2 weeks Ago
A civilian massacre in the Baisaran valley, located in South Kashmir’s famed tourist resort Pahalgam, has united Kashmiris in grief. There is unconditional solidarity with the survivors. The mood is sombre.
There is an atmosphere of uncertainty and insecurity. Everywhere, there is fear. But there is also hope that the human spirit stays intact at the time of a massive tragedy.
On the afternoon of April 22, 2025, the sun was out in the capital Srinagar . It had been playing hide and seek for some days before the fateful day. In Pahalgam, the visitors were cheerful.
Many seemed to be enjoying their holiday in Kashmir’s “mini-Switzerland”, the Baisaran valley, perhaps thinking and believing the oft-repeated phrase that “all is well” in Kashmir. Five days ago, the vagaries of weather had forced the closure of Highway 44 that connects the Kashmir valley to the Jammu plains. Incessant rains, which triggered flash floods in some places, led to the highway being shut down.
A cloudburst hit the Ramban area, which led to five deaths. Baisaran Valley is not very far from Ramban and is roughly 110 km from Srinagar. It was a pleasant afternoon, about 10 minutes before 3 pm, when several militants, dressed in what eyewitnesses later described as combat uniforms, and armed with assault rifles and automatic weapons, appeared at the spot, which was at that time flooded with tourists.
Eyewitness accounts recalled that more than two dozen tourists were lined up in Baisaran, asked about their identity, and their bodies then showered with bullets. Baisaran is reached by a non-motorable road that has limited cellular and internet connectivity. It is often used by enthusiastic trekkers and hikers.
The elderly are usually aided by local pony wallahs. It is a popular tourist spot, its rolling meadows reminiscent of many movie scenes. This ordinary, cheerful place was turned into a slaughterhouse in a trice, turning the lives of several families upside down.
Survivors said the firing continued for eight to 10 minutes. More than two dozen persons were killed, including a foreigner and a Kashmiri native, by the terrorists who appeared to be trained gunmen. Also Read | Jammu and Kashmir: The battle that lies beyond elections According to defence experts, the militants probably chose the non-motorable and tough terrain in the forested area of Pahalgam since it “provides cover and more opportunities and safety than the hinterland”.
As the news of the tragedy filtered down to the other parts of the Valley, the streets and highways slowly emptied of people, who were driven indoors by fear and sorrow, turning all of Kashmir into a ghost town. Panic mode That day, Kashmir had tourists from across India—Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and elsewhere. Some were clamouring to leave, cancelling hotel bookings, trying to advance air tickets.
The fear in their eyes was palpable. Others decided to stay put, in defiance. Pradeep Kumar Chouhan, a tourist in his early 40s, had come to Kashmir with his family.
At the time of the Pahalgam tragedy, the Chouhans were having fun in north Kashmir’s renowned ski resort, Gulmarg. The family was returning to New Delhi in haste when this correspondent caught up with Chouhan. “I came here to enjoy a family holiday.
I thought everything is good here and we should see what Kashmir looks like. It is a good place to visit but what happened (in Pahalgam) is not good for tourists. It is not good for Kashmir either,” Chouhan told Frontline.
Drishti Singh, a visitor from Pune in her late 20s, said that security is fragile but the kind of help Kashmiris were offering to the tourists was exemplary. “In the midst of this tragic moment, the unwavering support of Kashmiris is keeping the human spirit alive. Local volunteers are coming out to help the affected,” she told Frontline .
United in solidarity On April 23, the entire Valley observed a complete shutdown in protest of the Pahalgam attack. All educational institutions and business houses were shut. At Srinagar’s city centre, Lal Chowk, named after Moscow’s Red Square, trade body leaders and political actors registered a symbolic demonstration.
With messages such as “Violence will never win”, “Stop innocent killings”, and “Tourists Kashmir ki jaan hai ” (tourists are Kashmir’s lifeline) written on placards, the protesters raised slogans against the killings. Employees in offices observed a two-minute silence in solidarity with the victims and survivors. In the evening, there were candlelight vigils.
The Srinagar-based Federation of Chambers of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) offered support for the “Kashmir Bandh” call given by various social, trade, and religious bodies, including the influential United Association of Scholars or Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU), headed by Kashmir’s head priest and moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq . “The inhumane act has shaken the conscience of the entire Valley. Those who came to our homeland seeking peace, beauty, and the legendary Kashmiri hospitality were instead met with brutality and terror.
It is not just an assault on our visitors, but an attack on the very identity and cherished values of Kashmir,” said the FCIK leader Shakeel Qalandar. A boatman holds a placard against the Pahalgam tourist attack, at Dal Lake in Srinagar on April 24. Around 3.
5 million tourists visited Kashmir in 2024, the majority of them domestic visitors. | Photo Credit: TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP Mirwaiz Umar condemned the Pahalgam attack, saying such gruesomeness was abhorred in Islam. “Another day of carnage in the blood-soaked history of Kashmir when visiting tourists are mercilessly killed.
