PAHALGAM, KASHMIR: April 22 started like any other mundane day in Pahalgam, a major tourist attraction in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir: overpopulated with tourists, who dotted the lush green fields of Baisaran Valley with colors.
But by the end of the day, one of the biggest militant attacks on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir unfolded, killing 26 and wounding 17.
Locals said that around 2:45 p.m. they heard shrieks from around the Baisaran Valley, a popular trekking spot. At least four gunmen, camouflaged amid lofty coniferous trees, had opened fire on tourists who hailed from different parts of India.
The Pahalgam attack has shaken locals, leaders and tourists alike. It was the worst incident of violence since the 2019 Pulwama attack in South Kashmir, which killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.
The attack coincided with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance’s India visit; he landed in the country on April 21, accompanied by his wife and their three children. But perhaps more importantly, the attack occurred days after a speech by Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir, where he stated that “Kashmir is our jugular vein. No power in the world can separate Kashmir from Pakistan.”
On April 23, following the attack and its significant death toll, India announced that Pakistani nationals will not be allowed to travel to India under the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Visa Exemption Scheme. Any Pakistanis in India on such visas have also been asked to leave the country within 48 hours.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also declared the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty and the shutdown of the integrated Attari check post between the two nations, with immediate effect. Modi said that India will be withdrawing its defense, navy and air advisers from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad and declaring these posts in the respective High Commissions as annulled.
Local Kashmiris hold a candlelight vigil near Dal Lake in Srinagar, Indian Administered Kashmir. Photo by Muzamil Mattoo.
“Kashmiris Don’t Want This”
Once lively and loud with tourists, Pahalgam now wears a morose mood, as if its birds, trees, and waters are mourning the loss of those who traveled hundreds of kilometers to witness its beauty in person.
“My stomach began churning when I heard people shriek. I was just praying to Allah, [saying] please don’t let my fears come true. Please don’t let this be an attack,” Furqan Fayaz, a local fruit seller near the site, told The Diplomat.
After hearing loud cries and gunshots, people began moving away from the Baisaran Valley. Locals estimated that at least 2,000 tourists and locals were present in the area before the attack. Despite the heavy civilian presence, tourists have also claimed there were few or no police and security force personnel at the spot, even though Kashmir is heavily militarized year-round, and has been for decades now.
The incident triggered a wave of candlelight vigils in Pahalgam and across Kashmir by local Kashmiris condemning the ghastly act. Local leaders expressed sorrow, distress, and shock as tourists deserted Kashmir, creating perceptions of an exodus of Indians from the region.
“We as Kashmiris know what it means to lose loved ones. We don’t support this,” said Meraj, a taxi driver who participated in a solidarity vigil.
While most of the victims were tourists, Syed Adil Hussain, was the lone Kashmiri civilian who was killed in the attack. A daily wage worker near the tourist spot, Hussain facilitated horse rides to Baisaran and nearby areas.
Jammu and Kashmir Police and the Central Reserve Police Force have flocked to the area ever since the incident. A local from the district, Ghulam Ahmad, shared that hours after the attack, several locals had been called for questioning by the Jammu and Kashmir Police. This, in turn, has triggered panic among locals.
Meanwhile, across India, since the killings in Pahalgam, Kashmiri students have been facing harassment for two reasons – being Kashmiri, and being Muslim.
Women gather at the home of 30-year-old Adil Hussain following the completion of his last rites in the Hapatnar area of Anantnag district, south of Srinagar, Indian Administered Kashmir, on April 23, 2025. Photo by Muzamil Mattoo.
Conflict on Crescendo
Ever since 1947, the Himalayan region of Kashmir has been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan. Both countries claim Kashmir as their rightful territory.
Since their separation from the British Empire and their Partition in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three of their four wars over Kashmir: in 1948, 1965, and 1999, with the 1971 war that resulted in Bangladesh’s independence the long exception. Beyond the outright wars, the two nuclear-armed rivals have indulged in unpredictable skirmishes to gain full control over the Muslim-majority region, which is currently divided between them.
Since 1989, armed rebel groups have fought Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir, resulting in a death toll in the thousands. According to government data, at least 14 security personnel were killed in such incidents in the first half of 2024, and 30 were killed in 2023. India labels these groups terrorists and claims they exist solely due to the backing of Pakistan.
Even prior to the attack in Pahalgam, there were flashes of violence. On April 12, two anti-India rebels and a soldier of the Indian Army were killed in gunfights in the Jammu region of Indian-ruled Jammu and Kashmir, where multiple anti-rebellion operations are ongoing.
On March 27, at least four police officers and two suspected rebels were killed during a gun battle in the region. On February 6, two civilians died, including a truck driver who was killed by gunfire from the Indian Army in Kashmir’s Baramulla district. The killings took place days after the death of an army soldier in a suspected rebel attack.
On November 3, 2024, in the heart of Indian-ruled Kashmir’s capital, Srinagar, 12 Kashmiris were injured after a grenade was lobbed at a bustling market in Srinagar’s Lal Chowk. It was the first time the city had witnessed such an attack in three years. On October 20, at least seven people were killed by anti-India rebels in the region’s Ganderbal district near a strategic tunnel.
All told, in 2024, at least 58 rebellion-related incidents unfolded in Jammu and Kashmir along with regular gunfights between rebels and Indian forces. Newer rebel groups are rising in the region – The Resistance Front, which claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack, as well as the People’s Anti-Fascist Front and the Kashmir Tigers, emerged after the Modi government cancelled Kashmir’s special status in 2019.
Policies, Politics, and Propaganda
In September 2024, when Modi visited Jammu and Kashmir, he said at a public rally that the anti-India rebellion in the region was on its last leg. This reduction in rebellion, he claimed, was due to the revocation of Article 370, the premise of Jammu and Kashmir’s union with India, which granted special status to the territory.
While Modi claims that his 2019 policy change has brought peace and prosperity to Kashmir, the only Muslim majority region in India has been quietly exhibiting signs of rising violence for months. Jammu and Kashmir has been witnessing violence in many forms: killing armed officials, injuring locals, and targeted killing of migrant workers from mainland India who do odd jobs in the region.
Kashmir is not heading toward the well-advertised and well-marketed peaceful future that India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promised to manufacture. If anything, the April 22 attack has served to underline the hollowness of the security presence.
Indian tourists who survived the attack on April 22 have shared that it was Kashmiris who were helping and sheltering them, rather than the Indian forces, during the spurt of gunfire. “Only Kashmiri brothers rushed to our rescue, provided us food and shelter free of cost, showing us what humanity looks like,” a tourist who has now left Pahalgam told The Diplomat.
While Modi has said that India will punish “every terrorist and their backers” following the attack, the prime minister has refused to offer a practical plan for mitigating future attacks. Hours ahead of the all-party meeting to discuss the Pahalgam attack, India’s largest opposition party, the Indian National Congress, demanded that Modi – rather than Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh – should chair the deliberations and take all parties into confidence to build a collective resolve.
Even as India was mourning the loss of innocents in Pahalgam, the violence continued. An army soldier was killed in a firefight with anti-India rebels in the Udhampur district of Jammu division on April 24.