The horrendous act of terrorism in Pahalgam-Kashmir on April 22, 2025, shocked not only the entire nation but also the whole world. It was a brutal act that brought the entire humanity to shame because it involved not only the killings of human beings but also a peculiar methodology of brutality before the killings. Though it is not the first time that such ethnic or religious cleansing has taken place in Kashmir, the last four decades have been full of such heinous crimes against humanity. The biggest and the primary victim of this terror ideology and machine is the community of Kashmiri Pandits -the indigenous people of Kashmir, who have been living in exile for more than 35 years in their own country. They have a long history of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Kashmir and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) was “constrained to admit that acts akin to genocide were committed against the Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir…” it was declared so by the Commission’s Court in its decision in 1999 on a complaint-case filed by this author.
Pahalgam will go down in history for betrayal, untrustworthiness and naked brutality on innocent people who were viciously trapped, caught, investigated about their religion, tortured and killed before their kith and kin. The killers of humanity made sure that the so-called Kashmiriyat, Insaniyat, Jamhooriat bla bla bla were a big “haivaniyat”. The argument of some apologists all along that ‘terrorism had no religion’ was torn into bits and pieces. The Hindu tourists in Kashmir were killed only because they were Hindus, and their kiths and kins were spared to tell the world the ghastly story of religious cleansing in the valley. They were also ‘instructed’ by the Islamic terrorists supported and sponsored by Pakistan, who committed crimes against humanity, to tell their story to the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi as to why and how their own were brutally killed by them.
It was the reenactment of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on a festival in Gaza-Israel, killing and kidnapping people who belonged to religions other than Islam. The ideological commitment and expertise to kill in such a fashion required intense indoctrination, religious education and military training, and for all these things, the Madrassas, the Pakistan Army and social support played a key role in destroying Kashmir all along and unfortunately, for a long time. It is almost impossible now to turn the clock back without a complete overhaul of the situation, keeping in view the local support for the acts of Islamic terrorism in the valley.
We have seen unconventional reactions coming from the people of the valley immediately after the unfortunate happenings, which raises doubts about the veracity of these so-called protests. A lot has been said and written in the context of the developments, and it remains unabated. The immediate protests-candle marches-bandh-slogan shouting against acts of genocide in Pahalgam throughout the Kashmir valley after the tragedy seemed all orchestrated, planned, abrupt and organised. Everything was just ready to be executed, but only after the gory massacre of Hindus. The protesters (the so-called mourners) couldn’t hide their smiling and laughing faces during the protests, and the media, particularly social media, exposed them thoroughly and profusely.
This author is reminded of the 19-20 January night of 1990 when people came on the streets ‘abruptly’ and raised slogans against the Pandit community, asking them to leave Kashmir without their womenfolk or get converted or get killed; the infamous war cry “Raliv-Galiv-Chaliv” is still in our ears. Everybody kept mum at that point and allowed things to happen that way. The result is before us. What was done to the Kashmiri Pandits in the valley should have been enough to learn the lessons, but the nation failed to learn them. The perception that terrorism could be defeated with tourism was unscientific and defied logic. Nowhere in the world has it happened, and Kashmir could have been no exception.
The government has taken cognisance of the grave situation in J&K and has taken some important steps as a consequence of the tragic incident. More steps are expected to be taken in the coming days. The whole nation stands outraged, and people have responded accordingly. Our nation and its government are due for certain decisions and actions for which we all need to have a clear vision of our past, present and future.
It is time to change gears. There is no need to buy the biggest joke of the world that ‘terrorism has no religion’, it has. This is Islamic-Terrorism, unless we recognise it like that, our fight against it can’t yield the desired results. The Muslim community needs to know it more than anybody else. They need to know how their people project their religion to destroy their moral ground as a part of the civilised world.
There is a need for an all-out operation against it; the whole nation will support the government. The mood and resolve of the nation is somewhat different this time. But terrorism will continue in one or the other fashion because, for Pakistan, it is a perpetual low-cost game that is being fought on someone else’s ground. They aren’t going to stop it.
We need to be determined to fight it to the finish, but while fighting this huge battle, we need not be led by any confusion about it. Any sort of delusional thinking or a confused perception or a wavering mindset about it will damage the whole process of combating the menace. It is Islamic terrorism that we have been fighting in one form or another for the last hundreds of years. Only the formats have changed.
This time, the nation has been hit differently, and our souls are bleeding. We don’t need to be swept away by the deceptive strategy, overtures and statements of our enemies within and outside the country. This whole low-intensity war by Pakistan and its support base in India par, particularly in Kashmir, is aimed at completing the unfinished task of the division of 1947. It will change faces and make us believe it doesn’t exist the way we believe it exists. That is part of the grand strategy that we need to know. Narratives and the correct Narratives have a significant role and value in modern affairs. There is a permanent need to call a spade a spade.
The meetings at the highest level of government hint at some important action against the state of Pakistan. Keeping in view the support within the country as well as from outside the country, the government is surely thinking of drastic action at various levels. Virtually the whole world has come in support of India and has unequivocally condemned the terror in Pahalgam. The decisions regarding the Indus Water Treaty, downsizing diplomatic staff at the Pakistan embassy in New Delhi, stoppage of cross-border trade with Pakistan, cancellation of visas and curtailment of further grant of visas to Pakistan nationals and banning some media channels and other media outlets of Pakistan in India are some of the very important steps that India has already taken.
The statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the nation’s defence forces would have functional freedom to act against Pakistan as and when necessary, coupled with the defence preparedness at other levels, is surely reassuring. But equally important to attend to for the government is the domestic sector. The support base of Islamic terror from J&K to Kerala and Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh needs appropriate treatment, urgent and absolute. Vigil on the border and the LoC requires review and improvement. The breeding grounds for extremism esp, especially religious extremism and fundamentalism, should be permanently destroyed.
The government, in the interest of the security and safety of the nation and particularly the Jammu and Kashmir UT, ought to explain the interpretation of its declaration in the parliament and the Supreme Court of India that the statehood would be given back to the J&K ‘at an appropriate time’ and ‘as soon as possible’. It should make it clear to the masses in general that statehood would be given back to the UT of J&K when terrorism is finished in the UT. The government must put the onus of destroying terrorism in J&K also on the shoulders of the citizens, political class, religious bodies, NGOs, intellectuals and the civil society of J&K. Such declaration in the context of statehood by the government will positively impact the ground, and society will generally be accountable to itself, historically and politically.
The direction of the Supreme Court of India to conduct elections for the assembly in the UT of J&K within a specified time was simply a balancing act while delivering the judgement on Article 370. This is particularly so when the main complainants in the case never asked for it and publicly disassociated themselves from such a demand. Whether the elections to the assembly have done anything good for the nation-state is for the Apex Court to ponder. Still, the government should also provide its frank opinion to the Supreme Court in this connection.
The abrogation of Article 370, etc, has done its job well. This process must be taken to a logical conclusion, slowly and steadily. The government and the national political class need to take this process ahead, considering the nation’s long-term goals and the security aspects of the entire issue. J&K are integral to the country, just like other states. The way the citizens of J&K are free to move, live, work and enjoy their life in any other state of India, so should the citizens of other states also be able to do in J&K. The government should provide the necessary environment for this with short-term and long-term targets. It is time to act on all fronts without wasting time to bring the required sanity to the socio-political environs of the Union Territory of J&K.
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