Hapless people of Kashmir know the pain and grief that such tragedies inflict on the loved ones,” he said. Mirwaiz Molvi Mohammad Farooq Shah, the father of the current Mirwaiz, was himself assassinated on 21 May 1990 by suspected militants at his Srinagar residence. ‘Normalcy a mirage’ Those who understand the pulse of Kashmir have been issuing warnings for some time now that showcasing tourism figures as a “normalcy symbol” could prove fatal.
The “normalcy narrative”, commentators pointed out, was problematic in more ways than one. Anuradha Bhasin , managing editor of the respected English newspaper Kashmir Times and author of A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir After Article 370 , told Frontline that “normalcy has proved to be a mirage in Kashmir”. “Kashmiris do not condone attacks on tourists, pilgrims, and civilians.
What happened in Pahalgam is a massacre. Such acts also adversely impact the region’s economy,” said Bhasin, who is currently based in the US. Pravin Sawhney, a former Army officer and presently editor of Force magazine that covers India’s national security and defence affairs, ruled out that this incident could lead to an all-out India-Pakistan war.
But he also warned that New Delhi walking out of the Indus Waters Treaty (1960) could be a disaster move. According to Sawhney, three major factors have converged since India revoked Articles 370 and 35A in August 2019. “First, the constant narrative perpetrated by Indian media channels that Kashmir is normal.
This is what also led to tourists going to Pahalgam. This is wrong. The reality is that Kashmir is a war zone,” Sawhney told Frontline .
He said that evidence suggests that there is no reduction in the presence of armed forces in Kashmir. “Every Friday, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is placed under house arrest and not allowed to lead the prayers. You have over 83,000 domicile certificates being issued to outsiders [non-Kashmiris] for permanent residency to change the demography of the place.
And then there is a Chief Minister [ Omar Abdullah ], who has a mandate of 50 MLAs, but looks like more of an assistant to the Lieutenant Governor [Manoj Sinha].” Sawhney, who has authored several books, including Dragon on Doorsteps: Managing China Through Military Power , The Last War: How AI will Shape India’s Final Showdown with China , and The Defence Makeover: 10 Myths that Shape India’s Image , emphasised the external dimension of the Kashmir issue. According to him, the current Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir is under tremendous domestic and international pressure.
“Asim Munir delivered a virulent hate speech recently. He rubbished the National Security Policy of Pakistan unveiled in April 2022, which spoke of peace, connectivity, and development in the region. A man under pressure can go to any extent,” Sawhney said.
The third important factor, as per the defence expert, is China. “China does not want war, but Beijing is committed to supporting Pakistan’s sovereignty since August 2019. This means that both in peace and war times, China’s huge non-kinetic abilities will be available to the Pakistan military.
As far as war is concerned, the Chinese PLA and the Pakistani Army have interoperability and interchangeability.” A war will thus not be in India’s favour by any stretch of the imagination. New Delhi’s response Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia to attend an emergency meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah, Minister for External Affairs S.
Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval , among others. After a Cabinet Committee of Security (CCS) meeting in New Delhi, Rajnath Singh issued a warning about swift retaliation and an appropriate response to the Pahalgam attack, without naming Pakistan. On April 23, India announced a slew of measures against Pakistan, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, expulsion of Pakistani nationals from India within the next 48 hours, and the closure of the important Attari border post in Punjab.
The Modi-led government also said that no Pakistani national would be entertained in India under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation visa exemption initiative. Family members of Shubham Dwivedi, who was killed in the Pahalgam terrorist attack, mourn after his mortal remains were brought to his residence, in Kanpur on April 24. | Photo Credit: PTI While India has blamed Pakistan for the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan has denied any involvement.
Abdul Basit, former Ambassador to Germany and High Commissioner to India, posted a video of his analysis on X (formerly Twitter) in which he dubbed the Pahalgam attack a “false flag” operation (an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual perpetrator to pin blame on another party). According to Basit, with its economy and security in a mess, “Pakistan cannot afford any escalation”. There is no doubt that Islamabad is in dire straits.
After the US withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, its relations with Pakistan dropped significantly. Besides, Pakistan’s economy is in the doldrums. No relief or bailouts appear to be forthcoming either from the US or the Gulf states.
But, as some experts say, this could be precisely the reason it has upped the ante in Kashmir, to attract world attention. China, meanwhile, is involved in massive investment projects inside Pakistan. Billions of dollars have been poured into infrastructure as part of China’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative .
Besides this, there is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. A top politician in Kashmir, requesting anonymity, told Frontline that “the Pahalgam attack could not have happened without China’s tacit approval”. Officially however, like other major global players, China too condemned the Pahalgam attack.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has announced a relief package for survivors of the Pahalgam attack. His government said it would provide Rs.10 lakh each to the families of those killed; Rs.
2 lakh to those who sustained serious injuries, and Rs.1 lakh to those with minor injuries. Meanwhile, The Resistance Front (TRF) purportedly claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack.
