Er PL Khushu
The barbaric terrorists attack on the Indian tourists at Pahalgam Kashmir on the 22nd April-2025, at the scenic meadows of a natural location in Pahalgam in South Kashmir, known as Baisaran recognized as “mini Switzerland”, turned into a scene of carnage as terrorists opened fire on innocent tourists enjoying their sojourn to Pahalgam. This brutal act marks a grim chapter in Kashmir’s long struggle with insurgency and militancy. By attacking a location known globally for its beauty and growing popularity among domestic and foreign visitors, the perpetrators have aimed not just at lives, but at the very essence of humanism and its essence. It created a shivering shock wave across the country and every Indian turned in tears, when it sent a shock wave of acute anguish and anger in the minds of the people of India against Pakistan and its government. 26 innocent tourists were killed at point blank ranges, in presence of their wives and kins, when some of them got severely injured as well. It is the worst type of inhuman Pakistani terrorists attack on the Indian civilians on the grounds of religion and Islam, when the terrorists apparently being Muslims, asked about the religion and religious faith of these innocent Hindu targets for no fault of theirs.
As a measure of punitive and a retaliatory action, when the entire nation is in full anger against the Pakistan being the hub of terrorists actions and terrorism, the Indian defense forces launched a full-fledged retaliatory military attack captioned as Operation Sindoor on the midnight of 7th May 2025, on the nine terror hub location of Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir and destroyed these completely. The Indian armed forces launched precision strikes on terrorist infrastructures at nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. On this occasion while addressing the nation Prime Minister Modi, being equally shaken by such a dastardly and a wicked action of the Pakistan sponsored terrorists on the innocent tourists, made it clear that:-
- Terror and Talks cannot go together.
- Terror and trade cannot go together.
- Water and Blood cannot flow together.
It happened when Pakistan sought cease fire through its military forces and asked for talks with India. India made its position clear that the talks will be on terror and terrorists actions of Pakistan in India, only and nothing beyond that. It had particular references to convey to Pakistan that India can hold any talks with Pakistan regarding the off shoots of Operation Sindoor only when Pakistan stops and shuns the terror activities against India from its soil and then only positive talks about the bilateral relationships between the two countries can take a shape.
It is a big step taken by India under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi after about three decades of the terrorist’s actions of Pakistan against India particularly in Kashmir.
Similarly another big message conveyed to Pakistan was that “Water and Blood cannot flow together”. It has particular reference to the recent major punitive retaliatory action when India kept the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), which governs the water sharing of six rivers in the Indus basin between India and Pakistan, in abeyance with immediate effect, thus stopping the water flow from major rivers flowing through India to Pakistan, covered under this treaty to Pakistan. This will affect the agricultural sector of Pakistan heavily. The suspension of this treaty would also entail no sharing of river flow data by India, which could be susceptible to both drought and floods. The livelihoods of more than 15.2 crore Pakistanis are directly or indirectly tied to the river Indus. It is a vital resource for food production, electricity generation, and economic activity, making it an indispensable lifeline. It is a big retaliatory action in this behalf from India.
Now India says that water and blood cannot flow together. Pakistan must understand the language and concern of India. In other words it is to convey to Pakistan that enough is enough now as for as the brewing and nurturing of terrorism in Pakistan is concerned which is directly being as an instrument of a proxy war against India since almost three decades now.
While as this barbaric act of terror on the innocent tourists of India in Phalgam shook the whole humanity across the globe, it sent a scintillating shock wave across the country and aboard, when the tourists enjoying their stay in Kashmir during that time, left Kashmir immediately for safety under fear. This dastardly act of terror on the tourists in Kashmir resulted in a situation when mostly the tourist across the country have almost abandoned Kashmir as their destination for recreation and enjoyment.
Government of Jammu and Kashmir feeling shaky about this issue of the tourists industry of Kashmir getting defunct and desolate for want of tourists’, as Immediately after the attack, there was an exodus of tourists from the Valley and the tourism sector started gasping for a breath in this regard.
Such a situation endangering the economic situation of the tourist industry of Kashmir which is the back bone of the economic strength of a big chunk of the people of Kashmir, the Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, held a cabinet meeting in the southern tourist resort of Pahalgam itself, when Pahalgam was the target of April 22 terror attack, proclaiming in the meeting that everything is now normal in Kashmir. Chief minister Omar Abdullah, who chaired the meeting, said it was aimed at sending a message of resilience. This was for first time that the cabinet met outside the summer capital Srinagar and winter capital Jammu since the National Conference formed the government last year.
The chief minister’s office said the meeting’s aim was to send a clear message that they won’t be intimidated by acts of terror. The meeting was attended by ministers and administration officials. They expressed solidarity with the local population and thanked tourists who are slowly making their way back to Kashmir. Officials said the meeting was also to send a message that the government was serious about revival of the tourism industry. The chief minister said tourism should be a conflict-neutral activity. “For us, tourism is an economic activity. However the chief minister announced that the government will build a memorial at Baisaran in Pahalgam in memory of the 26 victims of terror attack.
