False-flag operation in Khuzdar? Decoding the suspected suicide attack on school bus in Balochistan and Pakistan’s desperation to malign India

The tragic suicide attack on a school bus in Khuzdar, Balochistan, reported on May 21, which killed six people—including four children, a bus driver, and a security guard—has rightly drawn international condemnation. 

But amid the grief and anger, the Pakistani establishment was quick to level the usual, yet unsubstantiated, allegation: that India was behind the attack. Such hasty scapegoating raises critical questions—not just about Pakistan’s credibility and its intent to get to the bottom of the tragedy, but also about the possibility that this entire episode might have been a false-flag operation orchestrated by the Pakistani military-intelligence nexus. The timing, location, victims, and even photographic evidence from the scene do not just provoke doubt; they demand scrutiny.

An inexplicable target and a dubious timeline

The most glaring red flag in this entire saga is the Balochistan Education Department’s own directive, which ordered the closure of all schools and educational institutions in the province from May 17 to July 31. Why, then, were children traveling in a school bus on May 21—a full four days after the mandated closure? This simple yet damning inconsistency erodes the narrative of a genuine civilian-targeted attack. 

And if this incident took place before May 17, why did it take four days for Pakistani media to report it?

If the institutions were closed officially, either the children were not supposed to be in school or the bus was being used for a different, undisclosed purpose. This opens up the disturbing possibility that the victims were either deliberately placed in harm’s way or the attack scene was manipulated after the fact to fit a particular narrative.

Suspicious evidence and unscathed school bags

Visual evidence released from the site further undermines Pakistan’s claim. The explosion reportedly resulted in fatalities and several injuries, yet pictures from the scene show children’s school bags intact and undamaged, a highly unlikely outcome in a genuine suicide bombing. In real-world high-intensity blast scenarios, particularly those targeting confined vehicles, even personal belongings of the victims rarely survive the force unscathed.

These inconsistencies cast serious doubt not just on the mechanics of the attack, but on the intentions behind it. Was this tragedy staged or manipulated to create international outrage, with children tragically sacrificed or falsely used as pawns in Pakistan’s political theatre?

A pattern of concocted victimhood

The Pakistani establishment has, time and again, resorted to false flag operations and blame games to either justify military escalation or gain diplomatic leverage. This latest incident suspiciously coincides with India’s successful ongoing military action under ‘Operation Sindoor’ and subsequent diplomatic outreach, an initiative aimed at exposing Pakistan’s state-sponsored terrorism and tightening the noose around its sympathizers on global forums. 

Just days prior to the Khuzdar attack, Indian fighter jets decimated nine terror camps across Pakistan and PoK in response to the heinous Pahalgam terror attack, which killed dozens of Indian pilgrims and civilians after they were identified as Hindus. Pictures released subsequently revealed the funeral attendance of Pakistani army officers and police personnel alongside UN-designated terrorists, strengthening India’s case that the terror infrastructure in Pakistan is not just thriving—but institutionalized.

Faced with global scrutiny and diplomatic isolation, Pakistan needed a narrative shift. What better way to do that than by portraying itself as a victim of ‘Indian terrorism’? The Khuzdar attack, therefore, appears less like a genuine act of terror and more like a desperate attempt to recalibrate international optics.

The Baloch context: A history of repression

To understand why Balochistan, specifically, becomes the theatre for such false flag operations, one must grasp the region’s status. Balochistan is not merely a province; it is a land under military occupation, whose people have for decades resisted the forced integration into the Pakistani state.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and other resistance groups frequently target Pakistani military installations and personnel. In fact, a chilling video released by the BLA recently showed BLA operatives neutralizing several Pakistani soldiers in a high-profile ambush. Given this context, the Pakistani military’s need to retaliate—not against combatants, but symbolically—cannot be overlooked.

Rather than confronting the BLA militarily, which carries the risk of further humiliation, loss and push the country on the brink of balkanisation, the Pakistani establishment may have chosen a crueler path: a false flag attack on soft targets such as children designed to execute the operation effectively while evoking maximum emotional impact to effect a change in global narrative.

A familiar propaganda machine

Almost on cue, Pakistan’s foreign office accused India of orchestrating the attack, without offering a shred of credible evidence. This isn’t new. It’s practically doctrine.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs, through spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, issued a categorical rejection:

“India rejects the baseless allegations made by Pakistan regarding Indian involvement with the incident in Khuzdar earlier today… it has become second nature for Pakistan to blame India for all its internal issues.”

This “second nature” is not just rhetorical—it’s strategic. From the Pulwama incident to Operation Sindoor, Pakistan has time and again weaponized disinformation to muddy waters and create false equivalence between its terror-exporting policies and India’s counter-terrorism efforts. In a country perennially struggling with English, it even allowed one of its Air Force officers to become a butt of all jokes as he senselessly trotted out ‘Centre of Gravity’ phrase to sound intelligent and profound for a population raised on madrassa education.

The larger picture: Discrediting Operation Sindoor

Operation Sindoor is not just India’s diplomatic outreach—it’s a counteroffensive to decades of Pakistani terror support. With momentum building and nations recognizing India’s credible evidence against Pakistan-based terror groups, Islamabad finds itself cornered.

The Khuzdar incident, whether staged or opportunistically manipulated, is Pakistan’s clumsy attempt to paint India as an aggressor and reset the narrative. But the inconsistencies, especially the school closure order and suspicious post-blast evidence, expose the fragility of this fabrication.

If anything, this tragic event reaffirms the moral bankruptcy of the Pakistani military establishment, which seems willing to exploit even its own children to maintain its control over a crumbling ideological edifice. The real victims here are not just the dead and wounded, but the truth itself.

What the world must do

The international community must demand an independent investigation into the Khuzdar bombing—preferably led by the United Nations or neutral third-party observers. If Pakistan resists such oversight, it only strengthens the suspicion of foul play.

More importantly, global powers must recognize the systemic manipulation of terror narratives by Pakistan’s military to achieve geopolitical aims. False flag operations, staged tragedies, and unsubstantiated blame-games are not just diplomatic tactics—they are crimes against the very principles of international law and human rights.

As India continues to present verifiable evidence of terror camps, cross-border support for insurgency, and state complicity, the burden of proof now lies on Pakistan—not India.

Let this be a moment of reckoning—not just for Balochistan, but for the world’s willingness to call out propaganda masquerading as victimhood.

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