“The employment of innovative means by Hamas while attacking Israel on October 7, 2023, has raised alarm among security agencies across the world,” an Indian Army spokesperson told Newsweek.

“Requisite measures have been instituted along the Line of Control and International Border Sectors to thwart any such malafide attempts from across the Western Border,” the spokesperson added.

Kontrolllinjen är en vidsträckt, nästan 500 mil lång gräns som delar kärnvapenbeväpnade rivaler Indien och Pakistan över Kashmir. Liksom är fallet med den mycket mindre 40 mil långa barriären som skiljer Israel och den Hamas-kontrollerade Gazaremsan, har kontrolllinjen varit skådeplatsen för frekvent upprorsaktivitet såväl som ett antal högprofilerade sammandrabbningar och omfattande krig .

But with Hamas’ shock October assault sparking the deadliest-ever flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence that remains ongoing to this day, the spokesperson outlined some of the steps that have been taken to address emergent threats in the stretch Kashmir it administers, officially known as Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), as growing unrest in the Middle East threatens to spill over into South Asia.

“The Indian Army has established robust Counter Infiltration and Terror Grids in J&K in synchronization with other stakeholders,” the Indian Army spokesperson explained.

“Adequate troops are deployed in the grid along with niche technology equipment with the capability to dynamically readjust based on emerging operational situation,” the spokesperson continued. “Technological infusion has been undertaken to counter emerging drone/quadcopter threats, in concert with other stakeholders.”

Security measures in India-administered Kashmir were drastically increased after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to revoke the region’s semi-autonomous status in August 2019. The move, along with an ensuing crackdown designed to stamp out a decades-long insurgency waged by separatist groups, sparked international controversy, as well as outrage from Pakistan, which saw the move as a unilateral violation of attempts to settle Kashmir’s political status.

New Delhi har dock länge anklagat Islamabad för att sponsra olika miliser med islamistiska och separatistiska agendor över kontrolllinjen, och ser nu med misstänksamhet på pakistanska tjänstemäns ansträngningar för att skapa kopplingar mellan Kashmirs och palestinska kamper för självständighet.

“Pakistan continues to innovate and adapt its proxy war in J&K to keep the pot boiling and present a disturbed situation in J&K,” the Indian Army spokesperson said. “While so far, there have been no major attempts to link the two issues, the same cannot be ruled out in an attempt by Pakistan to highlight the Kashmir issue in the international fora.”

The two issues do, in fact, share some common roots. The bloody partition that gave birth to the rivalry between the modern nations of India and Pakistan and the territorial dispute that sparked the Israeli-Palestinian conflict both followed the United Kingdom’s withdrawals from colonial holdings in 1947 and 1948, respectively.

Medan New Delhi historiskt har uttryckt sympati för den palestinska saken och blev den första icke-arabiska nationen att erkänna Palestina Liberation Organization 1974, har Indien stärkt politiska, ekonomiska och till och med säkerhetsförbindelser med Israel sedan de upprättade officiella förbindelser 1992. Pakistan, den handen, har aldrig erkänt Israel, och dess stöd till palestinierna har förstärkts av gemensamma drag med Kashmirfrågan.

In a recent interview with Newsweek, Pakistani Permanent Representative to the United Nations Munir Akram asserted that “the Palestinian cause and Kashmir cause have been intertwined historically, but also because they depend on the same central principle of self-determination.”

The senior Pakistani diplomat argued that “the application of the principle of self-determination, if it succeeds in Palestine, will be a great boost to the application of the principle for Jammu and Kashmir.”

Akram rebuffed India’s accusations that his nation was behind militant activity in Kashmir and instead accused New Delhi of waging its own “hybrid war” through conventional means as well as the backing of non-state actors such as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan [TTP], also known as the Pakistani Taliban, and Balochi separatists.

Duellanklagelserna kommer mitt i stigande spänningar som tänds av en topp i militant aktivitet i regionen.

Iran and Pakistan, in particular, have suffered a series of deadly attacks by groups pushing ethnic separatist and Islamist agendas, including the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), in recent years, especially since the Afghan Taliban’s takeover over neighbouring Afghanistan.

Även om Teheran och Islamabad historiskt har försökt samarbeta i frågan, kokade frustrationerna över förra månaden när Iran genomförde missilattacker mot påstådda positioner för den militanta gruppen Jaish al-Adl på pakistanskt territorium, och pakistanska styrkor hämnades med attacker mot påstådda baluchi-rebellplatser i Iran. De två nationerna har sedan dess försökt laga sina slitna band, men militanta attacker fortsätter att undergräva den regionala säkerheten.

At a time when the war in Gaza was also prompting violent ripple effects, with non-state actors aligned with Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen opening new fronts, Indian and Pakistani officials have expressed concerns over the potential second-order effects for their own region.

“The security situation in the Middle East has a bearing on overall security situation in the region including India,” the Indian Army spokesperson said.

“The Indian Army remains cognizant of developments in the international security arena including the Middle East and adequate safeguards are put in place,” the spokesperson added, “along with a whole-of-government approach, to meet the emerging challenges.”