on fire, and citizens were killed. Modern ethnic cleansing carried out under the Modi government was proven by Amnesty International, Reuters, and BBC along with governmental cooperation and military silence.
Slowly waking to India’s deeds is the world community. Resolutions denouncing the breaches of human rights in Kashmir and the CAA passed by the European Parliament Human Rights Watch and the UN have demanded sanctions and impartial probes into India’s arbitrary executions. France24 and other sources revealed how European Hindu nationalist groups support hate campaigns under the cover of cultural involvement.
India exports instability even including mercenaries. With apparent government support or implicit consent, BBC and Middle East Eye Covered Indian people engaging in overseas wars like Yemen and Ukraine. India has created a digital empire of lies by use of NGOs, media proxies, and algorithmic manipulation.
India is not the stabilizer it claims to be. From Kashmir to Kandahar, Manipur to Manitoba, its record demonstrates otherwise. India has turned into the heart of state-sponsored extremism in South Asia with a governmental machinery driven by ideology, assisted by technology, and sheltered behind diplomacy. This is not a complaint. There is a recorded trend here. The world has to understand that a country that locks its reporters, controls whole areas, and exports anarchy outside is not a victim; rather, it is the creator of Eastern horror.
