A week after Indian naval officer Vinay Narwal married Himanshi Sowami on April 16, he was dead. The couple wanted to visit Switzerland for their honeymoon, but since he did not get permission to travel abroad from the naval authorities, they went instead to Kashmir, a popular tourist spot. They were in the Baisaran meadow, a 4-mile trek from the tourist town of Pahalgam — dubbed a “mini Switzerland” because of its breathtaking views of snow-capped mountains and pine forests — when Vinay was shot dead by a group of armed militants.
The attackers ambushed tourists in broad daylight, killing 26 men and injuring at least three dozen people. Local police said that many of them were fired at from close range. The victims — barring one local Muslim man and a Christian — were Hindus, and eyewitnesses told Indian media that, in some cases, the attackers asked them if they were Muslims before killing them. At least five militants, including three from Pakistan, are suspected of involvement, according to news reports, and security forces are carrying out massive search operations to trace them.
Pahalgam was the most brutal attack on civilians in India since 2008, when the Nov. 26 attacks in Mumbai claimed the lives of 175 people. One of the defining images of the April 22 attack, widely shared on social media, is of the newlywed couple: Himanshi is sitting still and silently watching over the dead body of Vinay. Her red bangles, which newlywed women wear in India, are hard to miss.
This attack was unprecedented; targeted killings of tourists are rare in Kashmir. There had been an unwritten agreement among militant groups not to attack tourists, because the livelihoods of a majority of Kashmiris, either directly or indirectly, are dependent on the tourism industry, which supports an estimated 500,000 people. The region has been contested between India and Pakistan since 1947, and the dispute has caused three wars between the countries, as well as decades of violence since a separatist armed insurgency began in the late 1980s. Emphasizing the gravity of the attack, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah posted on X that “this attack is much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years.”
The attack has invoked outrage among a huge section of the local population in Kashmir, who are known for their hospitality and have expressed solidarity with the victims. “The grief is not theirs alone,” said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Kashmir’s top religious and political leader, during a rare Friday sermon the Indian authorities allowed him to deliver last week at Srinagar’s Jama Masjid, a mosque that has been a site of anti-India protests. “Kashmiris stand shoulder to shoulder with the victims,” he said. As well as holding candlelight vigils, locals led a mass shutdown, the first protesting a militant attack for 35 years.
There is also deep anger among Indians, who are coming to terms with the tragedy and demanding swift action from their government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who cut short his official trip to Saudi Arabia to return to Delhi, posted on X: “Those behind this heinous act will be brought to justice … they will not be spared!”
Some news reports said that The Resistance Front (TRF), a new militant group formed in 2019, had claimed responsibility for the attack. The group has denied any involvement, but since the Indian government claims TRF is an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, New Delhi is holding Pakistan responsible for the attack.
It seems that everyone in India, from politicians to political and security experts, foreign policy observers and the media, are weighing in to advance this theory. Some have linked the attack to a recent speech made by Pakistani army chief Asim Munir, when he referred to Kashmir as Pakistan’s jugular vein.
Others speculate that it was in revenge for the hijacking of the Jaffar Express train earlier in March in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, which has also been dealing with an armed separatist insurgency. The Balochistan Liberation Army had claimed responsibility for the hijacking, demanding the release of Baloch political prisoners. In the end, 26 security personnel and civilians were killed, and the Pakistani army blamed India for the attack.
Writing for The Indian Express, Shyam Saran, former Indian foreign secretary, theorized that because Pakistan had lost its leverage with the United States after the fall of Kabul, was not getting the desired attention from the Arab states in the Gulf and had been dealing with an impatient China — whose infrastructure projects remain stalled in Pakistan due to security issues — it may have orchestrated the attack to regain its strategic relevance and assert itself as a regional power. He also added that Pakistan had been dealing with a hostile neighborhood and deteriorating economic and security situation.
Meanwhile, he wrote, India had been acting “as if Pakistan did not matter and thought of it as a non-factor in its Kashmir policy.” There is also the fact that New Delhi’s ties with both Washington and the Arab Gulf countries are growing. U.S. Vice President JD Vance was on a four-day visit to India with his family when the attack occurred.
In his conclusion, Saran suggested that Pakistan wanted the world to know that it was still a “critical player” in the region and had the “capacity and capability to cause a serious security situation with potentially global ramifications.” Pakistan’s leaders may have reasoned that the world would have “no choice” but to “engage with Islamabad” to prevent further attacks.
