The decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty the first time in 65 years should convey India’s serious concern to the international community.

Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain Retd

As condemnation of the dastardly Pahalgam terrorist attack pours in from home and abroad, it is increasingly clear that the target of the planners in Pakistan was to revive the relevance of Pakistan in J&K, which has been progressively lost since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.

Pahalgam was not just another tragic incident — it marked a strategic pivot in the terror calculus across Jammu and Kashmir.

The move from the south of Pir Panjal back to the heart of the Kashmir Valley raises serious questions about the motives behind this renewed aggression and how India must respond. This needs a full explanation and analysis.

Fortunately, the early return of the Prime Minister from Saudi Arabia and the convening of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) with its clear and perceptive message has set the ball rolling as far as the response is concerned; and to respond we have to, it’s a national need.

Based upon the emerging normalcy in Kashmir since 2019, made possible by control on terrorist infiltration, neutralisation of fresh recruitment, paralysis of overground worker networks and dismantling of financial conduits, it has become increasingly more difficult for Pakistan to conduct effective sponsored terrorist strikes in the Valley. These were reduced to the targeting of some migrant labourers, off-duty police personnel or Territorial Army personnel, with an aim of making news to remain relevant.

With some probing in the Pir Panjal South (Poonch-Rajouri-Jammu belt), Pakistan discovered the voids in security forces’ deployment due to the vacation of some areas by the army for the deployment of troops in Ladakh. That is how, in 2023-24, the focus of operations suddenly shifted to this area, with a series of terror strikes by well-trained and suspected regular elements of the Pakistan army mixed with terrorists.

The strike on the bus carrying pilgrims to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine on May 9, 2024 and the Machedi attack on the 22 Garhwal convoy on July 9, 2024 indicated the shift to the Reasi and Jammu sector. Of late, the focus of operations had shifted to Kathua to keep the proverbial relevance active.

The terror strike at Pahalgam was probably planned, considering the sudden rush of tourists to the Valley and the availability of the well-trained and experienced terrorist group in the Pir Panjal area. No infiltration of special terrorists was needed; all it required was the movement of this group through the transit routes available in the Warwan Valley to reach Kishtwar North.

One cannot be sure whether this was timed with General Asim Munir’s disgraceful speech to the Pakistani diaspora, but the visit of US Vice-President JD Vance, which too came at short notice, was almost god-sent for the Pakistani deep state. In proxy terror operations by a nation, it always looks for such moments which can disturb the good times in the target nation. It’s also an opportunity to use the headlines of that visit alongside the headlines of a big terror attack to message the world on the capability to disrupt and remain relevant to the area that is being targeted.

The Kashmir Valley’s symbolism and strategic optics hold greater international visibility and emotional resonance for Pakistan than any other location. Attacks in iconic locations like Pahalgam grab more media traction — domestic and international. Tourism in Kashmir was showing record growth — a peaceful Valley undercuts Pakistan’s propaganda. Attacks aim to instill fear and reverse economic momentum. To any common understanding, the dilution of economic parameters in Kashmir should be negatively viewed by the Kashmiri population; and it does happen that way.

However, it has always been Pakistan’s mistaken belief that the people of Kashmir will tolerate all this for the love of Islam and the affinity with Pakistan. From 1948 to 1989, in every conflict, Pakistan’s strategy alluded to this belief. In fact, in 1965, during Operation Gibraltar, the concept was an eventual uprising by the Kashmiri population in support of the ‘Razakars‘ who had been infiltrated. It never happened. A miniscule minority, further dwindling, may have supported the separatist cause and remained misled for some years after 1989, but it is all coming back to a fondness for India, with Pakistan an anathema.

There is a public demand for retribution for the blood of innocent Indians. There are three things that are important for us as a nation.

First, we cannot allow ourselves to be impacted by Pakistan’s proxy actions which intended targeting normalcy and unity of India. The aim and intent of this act has been crystal clear. Hence, unity among all segments of India must remain unaffected and special efforts towards that are a must.

Second, the security forces must endeavour to restore the faith of the nation in their ability to secure J&K, just like they have all these years. We cannot allow the Amarnath yatra to get affected by the inherent fear that may have been planted in the hearts of prospective yatris.

Third, and very important, is the fact that the CCS met immediately after the Prime Minister’s return and took stock. The decisions taken are absolutely in line with anyone who has an idea of conflict management. There is nothing even remotely knee-jerk in the decisions.

The decision to suspend or hold in abeyance the Indus Waters Treaty the first time in 65 years should convey India’s serious concern to the international community. The effect may yet take time, but Pakistan, a water-challenged country, cannot afford to have its waters cut off.

