Amid the anti-Indian rhetoric of Pakistan army chief Asim Munir, India has suffered yet another terrorist attack within months of the Pahalgam incident—this time in New Delhi. The explosion near Delhi’s Red Fort metro station killed at least 13 people and injured 24 others, revealing a new face of the terror network: so-called “white-collar” terrorism in South Asia. Sources indicate the attack is linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH), both reportedly affiliates of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), based in Pakistan.
Addressing a passing-out parade at the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) in Kakul, Munir stated, “There is no space for war in a nuclearised environment.” Is this a tacit admission that terrorism has become an alternative tool to weaken India? The question is pertinent—especially since, just a few days before the attack, senior LeT commander Saifullah Saif issued a statement outlining fresh plans to target India. “Hafiz Saeed (leader of LeT) was not sitting idle; he was preparing to attack India through Bangladesh,” Saif declared in a video from a rally in Khairpur Tamewali, Pakistan. He further claimed that LeT operatives were already active in Bangladesh (historically referred to as East Pakistan) and ready to “answer India (for Operation Sindoor).”
So far, several doctors have been arrested across India for alleged involvement in unlawful and anti-national activities: Dr. Muzammil Shakeel, Dr. Adeel Ahmad Rather, Dr. Shaheen Shahid, and Dr. Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed. Another doctor, Umar Mohammad, was later identified as the suicide bomber in the Delhi blast case. Umar and his associates reportedly maintained active contact with their ISI handler and ISIS recruiters—their trail leads back to Pakistan. In a self-recorded video discovered later, Umar Mohammad justified his malicious plan and referred to it as a “martyrdom operation.” The video revealed his suicide bomber mindset and showed that he had extensively planned a large-scale terror attack.
Notably, Dr. Shaheen Shahid, a female doctor from Lucknow, has also been named in Delhi’s car blast case. This would be the first instance of a Muslim female doctor being arrested for alleged links to Islamist militants in South Asia. She is reportedly involved in Jaish-e-Mohammed’s women’s recruitment efforts in India. According to sources, JeM has recently launched a women’s wing—Jamaat ul Mominaat—reportedly led by Sadiya Azhar, the sister of JeM chief Masood Azhar. This group is believed to be training women for suicide missions, ostensibly under the guise of furthering their “freedom movement in Kashmir.”
The name George Habash—known as ‘al-Hakim,’ meaning “the doctor” or “the wise one”—may not be widely remembered today, yet his legacy remains significant in discussions about doctors involved in acts of terrorism. Habash founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in December 1967, an Arab militant group that not only opposed Israel’s existence but also advocated a one-state solution for the region. His influence extended to Sri Lanka, where many Tamil militants are believed to have received training under him. More broadly, in this writer’s view, Habash’s tactics—particularly the hijackings of three Western airliners to Amman, Jordan, in September 1970—may have served as an inspiration for Osama bin Laden’s orchestration of the 9/11 attacks.
Delhi has repeatedly been targeted by Pakistan-based terrorist groups, consistent with what analysts describe as Pakistan’s “bleed India by a thousand cuts” military doctrine, in place since 1965—a strategy aimed at weakening India through relentless, incremental attacks. In Delhi, most major terrorist incidents have occurred between October and November. One early notable incident took place on 21 May 1996, when a powerful bomb exploded in the busy Lajpat Nagar market, killing at least 13 people and injuring around 38 others.
The recent blast at Red Fort stands out compared to previous attacks on Indian soil and is a red alert for Indian intelligence. The key takeaway is that Pakistan-sponsored terrorists have begun to recruit professionals in India. Their aim appears to be re-establishing domestic Islamist terrorism, which was widely believed to have been suppressed. However, the Red Fort blast has brought this threat back to the forefront. This time, their terror strategy has shifted, targeting doctors, lecturers, software engineers, clerics, and university students, inspired by global jihadism.
Following the arrests and evidence collection, authorities believe that this “white-collar” network has adopted tactics from other global terrorist groups. Sources suggest the group had planned a series of attacks similar to the Red Fort blast, including drone strikes modeled on Hamas’s tactics and experiments with crude rocket fabrication.
Lashkar’s statement about using Bangladesh as a base for terrorist activities targeting India is a striking signal of a new development in terrorism in South Asia. While Pakistan-based extremist networks have a long history of targeting India, their ideological reach and recruitment efforts now extend far beyond India’s borders. Bangladesh has already emerged as a new base for Pakistan-backed jihadi operations; Nepal is showing early signs of radicalization; the Maldives has long struggled with jihadi networks; and Sri Lanka has recently experienced ISIS-related activities. Against this backdrop, the growing influence of Islamic terrorism originating from Pakistan poses significant risks to all of India’s smaller neighbors.
