When armed terrorists emerged from the forests around Pahalgam’s Baisaran valley and opened fire on Tuesday, they aimed not only at innocent tourists, but also at the nation’s collective psyche. At least 26 visitors were killed and 17 injured in one of the deadliest attacks in recent years. Among the victims were newly-married couples such as naval officer Lt Vinay Narwal and his wife, who tied the knot last week, and the unnamed lady wearing wedding bangles who was filmed sitting in a daze by her husband’s motionless body.
Shubham Dwivedi from Uttar Pradesh, who got married in February, was also with his wife when he was killed. Manjunath—a realtor from Shivamogga who had gone with his wife Pallavi and their teenage son to celebrate the son’s academic performance—was shot down in front of his family.
Screams for help from the hapless women whose husbands were shot after being identified as Hindus pierced Baisaran’s calm and stabbed at the heart of Kashmiriyat, an ethos rooted in harmony, religious tolerance and diversity. The dastardly attack comes at a time when Kashmir has just started recovering from four decades of militancy that had crippled its economy and turned it into a ‘forbidden paradise’. It’s not the same Kashmir anymore—things have surely changed for the better. Tourism has been booming again, with tour operators doing brisk business, and hotels, lodges and houseboats in Srinagar booked out for the season.
The attack, by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists, can be seen as India’s October 7. The Resistance Front or TRF—an offshoot of the banned Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba—has claimed responsibility. It comes when the registration for the 38-day Amarnath Yatra, which is scheduled to begin on July 3, has just started.
As Kashmir rises from the ashes of militancy, Baisaran should serve as a wakeup call for conducting regular security audits of public spaces and tourist attractions. The latency in acting on ground intelligence and lack of adequate security deployment need to be probed. It’s time for a unified command with nodal accountability to guard the Union Territory. At the same time, confidence-building mechanisms should be part of the procedure to help the locals and tourists in staying safe despite repeated provocations from the other side of the Line of Control.