On April 26, 2025, Pahalgam, a jewel and serene tourist town in Jammu & Kashmir's tourism landscape, militants ambushed a convoy of tourists in Baisaran, a popular meadow, causing 26 casualties and injuries to several tourists. Intelligence reports had previously warned about heightened activity by extremist groups seeking to disrupt the peace during the early tourist season, yet critical security lapses allowed the attackers to strike with devastating effect. This attack was a stark reminder that even in regions showing signs of healing and economic revival through tourism, the specter of violence remains. Militants chose Pahalgam, a symbol of coexistence and hospitality to maximize psychological and political damage.
Despite credible intelligence warnings, critical security gaps remained. Patrolling was minimal, route surveillance inadequate, and inter-agency coordination deficient. These failures enabled militants to exploit vulnerabilities, leading to injuries and panic. Investigations revealed that insufficient surveillance along vulnerable tourist routes, delayed deployment of rapid response units, poor communication between local police, intelligence, and paramilitary forces.
In the immediate aftermath, local residents, including pony operators, tour guides, and taxi drivers, displayed exceptional courage. They evacuated the wounded, provided first aid, and offered shelter to stranded tourists. Locals opened their homes to terrified tourists, offering protection and comfort. Their acts highlighted the true spirit of Kashmiriyat; compassion, bravery, and humanity and standing firmly against hate. The immediate response from the local population was heroic, the incident triggered a series of stringent government directives, including the mass cancellation of visas, with deep humanitarian repercussions.
Following the attack, protests were held across Muslim-majority regions of Kashmir, including Srinagar, Pulwama, Shopian, Pahalgam, Anantnag, Baramulla, and other towns. Demonstrators expressed grief and anger, calling the attack a blow to Kashmiriyat and condemning the violence. Shops and businesses shut down in solidarity. On 25 April, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, in his Friday sermon at Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid, said that Kashmiris "stand shoulder to shoulder with the victims." A minute of silence was observed before prayers in memory of those killed.
Protests were held in many parts of India condemning the attack. The attack also prompted a surge in Islamophobic and anti-Kashmiri sentiments across the country. Kashmiris, particularly students, reported incidents of harassment, heckling, and threats from far-right Hindu groups. In states such as Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh, Kashmiri tenants faced eviction from their rented accommodations, and shopkeepers refused to trade with them. Several Kashmiri students were forced to seek refuge in airports while attempting to return home. In Dehradun, the leader of the Hindu Raksha Dal, a far-right Hindutva organization, issued a threat, warning that Kashmiri Muslims must leave or face unspecified consequences, with plans to mobilize workers to take action against them. Hostels and educational institutions reportedly evicted Kashmiri students fearing backlash or based on discriminatory sentiment. Hate crimes against ordinary Kashmiris, with no links to militancy, rose alarmingly. Instead of national unity, many sections of society pushed divisive narratives, deepening the wounds.
Social media platforms played a central role in this communal polarization through fake news, morphed images and unverified videos blaming "Kashmiris at large" for the attack circulated widely. Hate campaigns with hashtags promoting boycotts of Kashmiri businesses and targeting Muslim communities trended on major platforms. Both right-wing and extremist accounts amplified communal hate and radicalization, undermining efforts of peace-building.
The unchecked spread of misinformation highlighted the urgent need for responsible digital governance and fact-checking mechanisms.
In response to this heinous act of terrorism, the government issued sweeping visa cancellations for 14 categories of visas:, including those of business, conference, visitor, pilgrim and medical, issued to Pakistan citizens. Resultantly, tourist visas for travelers crossing India or Pakistan were annulled. Spouse visas, even for those legally married across borders, were revoked. Medical visas for critical treatments were canceled indiscriminately. This blanket policy affected numerous individuals, a Jodhpur family stranded due to a canceled spouse visa, families in Malerkotla and Uttar Pradesh facing separation. Media reports suggests that many couples who’ve spouse of the either India or Pakistan have suffered the most as one of the spouse is either Indian or Pakistan visa and their children do faced the same catastrophe. Emotional scenes were witnessed at Attari Border in last three-four days where spouse separated and their children too. The case of Dr. Vikram Udasi, Rishi Kumar and Priya Kanwar was appeared in the news columns who have spouse of Pakistan. There might be several other such cases with similar situations, who might have undergone the like mental and emotional turmoil.
