The torpid town of Pahalgam in the Anantnag district of Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, on the banks of the Lidder River overlooking the Betaab Valley is considered a sacred town in Hindu mythology. The town forms the base camp for the Amarnath Yatra to the Amarnath temple that takes place annually in the temperate months, resulting in a seasonal influx of pilgrims and is an important revenue generator for the Kashmiri populace. On 22nd of April 2025, the panoramic meadows of the Baisaran Valley bore witness to bedlam and a sick cold-blooded barbarity as insurgents and terrorists from The Resistance Front, the designated terrorist organization in India, off-shooted from the cadres of the Laskar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahiddin and responsible for more than 25 imbecilic attacks on paramilitary security forces, government employees and the minority communities of Jammu & Kashmir – massacred 26 tourists on religious grounds.
Prima facie, it appears as a serious breakdown in security protocols and points to a massive intelligence failure in the Valley. Questions will be asked as to why the dense pine forests surrounding the Baisaran meadows were not heavily guarded in view of the under way tourist season, despite the recent similar attacks in 2024 at Reasi and the 2023 Anantnag encounter of the militants with the security forces. As with the previous attacks, the militants came armed with M4 NATO carbines and the Chinese knock-offs of the Kalashnikova assault rifles, wearing military-styled gear to access the valley. 26 tourists were massacred in gruesome fashion on sectarian grounds. The local traders and guides tried to their best to stop the mayhem, leading to deaths and several injuries amongst them as well. It was a brutal act of cowardice and sick in mentality and execution, and is rightly being condemned across all political and social spectrums nationally and internationally.
As the National Investigative Agency (NIA) investigates this terrorist incident and counter-terrorist operations have commenced to identify the perpetrators and flush them out, Indo-Pak relations are once more in the spotlight. “Bleeding India with a Thousand Cuts” is a well-established military doctrine followed by the Pakistani military against India from the 1970’s till now. The repercussions of this was evident in the Sikh/Khalistani secessionist movement, the setting up of terrorist training camps all along Pakistan forward-areas to perform covert, low-intensity guerrilla warfare on a regular basis with the military aid of the Pakistani Rangers, Levies Force and the Frontier Constabulary, and the funding to North-Eastern militant and insurgent groups along the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region.
Pakistan swiftly dismissed all allegations of its involvement in the attack, akin a plausible deniability, denouncing the attacks as “home-grown” and “revolutionary” in nature. India’s response is decisive and rightly so – the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty, closure of the integrated check post at Attari–Wagah Border, a travel ban for all Pakistani nationals to India under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme and cancellation of all previously issued visas. Military and political liaisons at both countries are downgraded, with Pakistan similarly considering the Indian political retaliation as an “act of war” and closing the Pakistani airspace to Indian flights along with suspension of the Shimla Agreement of 1972 and other bilateral agreements & trade.
India should not fall back on the age-old mantra of following a jingoist foreign policy along with diplomatic detangling, which only rebounds and reverses in another proxy war mongering and seems to go on forever. What India first needs to do is to ask some hard-hitting questions to her bureaucracy and policy planners – How did this intelligence failure happen? Why was a notable tourist spot reeling from previous violence and bloodthirst from last year not adequately protected and covered by paramilitary and military forces? Why was there a complacency of this magnitude where almost 2000 tourists were led into an unsecured area without a proper bandobast and a lacklustre response time? Who is to take blame and accountability for this terrorist attack – The Ministry of Home Affairs or the National Security Advisor?
When India has symptomatic problems, one often ponders whether the changes proclaimed and rhetorically promoted by the Govt. of India in the UT of Jammu & Kashmir were aesthetic or cosmetic changes only. The Pahalgam attack is a very tragic incident highlighting the dangers of religious fanaticism and terrorism. It’s a complex issue with far-reaching consequences and conclusions foregone, including potential escalation of cross-national violence and increased tensions between communities on sectarian and communal grounds. Before hankering to the populist chants of going to war and jingoistic rhetoric made by nationalists on intellectual online forums, addressing the root causes of extremism in the Valley and securing the gaps and voids remain crucial.
Dr Shadab Ahmed is an Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon, and a noted columnist, Author and poet on Indian History.
