Pakistan, April 16 -- Systemic failures have a way of demanding attention, no matter how aggressively a state attempts to curate its image on the global stage. The recent eruption of violent dissent in Uttar Pradesh, following similar fissures in Manipur and Odisha, serves as a visceral indictment of a governance model that prioritises hyper-nationalist rhetoric over the basic economic dignity of its citizens. Yet, instead of addressing the structural rot within its industrial corridors, the Indian leadership has chosen to weaponise the 'Pakistan Card, ' a clumsy attempt to distract the international community from Pakistan's successful mediation in the Islamabad Dialogues.

This diversionary tactic is as transparent as it is repetitive, ...