Crime Today News
By Col R. Hariharan
Pakistani terrorists based in Pakistani-occupied part of Kashmir infiltrating across the Line of Control (LoC) and striking in Jammu and Kashmir is nothing new. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) database, in Jammu and Kashmir alone in the last 25 years, 22,418 people have been killed in 12,040 such incidents involving terrorists and security forces. While the majority of those killed (12,390) were terrorists, 4,980 innocent civilians also perished in these clashes. But terrorists attack carried out against tourists on April 22 in Baisaran valley near Pahalgam, killing 26 civilians, has sent shockwaves across India and echoed throughout the world.
What makes the attack different is: the Pahalgam area is located 200 km from the LoC. In fact, it is the only terrorist attack carried out this year in the Anantnag district of the UT.
Four terrorists armed with M4 carbines and AK-47 rifles identified 24 Hindu men and one Christian by stripping them, while some were asked to recite the verses of Kalma, the Muslim prayer, to confirm their religion before shooting them dead. However, this did not save a Muslim pony handler who was shot dead when he tried to snatch their weapon.
The police say that the four terrorists were members of The Resistance Front (TRF), a group that came up after Article 370, conferring special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was abolished. TRF is said to be operating in Kashmir under the Pakistan-based terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), proscribed by the UN as a global terrorist body.
What was the purpose of the terrorist attack? What is the message Pakistani government and army are conveying through this attack? Why were Hindu men among the tourists singled out and killed by terrorists?
After the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in 2019, there has been a steep fall in terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. Notably, in the last two years, not only have the number of attacks halved, but fatalities due to the attacks have also decreased. As a result, the tourism business is on a significant upswing. For example, in 2023, there was an unprecedented growth of 21.1 million tourists visiting the Valley.
In the last three years, tourism in the region has been growing at an annual rate of about 15.13 percent. Last year, the tourist sector contributed 7 per cent to Jammu and Kashmir’s overall gross domestic product. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had hoped on doubling it to 15 percent in the next four years.
The basis of Pakistan’s India policy is to wrest Jammu and Kashmir from Indian control. That is why the Pakistan army had focused on Jammu and Kashmir, three times in its four wars with India. Therefore, since the growing economic development of Jammu and Kashmir is making terrorism irrelevant, Pakistan had probably used terrorists to attack tourists.
Secondly, the Baloch Liberation Army militants, also known as the BLA, has recently been successfully conducting their attacks against the Pakistan army. On March 11, BLA militants hijacked the Jaffar Express train carrying 380 passengers from Quetta to Peshawar. They stopped the train in a mountainous area that was difficult to access by the Pakistani military. The hijackers had given a 48-hour ultimatum to release Baloch political prisoners or the hostages would be hanged.
The hijacking was a big loss of face for the Pakistani military establishment as it announced its incompetence to the world. The Pakistan army probably believes India had a hand in helping Baloch militants in the hijacking episode. Pakistan army could have prodded the terrorists controlled by the ISI to carry out the attack in Pahalgam.
Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir, speaking before and after the Pahalgam attack, has raised the two-nation theory that underpins the partition of Pakistan. According to him, Pakistan was formed on the basis of two separate nations: Muslims and Hindus.
“The two-nation theory is based on the fundamental belief that Muslims and Hindus are not one, but two separate nations. In religion, customs, traditions, thought and aspirations—Muslims are different from Hindus in all aspects of life,” General Munir said while addressing a training parade at the Pakistan Military Academy. While referring to the rising tension with India following the Pahalgam attack, he said: “Our ancestors made great sacrifices to create Pakistan. We know how to protect it,” suggesting that Pakistan is not ready to easily resolve the issue.
Many analysts have cited these speeches and his earlier service as chief of ISI to claim his hand behind the Pahalgam killings. They are forgetting that Islam is an article of faith for the Pakistan army and all his predecessors have believed in the two-nation theory. It is equally doubtful whether the terrorists selectively killing Hindus in the Pahalgam attack is a reflection of this mentality. This is not the first time that Hindus have been singled out and killed in Jammu and Kashmir. In fact, it had been going on ever since terrorism started there in 1988.
As far as India is concerned, the Pakistan army has a major say in the country’s policy on India. Therefore, the risk of India’s war on Pakistan terrorism turning into a military war is real. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that those involved in the Pahalgam attack will be identified and eliminated. And India is making political and diplomatic efforts to explain to the international community its stance against Pakistan-based terrorism.
Terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir have rapidly gone down from a peak of 4,011 fatalities in 2001 to 127 fatalities in 2024. Local recruitment to terrorist modules has turned minuscule and Pakistani infiltration reduced to a trickle. So, we need to strategize holistically and carefully using all available avenues of grey warfare to ensure Pakistan withers away from its own internal pressures rather than waging a full scale war against the nuclear neighbour. It is good to remember the notorious neighbour has a short fuse.
—The writer is a retired military intelligence specialist on South Asia associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies
This article first appeared on India Legal
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