Was Pahalgam a planned act to divide? How India should respond
- Team TOI Plus
- Updated: Apr 23, 2025, 18:06 IST IST
The Pahalgam attack that left 28 dead was no ordinary act of terror. Carried out with communal intent and strategic timing, it sought to provoke and divide. India must respond not with hate, but with clarity, unity — and justice
On April 22, a group of heavily armed terrorists entered the high-altitude Baisaran meadow near Pahalgam — surrounded by pine forests and snow-capped peaks — and opened fire on unsuspecting tourists. The brutal attack left 28 dead. It is being described as the deadliest terror strike on civilians in the Kashmir Valley since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, and the most devastating targeting of tourists since the insurgency began in the early 1990s.
Among the victims was Navy officer Vinay Narwal, just two days into his marriage. Two foreign nationals — one from Nepal and another from the UAE — also lost their lives. But the most chilling detail is how the massacre unfolded: according to survivors, the assailants — six men, believed to be foreign nationals in Indian Army fatigues — asked the tourists for their names and ordered them to recite the ‘kalma’. Those who couldn’t were shot at point-blank range. Among them was Syed Hassan Shah, a local Kashmiri Muslim, gunned down while trying to protect others.
Among the victims was Navy officer Vinay Narwal, just two days into his marriage. Two foreign nationals — one from Nepal and another from the UAE — also lost their lives. But the most chilling detail is how the massacre unfolded: according to survivors, the assailants — six men, believed to be foreign nationals in Indian Army fatigues — asked the tourists for their names and ordered them to recite the ‘kalma’. Those who couldn’t were shot at point-blank range. Among them was Syed Hassan Shah, a local Kashmiri Muslim, gunned down while trying to protect others.