The J&K Police believes the TRF and other armed groups such as the Peoples’ Anti-Fascists Force (PAFF) are shadow outfits of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. Past memories The Pahalgam attack has revived memories of another horrific attack that took place in March 2000, when more than 30 members of the Sikh community were gunned down by unknown assailants in South Kashmir’s Chattisinghpora in Anantnag district. At that time, Bill Clinton was the US President and on a visit to India.
This time around, the attack coincided with the visit of the US Vice President James David Vance with his Indian origin wife and their three children. Five days after the Chattisinghpora massacre, the then commanding officer of 7 Rashtriya Rifles and his team had rounded up and killed five people in Pathribal village in Anantnag, whom they termed as the “foreign mercenaries” responsible for the terror attack. Later, it turned out that those killed in the Army “encounter” were local labourers.
After intense protests, the bodies of the five civilians were exhumed, and DNA tests conducted then proved that they were villagers. After investigation, the CBI told the Supreme Court in March 2012 that the killing of civilians dubbed as “foreign terrorists” were “cold-blooded murders” and that the accused soldiers “deserved exemplary punishment”. Unequivocal condemnation Major unionists in the valley offered unequivocal and unconditional condemnation of the Pahalgam attack.
Dr Farooq Abdullah, president of the National Conference and former Chief Minister, described the attack as a “despicable crime against humanity”. Omar Abdullah, the current Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, described the assault as an “abomination”. He said that targeting tourists was an act of sheer brutality and inhumanity.
“This attack on our visitors is an abomination. The perpetrators are animals—inhuman and worthy of contempt. No words of condemnation are enough,” the junior Abdullah said.
Waheed Parra , youth leader of the Peoples Democratic Party and MLA from South Kashmir’s Pulwama constituency, called it a “civilian massacre”. “This is an attack on innocent civilians and tourists. This is an attack on all of us.
Besides our economy, the incident will also cripple the peace process and stability in Kashmir,” Parra told Frontline . Parra argued that the Pahalgam incident had created fear and instability not just in Kashmir but also outside the Valley. “It is an attack on what we collectively represent.
We are warm and hospitable people and this happening to our guests puts a huge question mark,” the PDP legislator said, while lauding the efforts of the political and trade groups who had unanimously came out to deplore the attack. Similarly, People’s Conference leader Sajad Lone said in a conversation with Frontline that what happened in Pahalgam was an assault on the region’s centuries-old culture of hospitality. “It is a very horrific incident.
It is very cruel,” Lone told Frontline . “As a Kashmiri and a politician, as an inhabitant of this place, we have an identity of being very hospitable people, welcoming our guests. They [armed militants] have smeared our identity and tradition.
This tragedy makes our tradition unrecognizable and perhaps irretrievable.” Lone said that the gunmen had struck at the basic economic and social existence of Kashmiris. “My condemnation is unconditional.
Rabid mad people can come up anywhere and destroy the peace and tranquillity of that place. If we link their acts with any claims and counterclaims, they [militants] get emboldened by that. They are terrorists and they have assaulted our tradition of hospitality.
” In the pall of gloom, Lone said “the single shining light is the way the people of Kashmir have reacted. There is total unanimity and exhibition of contempt and disdain for what has happened (in Pahalgam).” Also Read | Autonomy: The Kashmir Story | A Frontline Perspectives documentary Meanwhile, some people are questioning the government’s normalcy narrative, and they want responsibility for the attack to be fixed.
Arshie Zuhar, an outspoken lawyer from Srinagar, said it was about time someone in the corridors of power accepted responsibility and acknowledged the “security lapse”. Zuhar, who practices criminal and civil law in the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, said that the graphic videos of the Pahalgam tragedy broke her heart. “After the abrogation of Article 370, there was a certain kind of narrative that everything is normal in Kashmir, and there was peace and development.
Now, the people of India and the world have seen that narrative come crashing down,” Zuhar told Frontline , adding that “for someone like me born in the 1990s, except for the roads and footpaths, nothing has changed in Kashmir”. She demanded accountability and criticised what she called the high-profile visits to hospitals for publicity stunts. “What matters is normalcy on the ground, not in media narratives.
The narrative of normalcy is manufactured. More than 20 innocent tourists have lost their lives because of a narrative.” The lawyer said that the first responsibility and accountability lie with the government.
“No one in the government is coming forward to accept the security lapse, to say we have taken things for granted. Home Minister Amit Shah and Lieutenant Governor [L-G] Manoj Sinha must take responsibility,” she added. Over the last 40 months, more than 60 Indian Army soldiers and members of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, including officers and para troopers, have been killed in various militant attacks in Rajouri and Poonch in the Pir Panchal region, parts such as Doda and Kishtwar in the Chenab Valley, and Reasi, Udhampur, Akhnoor, and Kathua in the Jammu plains.
In Srinagar, the Council of Ministers of the Jammu and Kashmir government convened a meeting to unequivocally condemn the “senseless and barbaric act” in Pahalgam. The council noted that security was not the direct responsibility of the elected government but that it would work in close coordination with the L-G Manoj Sinha-led administration to “ensure safety of every citizen, especially tourists and residents in vulnerable areas”. Featured Comment CONTRIBUTE YOUR COMMENTS SHARE THIS STORY Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit.