All said and done, it shows that the government of Jammu & Kashmir, headed by the National Conference, was more concerned about the fate of the tourism sector of Kashmir, rather than the national tragedy which hit the country at this very location of Pahalgam on 22nd of April, 2205, with the brutal killings of about 26 tourists, in presence of their life partners, asking the martyred Hindu tourists to recite ” Kelma’ a sacred citation of Holy Quran. It thus shows that it was a barbaric terror act full of fundamentalist approach of extremists Islamic base coupled with extreme communal hate full of religious bias and vendetta with innocent tourists who were of different religion than that of the terrorists.
It perpetuates that while as the concern of the disturbed tourism development in Kashmir due to this heinous act of terror was a cause of concern for the government, yet, it should not have been portrayed that all is well about the sad and melancholy situations created by such condemnable acts of the Islamic terrorists in a cabinet meeting at Pahalgam itself, when the souls of the targeted and brutally killed persons hovering around at Pahalgam itself, must be still in a deep dilemma & agony to know as to what was their fault to get butchered like selected ducks, without any fault in presence of their kiths and kin when no one was around to mourn for them.
Under such circumstances the Tourism and Terror cannot work together.
A soul cannot speak, yet, it can observe. All such dead souls who were the targets of the brutal terror attacks on 22nd April 2025, at Pahalgam, resulting in their inhuman deaths, must have taken it as another unexpected assault on them, though not with a physical gun but with an opportunistic rifle of killing the two birds with one stone, by sympathizing with the local people of Pahalgam on onne count and simultaneously declaring to build a memorial at Baisaran in Pahalgam in memory of the 26 victims of terror attack. Though selecting the venue for the holding of the cabinet meeting and the agenda for the said meeting is the prerogative of Chief Minster and his cabinet colleagues, yet, a feeling can crop up in the mind of a common person, that while holding the cabinet meeting at this spot of horror and terror, the entire cabinet comprising of the worthy chief minister and his ministers, should have sought for a deep enquiry in this heinous and barbaric act, at its own government level as well, though that part of the job was being conducted by some bigger investigating agency at the national level. Equally the role of the some local people likely to be involved in this brutal carnage at Pahalgam, also deserved to be sought to be probed by the government of the day in one voice. How can such a big carnage occur without the over ground support structure of the local populace to the terrorists in his behalf. It appears apparently to be a well designed and well thought of conspiracy of these terrorists aided and abetted by a well laid support from somewhere else, which may include some local support too. Of course everyone knows that all such terrorists acts in Kashmir emanate from Pakistan. For every such act of terror in Kashmir, it always needs extreme condemnation for Pakistan. But unfortunately the political leaders from Kashmir, including the ones who are governing Jammu & Kashmir presently or earlier have never ventured to condemn Pakistan for their terrorist acts in Jammu and Kashmir. It is implied that by such an approach they never want to antagonize their vote bank and thus remain mostly silent on all such occasions and in fact most of the times side with such acts of terror by asking for a dialogue with Pakistan.
It is learnt that the NC chief also played a round of golf at the Pahalgam Golf Course with friends, when the cabinet meeting was being held in Pahalgam. Probably this was an occasion of deep distress and for maintaining the sanctity of deep mourning of the lost 26 innocent persons, about which the whole country is in deep mourning as such it could have been avoided as a tribute to the martyred souls who lost their lives for no fault of theirs.
Well there is nothing new about it. Circumstances in Kashmir have been witnessing the dual policies of all the political leaders of Kashmir, both in power and outside it, from time to time with respect to Pakistan and its terrorist’s acts in Jammu and Kashmir. We have heard some tall leaders of some political parties often saying that talk to Pakistan for peace, whenever such heinous terrorist acts would hit the innocent people .
The fate of the forcibly displaced Kashmiri Pandits is a living example in this regard. All such tall political leaders have never chosen to speak a soft word about the rehabilitation of displaced Kashmir Pandits back in Kashmir. In fact whenever there was a move by the government of India to rehabilitate forcibly displaced KP’s back in Kashmir in clusters, all such political leaders opposed it tooth and nail. It implies that the militancy and its terror acts of heinous dimensions in Kashmir have a well organized over ground support from some local populations too, which hampers its annihilation and uprooting.
But now after the Pahalgam episode when India had to go for Operation Sindoor and attack the original terror hubs located in Pakistan and annihilating these completely, the situation is now different. India is now specifically conveying to Pakistan that any further terror attack sponsored by Pakistan will be considered now as an act of war upon India. Thus all the sympathizers of Pakistan and its terror modules in Kashmir must know it now fully and modify their policies accordingly in respect of their approach towards terrorist acts and its implications in Jammu and Kashmir.
While as it is now an axiom and a slogan for India that ” Water & Blood Cannot Flow Together, similarly now Tourism and Terror Cannot work together.
(The author of this article is a chartered consultant civil engineer)