Much water has flowed down the Jhelum since then. In the last few years, we have all learnt how certain individuals associated with the Pakistani jihad factory have been hunted down by ‘unknown gunmen’. With its silence, India has slyly taken credit, though most of these killings are reportedly more a result of internal strife between terrorist factions than R&AW suddenly turning into Mossad.
Be that as it may, in Kashmir, at least, since August 2019, India has achieved greater success in containing Islamist terrorism. Its robust security apparatus ensured that terrorists were on the backfoot, and that the separatist ecosystem became fearful of repercussions should it provide any support to militancy.
With Tuesday’s massacre in Pahalgam, the entire hard work of the last six years comes to a standstill. The attack is a colossal failure of every agency involved in counter-insurgency operations in the Valley. The presence of foreign terrorists is not new. But that they could come down to target a crowded tourist destination — and escape unscathed without as much as a shot fired at them — is shocking. More so when they were reportedly at the spot for at least 15 minutes.
There are indications that Tuesday’s terrorists may have moved from the Poonch region of Jammu sometime last year, and have in the past been involved in some big attacks, including one on an IAF convoy last May. We may have thwarted many attacks. But an attack like this one can change the narrative.
This won’t be the last humiliation we will witness in Kashmir, or elsewhere. That is because we continue to fight the war on our own soil. For decades, military strategists have rued the fact that India doesn’t have a clear strategic doctrine. What do we want to achieve in the next 5 or 10 years? For how long do we keep facing these blows to our collective psyche and call it resilience? To fight the war in Kashmir, we will have to take the war beyond our borders.India tried doing that through the Balakot strikes, in the aftermath of the 2019 Pulwama attack. It set a certain standard of response. But the Pahalgam massacre is a clear indication that we now need to go much beyond that standard. This time, we can’t hide behind the ‘invisibility’ of a surgical strike, or the ambiguity of Balakot. This time, our response has to be clear and decisive. It has to strike at the very core of the Pakistani military establishment.Let no one miss the symbolism of Pahalgam. It’s a name that conjures up the pristine beauty of Kashmir. It’s also the base camp for the Amarnath pilgrimage, which starts in two months. The attack has happened after Pakistani army chief Asim Munir made anti-Hindu remarks on April 16, validating the two-nation theory. India’s response to Pahalgam has to be there for everyone to see.
It’s also time to internally revisit some things that need immediate attention. Despite New Delhi’s best efforts, the international border with Pakistan along the Punjab-Jammu axis remains prone to infiltration. On the one hand, we are proudly citing the huge tourist influx to portray normalcy in Kashmir. On the other hand, we are allowing Kashmir’s elected parliamentarians to call this influx a ‘cultural invasion’.
Such doublespeak from Kashmiri leaders who have assumed office after taking an oath on the Constitution has caused Kashmir irreparable damage. We must also not make a comic spectacle out of hostility with Pakistan, as we have in places like the Attari border in Amritsar. That circus show must be put to an end.
But before all that, Pahalgam asks for a response. One of the terrorists had sarcastically told a hapless woman whose husband he killed that she should ‘tell Modi’. India’s response must convey that the PM has heard it.
