The car explosion outside Delhi’s Red Fort that left eight tragically dead and over 20 more injured could well prove to test the fragile ceasefire between India and Pakistan arranged by the United States.
It did not take long after the unfortunate incident for the Indian media to begin speculating regarding the potential involvement of Pakistan in the incident. A headline from The Economic Times, once a very solid Indian publication, in their online edition ran a headline that asked the question “Delhi Blast: Is Hafiz Saeed behind the Red Fort car bombing?” Soon after India Today reported that the government had put troops on the borders of Pakistan, Nepal, and China on high-alert following the blast.
Never mind the fact that Delhi Police have said the matter is still under investigation and there has been no indication from either Prime Minister Modi or his Home Minister Amit Shah that this was a terror attack. In fact, initial eye-witness reports suggest there were four to five people in the vehicle that exploded, which has given rise to the theory that it was a family car that unfortunately had its CNG cylinder blow up.
In any case, what we know for now is that it is far too early to tell what happened. This has clearly not stopped even the mainstream media from speculating whether or not Pakistan is involved, what to speak of the more extreme elements of Hindutva ideology that use the megaphone of social media to fan the flames of anti-Pakistan bias. It became clear back in May that the Indian media has, for all intents and purposes, resigned itself to capitulation in the face of the Modi Administration. Their eagerness to please by pushing Modi’s narrative and complete ignorance of facts and verification makes it easy to turn Pakistan into a boogeyman.
Pakistan has learnt from Pahalgam that calls for investigations and third party verification carry little weight to the Indians. Even then no official investigation found evidence of Pakistani involvement. In case the Modi administration feels like they can use what is possibly a senseless tragedy to continue their aggression against Pakistan, they would do well to remember the country stands ready to fight back.
