The musings of an Indian on the Pahalgam attack and its aftermath.

Before I start this op-ed, I extend my deepest condolences to the victims and families affected by the dastardly and heinous terrorist attack that occurred in Pahalgam in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir on the 22nd of April, 2025. I write this op-ed with anguish, sadness, and anger against the perpetrators of this evil terrorist incident, with a deep longing for justice. I write this op-ed reflecting my musings on this situation and India's response to it.

Post the attack, the Prime Minister assured the nation that we would pursue the perpetrators to "the ends of the earth". The subsequent whirlwind meetings held by the Prime Minister at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg (his official residence) suggested an imminent military response to a scale never seen before, being in the works in a clandestine and secretive manner. The admittedly historic decision to hold in abeyance the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, a treaty having survived 3 full-scale wars without issue, reflected India's deep desire to exact its justice from the perpetrators.

India has since then continued on a volley of soft power offensives on Pakistan, banning various social media influencers from across the border, speaking to many world leaders on the issue, and securing condolences from leaders around the world, and continues to do so as I write this op-ed. This is seen in India to be an exercise in setting the stage for more retaliatory measures to ensue. However, given the relative silence on the issue, suggests a relative hesitation, or at the very least, a hint of caution before acting on the issue. Given this, one may not be wrong to wonder whether the assurance of "operational freedom" granted by the political establishment to the Forces, may be interpreted as a tacit admission of lack of political will towards enacting kinetic methods.

India expressing this caution is a mature and calculated response in contrast to an otherwise nervous, rattled, and anxious response from across the border. However, we have seen historically that giving the benefit of the doubt to such perpetrators has not once resulted in genuine changes of heart or spirit. In fact, quite the opposite. Perpetrators have felt emboldened to commit more acts of terror, at a larger scale, using more heinous, and technologically advanced techniques.

The prospect of such a terrorist enabler state having as much relevance on the global stage as it does currently, boggles my mind. We are used to hearing the official government position of the perpetrator being globally isolated, etc., whereas the state continues to get support for its survival through various unilateral and multilateral institutions through loans, lines of credit and grants. Howsoever minuscule the loans/grants/assistances may be, given the narrative being sold to us, it may be reasonably expected that the isolation level may be comparable to that of a failed state such as Somalia or Afghanistan.

In that context, I feel that the perpetrators (or more importantly their backers) need to be made aware in a strong and decisive manner that India will no longer be tolerant of such heinous acts of terror, especially on innocent tourists that had no links to the Kashmir insurgency. The weak, if not non-existent response post the horrific 26/11 attack in Mumbai, has lulled them into a false sense of impunity for their acts, which has enabled them to continue to commit dastardly acts of terror to this very day.

Empty rhetoric, the sole use of soft power, the cyclical peace and instability over the past decades, they all should have taught us these lessons by now. However, the diplomatic, political, and security establishments of the country and their deliberate refusal/hesitation/risk-averse tendencies have cost India dearly in terms of innocent lives being lost due to, at least partially, our own complacency on the issue of cross-border terrorism. My only hope as a proud and patriotic Indian is that the people of the nation may once see a day, when terrorism is completely eradicated on the subcontinent, guaranteeing the safety of innocent civilians in the nation we call home. However, given the current situation, it may remain a mere dream for years to come.