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The Jihad Game: Inside Pakistan’s Dark War
The Jihad Game lays bare how Pakistan’s army and ISI turned jihad into a weapon of statecraft and a way of waging permanent war against India. From the 1980s till today, from the blood-soaked alleys of Kashmir to the terror camps in Pakistan, this hard-hitting book exposes the networks of terror, money and manipulation that power Pakistan’s shadow war against India. It reveals how Pakistan’s military-intelligence complex built an ecosystem of militant groups, nurtured them over decades and continues to deploy them as instruments of chaos. Drawing on ground reports, first-hand interviews and sharp analysis, The Jihad Game uncovers the machinery that keeps the conflict alive and what India must do to break it.
This book is a chilling, clear-eyed account of Pakistan’s longest-running covert operation and the battles India must be ready to fight.
This book is a chilling, clear-eyed account of Pakistan’s longest-running covert operation and the battles India must be ready to fight.
347 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 10, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 26, 2026
Hey everyone, how are you all? I hope everyone is doing well. It's been quite sometime that I wrote a review and I believe this particular book can be counted as my first dedicated book on the issue of militancy, terrorism, Islamic radicalization and fundamentalism. Abhinav Pandya has done a good job of identifying key differences between different terror organizations, their motivating factor, their bonhomie with each other, their relationship with Pakistan military establishment(ISI) and most importantly, the lull after the abrogation of article 370 in Kashmir which people are confusing as an end of militancy and separatist feeling which is far away from ground reality.
The most amazing aspects of this books that I particularly liked can be enumerated here as follows:
1) When a layman like me think of any terror organization, it really didn't make much of a difference if it was Lashkar-e-taiba, Jaish-e-mohammad, Hizbul Mujahideen etc. However, this book made me realize that these differentiations matter as it helps us to understand the puppet master behind any particular terrorist activity and what can be their motivations behind it. For example, LeT is a terror organization which can be considered as an unofficial state arm of Pakistan military so they rarely cross their masters in the establishment i.e. ISI. However, Jaish functions differently because their commitment to Islam is paramount and in order to achieve its objectives, they won't hesitate to disobey ISI as well. HM is a local terror organization of India which provides ground support to the aforementioned foreign terror organizations
2) One of the most important things that the author highlighted is that the war on India by Pakistan and its affiliated agents is not a war based on geopolitics. It is a Islamic fundamentalist war on India because they consider non-muslims to be kafirs and they would stop at nothing to carry out their objective of Ghazwa-e-Hind which is establishment of Islamic Caliphate in India. He has categorically said that Indian establishment tends to dissect in its narrative that their war is against terrorism and they harbor no ill will against the Pakistan as a nation but what we fail to realize is that Pakistan's birth's basis itself is its Muslim identity and Islamic tenets cannot reconcile with secularism. India needs to learn to be unabashed in its declaration of war on Pakistan because if their existence is predicted on our extinguishment then at the very least we need to return the favor in kind. Pakistan's disintegration is the only solution left
3) The last but not the least is that in the last 30 years of Islamic radicalization, Kashmir has literally turned into an international breeding ground of rabid Islamization. All the stories of Sufi syncretism with Hindus and their peace loving attitude is lionized at best and barely resembles any ground reality in today's Kashmir. Doing away with article 370 alone cannot detox the local population as well known Islamic clerics and speakers are coming to India to declare their solidarity with Kashmir and now even Kerala and West Bengal seems to be within their grip. We as Indians need to wake up and smell the coffee, as J Sai Deepak often says, because Kashmir seems to be a lost cause unless the state remains a UT without any existence of regional political parties
Definitely worth a read for someone who is planning to begin understanding Islamic dreams for Indian subcontinent
The most amazing aspects of this books that I particularly liked can be enumerated here as follows:
1) When a layman like me think of any terror organization, it really didn't make much of a difference if it was Lashkar-e-taiba, Jaish-e-mohammad, Hizbul Mujahideen etc. However, this book made me realize that these differentiations matter as it helps us to understand the puppet master behind any particular terrorist activity and what can be their motivations behind it. For example, LeT is a terror organization which can be considered as an unofficial state arm of Pakistan military so they rarely cross their masters in the establishment i.e. ISI. However, Jaish functions differently because their commitment to Islam is paramount and in order to achieve its objectives, they won't hesitate to disobey ISI as well. HM is a local terror organization of India which provides ground support to the aforementioned foreign terror organizations
2) One of the most important things that the author highlighted is that the war on India by Pakistan and its affiliated agents is not a war based on geopolitics. It is a Islamic fundamentalist war on India because they consider non-muslims to be kafirs and they would stop at nothing to carry out their objective of Ghazwa-e-Hind which is establishment of Islamic Caliphate in India. He has categorically said that Indian establishment tends to dissect in its narrative that their war is against terrorism and they harbor no ill will against the Pakistan as a nation but what we fail to realize is that Pakistan's birth's basis itself is its Muslim identity and Islamic tenets cannot reconcile with secularism. India needs to learn to be unabashed in its declaration of war on Pakistan because if their existence is predicted on our extinguishment then at the very least we need to return the favor in kind. Pakistan's disintegration is the only solution left
3) The last but not the least is that in the last 30 years of Islamic radicalization, Kashmir has literally turned into an international breeding ground of rabid Islamization. All the stories of Sufi syncretism with Hindus and their peace loving attitude is lionized at best and barely resembles any ground reality in today's Kashmir. Doing away with article 370 alone cannot detox the local population as well known Islamic clerics and speakers are coming to India to declare their solidarity with Kashmir and now even Kerala and West Bengal seems to be within their grip. We as Indians need to wake up and smell the coffee, as J Sai Deepak often says, because Kashmir seems to be a lost cause unless the state remains a UT without any existence of regional political parties
Definitely worth a read for someone who is planning to begin understanding Islamic dreams for Indian subcontinent
January 15, 2026
Detailed Book Review: https://yayaver.blogspot.com/2026/01/...
The Jihad Game: Inside Pakistan’s Dark War by Abhinav Pandya offers a detailed investigative account of how Pakistan's military, ISI, and jihadi networks transformed jihad into a core element of statecraft against India, focusing on Kashmir from the 1970s to today. Abhinav Pandya, a counter-terrorism expert, examines religious sectarianism, militant evolution, diverse terror networks, and India's policy shortcomings in the region.
Spanning 27 chapters, the book traces jihad origins, network growth, societal impacts, events like Article 370 abrogation and Operation Sindhu, plus ISI threats and countermeasures. It delivers policy recommendations for India against this enduring shadow war. Though well-researched with field depth, loose editing leaves key arguments implied, hindering narrative cohesion for tighter impact. Ideal for Kashmir-aware readers seeking strategic revelations.
The Jihad Game: Inside Pakistan’s Dark War by Abhinav Pandya offers a detailed investigative account of how Pakistan's military, ISI, and jihadi networks transformed jihad into a core element of statecraft against India, focusing on Kashmir from the 1970s to today. Abhinav Pandya, a counter-terrorism expert, examines religious sectarianism, militant evolution, diverse terror networks, and India's policy shortcomings in the region.
Spanning 27 chapters, the book traces jihad origins, network growth, societal impacts, events like Article 370 abrogation and Operation Sindhu, plus ISI threats and countermeasures. It delivers policy recommendations for India against this enduring shadow war. Though well-researched with field depth, loose editing leaves key arguments implied, hindering narrative cohesion for tighter impact. Ideal for Kashmir-aware readers seeking strategic revelations.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews