Pakistan, April 26 -- I watched the reports pour in with growing alarm: at precisely 2:20 PM on that fateful day in Pahalgam-6.4 kilometers from the last checkpoint-communications abruptly went dark, and India was quick to point the finger at Pakistan. But as an investigative journalist, I cannot help but ask: what evidence underpins such a hasty accusation? What fissures in the official narrative am I missing?

First, consider the pattern of "fake encounters" along the Line of Control. Time and again, operations are justified as responses to cross-border infiltration-yet locals whisper of innocents caught in the crossfire of a larger strategic game. Who truly stood to gain when reports surfaced of an Israeli jet making an unscheduled app...