Bilateral relations between India and Pakistan have hit their lowest point in decades, with tensions rising dangerously. On April 23, India put the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) — a 1960 water-sharing agreement that has outlasted multiple wars, major diplomatic crises and decades of hostilities — in abeyance, threatening Pakistan with a dire water shortage as the subcontinent prepares for another hot summer. There have also been a slew of reciprocal moves, including expelling diplomats, canceling visas and stalling trade. India has called for a global campaign to isolate Pakistan as a sponsor of terrorism.
Pakistan has categorically denied involvement in the attack and has called for a neutral investigation. It called the suspension of the IWT an “act of water warfare.” During a rally, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistan’s former foreign affairs minister, said, “either our water will flow [in the Indus] or the blood of Indians.”
In response, Pakistan suspended the 1972 Simla Agreement, which could invite a dangerous escalation. The Simla Agreement is a pivotal accord signed in the aftermath of the 1971 war, which led to the creation of Bangladesh. It also formalized the Line of Control, a boundary between India and Pakistan in the Kashmir region, laying the foundation for future ceasefire agreements.
While the implications of the suspension are as yet unclear, exchange of gunfire along the Line of Control has begun. The most recent ceasefire on the Line of Control had been in place since February 2021 and has now been violated by Pakistan, according to Indian officials, who have told the Indian media that Pakistani troops “resorted to unprovoked firing along the Line of Control” for the fourth consecutive night on April 27 and Indian Army soldiers “responded effectively with appropriate small arms fire.”
Indian broadcast news, meanwhile, has resorted to what it knows best: “hysterical warmongering.” That phrase has been used several times by media watchers in the last few days to describe coverage. Indian news anchors, known for screaming at the top of their lungs and engaging in mindless debates, have shouted war slogans, stoking tensions between Hindu and Muslim communities and demanding revenge against Pakistan.
The journalist and Republic News founder Arnab Goswami even invoked a “final solution” for Kashmir on national television and claimed that “the entire country of India wants a war with Pakistan.” Hashtags like #DestroyPakistan and #WeWantRevenge were promoted on news channels, along with headlines like “Modi Ki Hunkar” (“Modi’s Roar”) and “Mitti Mein Milega Pakistan” (“Pakistan Will Be Reduced to Dust”). “Bump a few Pakistani generals,” said a guest on popular journalist Barkha Dutt’s news show on YouTube, using slang for “kill.”
Instead of raising critical questions about the apparent security lapses in the region and what might have led to the attack, the TV news channels have clamored over each other to laud the reactions of Modi and his home affairs minister, Amit Shah, in the aftermath of the attack. “Breaking news” included the broadcasting of phone calls between the two, with a focus on how brave it was of Shah to visit the site of the attack.
Analysts and officials invited to speak on news channels drew comparisons to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, and then speculated without evidence that Pakistani officials were “meeting with Hamas.” Retired army generals, invited to speak on podcasts, asked Indians to carry the images of the attack in their hearts “like the Israelis.”
In the race to ace TV ratings, the religious nature of the attack was played up by the anchors. “Hindus were hunted by a Pakistan-sponsored Islamist terror group,” said Rahul Shivshankar on CNN News-18, while Navika Kumar of Times Now said that one has to set aside arguments about not having “stereotypes about certain communities.”
When a survivor shared stories of how local Kashmiris were supporting and helping them during the crisis, Amish Devgan, who anchors a popular Hindi show on New18 India, was left speechless before abruptly cutting short the interview. He then moved on to another survivor and asked him to explain how victims were “targeted by terrorists.”
Kashmiris who reside in different parts of India, especially students on university campuses, have been facing harassment as a result. A video circulating online showed Kashmiri Muslim students being issued an ultimatum by the leader of a Hindu group to leave the northern state of Uttarakhand or face “appropriate action.”
The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association has issued advice for its members to “stay indoors, avoid public confrontations, and refrain from engaging in inflammatory or political content online.” According to reports, several students have already left for their hometowns.
In a society like India, which is deeply divided and polarized along religious lines, the sectarian nature of the attack has further emboldened Hindu nationalists and their supporters, who often claim “Hindu khatre mein hain,” or the “Hindus are in danger.”
While their anxieties have been focused on perceived threats from religious conversion and demographic replacement by their Muslim compatriots, they also often claim that radical Islamic groups want to target attacks against Hindu civilians.