The other measures, such as the reduction of High Commission staff and recall of defence attaches are classic diplomatic measures. The revocation of any travel at all through the Attari border will affect the common man no doubt, but at times, the population too must be pressured to put reverse pressure on its government.

The most important aspect of the decisions of the CCS is the elongated window of opportunity which has been created. That should help keep the Pakistani state on tenterhooks. Already, some reserve formations would have been deployed from Mangla. Let them remain mobilised forever, awaiting the inevitable hard response, which will come sooner than later.

Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd) is former GOC Kashmir based  15 Corps & Chancellor, Central University of Kashmir.

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Focus on eliminating the artificial state of play in existence since 1947, irrespective of the cost

Manish Tewari

PAKISTAN Army Chief Gen Asim Munir’s dog whistle while addressing the Overseas Pakistanis Convention in Islamabad and the murder of 26 innocent tourists — overwhelmingly based on their religious denomination — in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir, have a clear connection.

While addressing the conclave in the presence of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the General said: “Our religion is different, our customs are different, our traditions are different, our thoughts are different, our ambitions are different, that’s where the foundation of the two-nation theory was laid. We are two nations, we are not one nation.” Gen Munir also referred to the founding Islamic principles of Pakistan, saying that the country’s “basis was laid on the Kalima” and that Kashmir was their jugular vein.

A week later, there is a massacre of people who are the “others” in the above rant. This is not a mere coincidence.

Gen Munir essentially echoed what Muhammad Ali Jinnah, ironically a non-practising Muslim, had articulated on March 23, 1940, to the Muslim League: “It is extremely difficult to appreciate why our Hindu friends fail to understand the real nature of Islam and Hinduism. The Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs, and literature[s]. They neither intermarry nor inter-dine together, and indeed they belong to two different civilisations which are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions…”

Pakistan’s history vis-à-vis India’s can be divided into two distinct phases. The first from June 1947 to November 1971 is essentially the story of the Partition and two wars over J&K in 1947 and 1965. The second is from December 1971 till now. The dismemberment of Pakistan, with the eastern part seceding due to the active intervention of India, has left a permanent scar on the collective psyche of the Pakistani military establishment.

A nation born on the basis of faith could not hold together a linguistic group subscribing to the same religion for even two-and-a-half decades. This effectively blew the two-nation theory out of water.

Why did Gen Munir then drag out the apparition of the fallacious two-nation theory that was essentially repudiated by the creation of Bangladesh in 1971? For that, unfortunately, still remains the only ragged ideological, if not philosophical, justification for the existence of the remaining rump called Pakistan even today.

‘The Bangladesh scar’ indelibly imprinted on the institutional psyche of the Pakistani military establishment has never healed and nor will it ever be allowed to because that has become the rationale for the military’s increasingly disproportionate role in the national life of Pakistan, especially since 1977, and its extravagant claims on the fiscal resources of the state.

The creation of Bangladesh led to the Multan Conference convened by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on January 20, 1972, where two decisions were taken. The first was that Pakistan would acquire a nuclear bomb by any means, even if it meant eating grass, and the second to bleed “India with a thousand cuts”.

By 1980, Punjab became the first frontier of the strategy to bleed India. It was upscaled by Pakistan to J&K in 1989. The end of the Afghan jihad in 1989 freed up militant capacity for redeployment in J&K by the Pakistani deep state.

In the 2000s, the proxy war was exacerbated to the pan-India level with an assault on the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001, the Kaluchak massacre in May 2002, the Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore) attack in December 2005, the Mumbai train bombings in July 2006, the Mumbai outrage in November 2008, the Pathankot airbase attack in January 2016, the Uri terror strike in September 2016, the Pulwama suicide bombing in February 2019 and now the Pahalgam massacre.

The reason for recounting these major attacks over the past 25 years across three NDA/BJP and two UPA dispensations is that Pakistan has been relentless in persecuting its proxy war against India, irrespective of which party was in power in New Delhi.

Different political dispensations have tried different ways of dealing with the problem called Pakistan that is complicated by the nuclear dynamics among India, Pakistan and China.

Then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee initiated Operation Parakram after the 2001 Parliament attack. It was the largest-ever mobilisation of the Indian armed forces after December 1971, only to wind it down in October 2002.

The UPA tried to initialise diplomatic means, including and not limited to the anti-terror dialogue of 2006 with Pakistan, continuing the backchannel talks initiated by PM Vajpayee, and the global campaign after the 2008 Mumbai outrage to get Pakistan denounced, sanctioned and proscribed as a state sponsor of terror.

