The Advocate Post: Former Supreme Court Judge Justice Markandey Katju has criticized the Indian government, media, and security establishment over their response to the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, calling the reactions a display of jingoism and scapegoating of Pakistan without credible investigation.

In his latest opinion column published in The Advocate Post, Justice Katju addressed the deadly militant attack in Baisaran near Pahalgam, Kashmir, where 28 unarmed Hindu tourists were brutally killed. While condemning the massacre and calling for justice, he questioned the Indian authorities’ ability and intention to genuinely investigate the crime.

He wrote that “the culprits disappeared into the dense jungle” and are still “unidentified and untraceable,” adding that he doubts they or the masterminds “will ever be found.” Justice Katju emphasized that India lacks modern forensic capabilities and trained personnel, leading police to rely on “torture” instead of science.

“Criminal investigation is a science,” he noted, citing how countries like the United States use modern methods like DNA matching, forensic labs, and surveillance data. In contrast, Indian police, he argued, often resort to beating suspects into confession under political pressure to show results.

Significantly, Justice Katju criticized the immediate narrative blaming Pakistan, saying, “someone must be blamed… who better for that than our favourite whipping boy and scapegoat — the Pakistani devils?” He condemned what he described as the Indian media’s “jingoism,” led by hawkish TV panelists, including retired military generals, calling for revenge and military strikes.

He also criticized inflammatory calls to cut Pakistan’s water supply, stating, “Since India is an upper riparian country vis-a-vis Pakistan, cries can be heard to deprive Pakistan of even a drop of water and turn it into a Karbala.”

Justice Katju argued that such rhetoric only fuels hatred, with both nations’ governments taking retaliatory steps that ultimately harm the common man already burdened by poverty and hardship. “The masterminds behind the attack must be laughing,” he wrote, “at the stupidity of both Hindus and Muslims, Indians and Pakistanis, who are at each other’s throats.”