Liberals and left-wing groups continuously argue that these claims are exaggerated and are used to justify discrimination, but for the average Hindu Indian, the recent attack only confirms these anxieties.
Muslim communities in different parts of the country have been facing increased tensions. In Jaipur, the capital of the western state of Rajasthan, a local leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) organized a protest outside the city’s main mosque, during which protesters held posters that read “Pakistan Murdabad” (“Down with Pakistan”) and “Who says terrorism has no religion?”
In Kolkata, a pregnant Muslim woman alleged that she was denied treatment by her doctor, who decided not to see any Muslim patients after the recent attack. At a prestigious agriculture university in West Bengal, a poster read: “Dogs and Muslims not allowed. All eyes on Pahalgam. Terrorism means Islam.”
In neighborhoods of Delhi, members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent organization of the BJP, have been trying to mobilize people for candlelight vigils and protest marches, not to commemorate the victims of the attack so much as to call for the “kayar” (“coward”) and “soye hue” (“sleeping”) Hindus to “wake up and unite.”
In Karnal, a small-business owner suggested that Hindus should keep weapons with them at all times. “Every single Muslim is plotting against us. … Every single Muslim wants to kill us.” People also spoke about the need to implement a Gaza-like solution for Muslims in India.
At protest rallies across India, slogans like “Dharam bachega, desh bachega” (“Save religion, save the nation”) were also heard. A BJP leader said Pakistan needed to be destroyed lest “future Hindus who want to stay in this country will have to recite the Kalma,” a reference to the Muslim declaration of faith.
The attack has also exposed fissures in Kashmiri society, which often takes a back seat to louder voices in India and Pakistan.
In 2019, when the Indian government abrogated Article 370 of the constitution, which granted the region its semiautonomous status, it said the move would “integrate” Kashmir with the rest of India and “curb terrorism” in the region.
Since then, in election rallies and other speeches, both Modi and Shah have promoted a narrative of “naya Kashmir,” or a “new Kashmir,” where “tourism had replaced terrorism.” “We not only controlled the terrorism, but the PM Modi government also demolished the terror ecosystem from the valley,” Shah said earlier this year.
Security experts say that militant activity has not reduced, but has since 2023 moved from the Kashmir Valley — traditionally more volatile — to the southern side of the Pir Panjal mountain range in the Jammu region, especially in the districts of Poonch and Rajouri.
In 2019, Jammu and Kashmir was stripped of its statehood and made a union territory, which meant it was directly governed by the central government in Delhi. The local government, led by the chief minister, Abdullah, was only elected in 2024 and has limited powers.
In a speech in Srinagar in September 2024, Modi said that Kashmir will not only be “terror-free but heaven for tourists.” In 2024, the region saw the arrival of 3.5 million tourists — the highest number in a decade. Tourism has been touted as the most significant indicator of “normalcy” in Kashmir by the Modi government and Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha described it as a “key indicator” of peace in the region.
The central government in New Delhi has been proactive in promoting Kashmir as a tourist destination. In May 2023, Srinagar hosted the third G20 tourism working group meeting, which saw participation from at least 60 foreign delegates, albeit under a heavy security setup. A new policy was introduced to encourage such events in Kashmir as well as the promotion of film production there.
However, in May 2024, when Abdullah was an opposition leader, he cautioned against suggesting that tourism numbers were reflective of peace and stability in Kashmir. “The situation [in Kashmir] is not normal, and talk less about tourism being an indicator of normalcy; when they link normalcy with tourism, they put tourists in danger,” Abdullah said. “You are making the tourists a target.” Earlier in 2022, he had warned that, rather than representing normalcy — which would be “the absence of fear, the absence of terror, the inability of militants to strike at will” — tourism is “a barometer of economic activity.”
In 2019, the Indian government scrapped Article 35A of the constitution, which had reserved the right to own land, hold government jobs and receive welfare benefits in Jammu and Kashmir exclusively for its permanent residents. After scrapping this law, the local government has since issued around 83,000 domicile certificates to outsiders. TRF’s earlier statement, which it has reportedly redacted, mentions that the attack was in retaliation for this.
Among other things, the attack poses a big setback for the Modi government, which has for some time been claiming progress in Kashmir. Now, as relations between two nuclear powers continue to sour, one question remains on everyone’s mind: Is the region heading toward a devastating and inevitable war?
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