By: Lt Col JS Sodhi (Retd), Editor, GSDN

In the succeeding 24 years after India got independence and Pakistan emerged as a new nation in 1947, the two neighbours in South Asia went to war thrice with each other in 1947-49, 1965 and 1971, with Pakistan getting defeated in each of these three wars. In the 1971 War, Pakistan suffered a crushing defeat resulting in Pakistan being split in two nations with the emergence of Bangladesh on December 16, 1971.

Clearly, Pakistan realised at a heavy cost that would scar it permanently, that militarily it was impossible to defeat India. On January 24, 1972, a little over a month after Pakistan had lost East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, in the city of Multan in the Punjab province of Pakistan, a conference was held, presided over by the Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto which came to be known as the Multan Conference.

The Multan Conference was the strategic planning session for Pakistan’s military establishment and in it three important decisions were taken for Pakistan’s future. One, Pakistan would go nuclear. Two, Pakistan will wage a war for Jammu & Kashmir at a suitable time. Three, Pakistan would bleed India with attrition through low-intensity conflict.

On July 05, 1977, General Zia-ul-Haq, the Chief of the Army Staff of the Pakistan Army, seized power in a coup d’etat by over-throwing Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and anointed himself as the Chief Martial Law Administrator. The same year, the earlier decision taken in the Multan Conference of bleeding India with attrition through low-intensity conflict was formalised as a military doctrine called “Bleed India with a Thousand Cuts” and is till date taught to mid-level officers of the Pakistan Army, Navy and Air Force undergoing the Staff Course in the Command and Staff College, Quetta.

Pakistan first put to use this military doctrine of “Bleed India with a Thousand Cuts” in Punjab, India where it supported terrorism from 1980 till 1995 when terrorism was wiped out from this border state of India. Terrorism in Punjab that lasted for 15 years saw 13,442 civilians and security forces personnel being killed.

As terrorism was waning in Punjab, in end-1989 Pakistan started supporting terrorism in another border state of India, Jammu & Kashmir where terrorism still continues for over 36 years. Till 2024, total of 42,143 civilians and security forces personnel have been killed in Jammu & Kashmir due to the ongoing terrorism.

Pakistan has a long history of being funded by the global monetary institutions because of its precarious economy. Part of the international loans is channeled by Pakistan to the terrorist organisations.

On April 22, 2025, Pakistan-armed and trained terrorists killed 26 male tourists in Baisaran Meadows, a picturesque and popular tourist spot in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir based on religious profiling. Amongst these 26 dead were 25 Indian citizens and one Nepali citizen.

India struck back at Pakistan militarily in the wee hours of May 07, 2025. In the 88-hour India-Pakistan Conflict that ensued, India destroyed nine terrorist training centres in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Jammu & Kashmir in a military strike called Operation Sindoor, apart from damaging 20% of the infrastructure of the Pakistan Air Force. The details of this military operation are in a podcast by the author.

As Operation Sindoor was in full force and fury by India, and Pakistan had launched the counter-offensive called Operation Bunyan um-Marsoos, came the news that the International Monetary Fund, a major financial agency of the United Nations, has sanctioned loan worth US$ 2.4 billion to Pakistan.

And if this wasn’t enough, soon after the India-Pakistan Ceasefire came into effect at 5 pm on May 10, 2025 as the 59-member Indian delegation was touring 32-nations in seven-groups, to apprise the world of Pakistan’s complicity and culpability in supporting terrorism in India and the spectacular victory of India over Pakistan in the 88-hour conflict, the World Bank sanctioned US$ 40 billion loan to Pakistan on May 31, 2025 and the Asian Development Bank approved US$ 800 million loan to Pakistan on June 03, 2025.

The World Bank headquartered in Washington D.C., like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are totally controlled by the USA, while the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with its headquarters in Manila, Philippines too has a strong tilt towards USA.

In the World Bank, the USA has 49.98% voting power, while both Russia and China have 2.61% each and India has 2.53% voting power.

USA has 17.42% of the voting rights in the IMF while Russia has 2.71% and China has 0.37%. The other members of the four-nation Quad which includes the USA, Japan, India and Australia, have voting percentage in the IMF as Japan with 6.47%, India 2.75% and Australia with 1.38%. Thus, the Quad nations have a total of 28.02% voting share in the IMF.

As of December 31, 2020 the USA and Japan control 15.571% of the shares of the ADB while China controls 6.429%, India controls 6.317% of the shares and Australia 5.773%. The Quad nations in the ADB control 43.232% voting shares.

Clearly, the USA is the most dominant player in all the three biggest global financial institutions the World Bank, the IMF and the ADB. And if the combined voting power of the four-nation Quad is taken, then the Quad is a reckonable force in all the three major international monetary institutions.

Pakistan has 80 terrorist groups operating with over 40,000 operatives who are waging the war on India from the Pakistani soil. India has on numerous occasions submitted documents and dossiers to Pakistan of these terrorist groups, apart from raising the issue of Pakistan’s support to terrorism in various international forums including the United Nations.

And yet, Pakistan with ease got the loans from these three monetary institutions after its armed and trained terrorists killed 26 persons in Pahalgam, India on April 22, 2025. This is the curious case of global funding of Pakistan even as it supports terrorism. 

It is no brainer that both money and religious indoctrination are the two biggest factors on which terrorism thrives. And if the financial supply chain is severed, the religious indoctrination can’t last long.

Pakistan is the only country in the world that has good relations with all the three superpowers ie USA, Russia and China. A recent article in this publication explains this issue in detail.

Sample the following two statements by senior US officials in the recent past. On October 21, 2011, the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton while on a visit to Pakistan remarked in reference to terrorism “You can’t keep snakes in your backyard and expect them to only bite your neighbour”. On October 15, 2022, Joe Biden the US President stated that Pakistan is one of the most dangerous nations in the world.

Also, the USA had selective amnesia when it played the pivotal role in Pakistan getting the loans from the World Bank, the IMF and the ADB after the Pahalgam terrorist attack, that the world’s most dreaded terrorist Osama bin Laden, responsible for the 9/11 World Trade Centre terrorist attacks that killed 2977 American citizens, was killed on May 02, 2011 in Abbottabad, Pakistan by the US Special Forces.

The other Quad nations Japan and Australia too did not stand with India to oppose the loans to Pakistan from the World Bank, the IMF and the ADB.

The world has to stop funding Pakistan. Till Pakistan gets monetary aid, it will funnel money to the terrorist organisations which have been carrying out death and destruction in India for the past 45 years.

Money after all, is the most powerful weapon in the world.

Milton Friedman’s quote needs no reemphasis in the context of Pakistan’s global funding and its support to terrorism “Money is a very powerful thing, which you hardly notice when it goes right, but which can create havoc when it goes wrong”.