The sweep of harsh policies did not distinguish by religion. Several Hindu families, who had crossed from Pakistan decades ago and settled in areas like Sirsa, Hisar, and Karnal in Haryana, still lack formal Indian citizenship are in a severe situation of confusion. Despite their love for homeland and suffering unaccounted torture and humiliation and migrated with the hope of better and dignified life remained stateless. They are now facing fresh bureaucratic hurdles, suspicion, and in some cases, threats of deportation. Their sacrifice, loyalty, and quiet perseverance must not be forgotten in today's divisive climate.
Women, children, and the elderly bore the brunt of these directives. Emotional trauma, medical crises, and family dislocations followed. Human rights organizations and legal experts criticized the lack of individualized assessments, arguing that such blanket measures violated basic humanitarian principles. International Humanitarian Law forbids collective punishment. UN Human Rights Covenants protect the rights to family life, movement, and medical access. Indian Constitution, particularly Article 21 (Right to Life and Personal Liberty), demands humane treatment of all individuals under Indian jurisdiction. The blanket visa cancellations, without distinction between innocent travelers and potential threats raise serious questions under both national and international legal frameworks.
A more balanced strategy could have adopted such as allowing valid visa holders a grace period to return, conducting individualized threat assessments, establishing humanitarian corridors for medical and family emergencies. Such measures would have preserved security imperatives without inflicting undue suffering on innocents. The decision was taken in unduly haste without considering the consequences of it particularly on the Indian nationals who’ve cross border family and marital relations and this section is not a small one and restricted to one or two states, rather whole northern Indian states come into its ambit. The fallout of such stringent directives is multifaceted; families with cross-border families will face permanent ruptures and longer separation, muslim and migrant communities may feel further disenfranchised, Damage to India's reputation as a tolerant, humanitarian nation, public sentiment within India and abroad could shift against perceived injustices and India's humanitarian image on the global stage could suffer.
Combating terrorism of this magnitude requires a multi-pronged approach, Strengthening community policing and building trust with local populations, deploying advanced surveillance technologies, implementing counter-radicalization programs, establishing rapid response forces and upholding human rights to maintain moral authority in international forums and reinforce social cohesion through responsible political and civil discourse. Regulate social media platforms to curb hate speech and misinformation
The Pahalgam terrorist incident revealed not only the vulnerabilities in security frameworks but also the resilience and compassion of the local populace. In confronting terrorism, it is essential to strike a balance between ensuring national security and upholding humanitarian principles. The terror attack on the tourists by enquiring their faith and religion and asking the victims to read Kalma, a muslim religious recital is a dangerous depart from the decades old terror activities in the state. It clearly in alignment with recent diatribe, tantrum and hate speech of Pakistan Army Chief, General Munir who uttered that Hindus and Muslim are distinct identities and that points towards the army involvement in this attack as the terrorists pursued the same thought. The aim seems to have two pronged end; firstly, inflame the hatred amongst the communities and incite a communal onslaught and fringe on muslims by ultra Hindus to broaden the gap between religions, which is under severe attack for the last one decade and secondly, sabotage the tourism of the Jammu & Kashmir to economically destroy the state and reaping the rich harvest of youths for their vested designs.
Blanket punitive measures risk alienating communities and undermining the very values that differentiate democracies from terror-driven ideologies. A humane, nuanced approach remains the most effective path forward. In an increasingly interconnected world, justice without compassion becomes tyranny, and security without dignity breeds rebellion. India’s strength has always been its ability to balance toughness with heart. It is this spirit that must prevail over terror, over fear, and over hate.
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