Over the past decade, the NDA/BJP government has tried coercive means — the post-Uri surgical strikes and the post-Pulwama Balakot airstrikes.

Unfortunately, all these approaches have not moderated the fundamental mindset of Pakistan and its deep state that still thirsts for revenge and retribution for the dismemberment in 1971 of a moth-eaten nation conceived in the womb of ‘othering the other’ by Choudhary Rehmat Ali, an Oxford dilettante, and perennially stamped into infamy by Jinnah in March 1940. That is the core of the disease. The state sponsorship of terror is only its symptom or manifestation.

Where does the Indian state go from here after the Pahalgam massacre? Essentially, there has to be broad national and political consensus in India that we are in it for the long haul. Tactical responses, including surgical strikes or airstrikes and putting the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance are at best legitimate assertions of India’s national anger and revulsion at the repeated murders of our innocent citizens, but they do not succeed in changing the fundamentally criminal disposition of the Pakistani deep state.

As long as Pakistan exists as a nation where the military has a country and not a country that has a military, state-sponsored terrorism will not go away. That is the hard reality.

What India has to plan for is the permanent extinction of this artificial state of play in existence since 1947, irrespective of the cost in terms of blood and treasure.

There has to be an Indian state whose natural boundaries are till the eastern bank of Indus and then the larger Pakhtunistan from its western bank, which is and was the natural political, strategic and geographical order of things through millennia.

This is the endgame that India must seriously prepare for to protect itself from this intrinsically hostile entity on our western borders. It will not happen tomorrow but definitely someday if India gets serious about dealing with this scourge once and for all.

Manish Tewari is Lok Sabha MP and former Union Minister.

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Purnam Sahu, posted with the BSF’s 182nd battalion in Punjab’s Ferozepur sector, was reportedly in uniform and carrying his service rifle when he inadvertently crossed the border on Wednesday

In the narrow lanes of Rishra’s neighbourhood, the modest home of BSF jawan Purnam Sahu — detained by Pakistan Rangers — echoes with silent prayers and tearful appeals, as his distraught family clings to hope and each other.

“He was serving the nation, and now we don’t even know whether he is safe or not. We have heard that he is in Pakistani custody,” said Bholanath Sahu, the jawan’s father, as neighbours stopped by to offer quiet words of solidarity. He said, “I just want to know where my son is. Is he safe? Is he okay?”

Purnam Sahu, posted with the BSF’s 182nd battalion in Punjab’s Ferozepur sector, was reportedly in uniform and carrying his service rifle when he inadvertently crossed the border on Wednesday.

According to BSF officials, the incident occurred when Sahu, escorting a group of farmers near the border, stepped away to rest under a tree — unknowingly slipping into Pakistani territory. He was quickly taken into custody by Pakistan Rangers.

The Indian and Pakistani border forces held a flag meeting to negotiate Sahu’s release, officials confirmed on Thursday night, but the family has received no further updates.

“My son had returned from leave just three weeks ago,” Bholanath said, his voice quivering.

“Now he is gone again, and we don’t know what will happen next, When he will be back home,” he said.

In their cramped two-room home, Purnam’s wife Rajani has barely spoken since receiving the news.

“He called me Tuesday night,” she said in a hushed tone. “That was the last time I heard his voice,” she said.The couple’s seven-year-old son has been kept indoors, unaware of the magnitude of the situation.

“How do I explain this to a child?” Rajani asked, breaking down. “He keeps asking when his father will be back,” she said.

The family learned of the incident not from the authorities, but from one of Purnam’s colleagues. “A friend of his called around 8 pm on Wednesday and told us what had happened,” Rajani said. “Since then, we have had no sleep. We just want him back,” she said.

Bholanath recalled trying to call his son earlier that day.

“There was no response. I thought maybe he was busy. But later, his friend told us he wasn’t feeling well and was taking a rest under a tree. That’s when they (Pakistan Rangers) picked him up,” he said.

The timing of the incident has only intensified tensions between the two countries, coming just a day after a deadly militant attack in Pahalgam that left 26 persons dead.

While officials maintain that such accidental crossings are not unheard of and usually resolved through diplomatic channels, the family fears the worst.

Outside the Sahu household, a crowd of concerned locals and television crews has gathered. Inside, the family sits in quiet agony.

“We have just one request to the government. Bring him home. Whatever it takes — just bring him home,” Rajani said.

Sources indicate that the BJP-led Union Government faces a tough decision regarding the project’s future as the party is keen to strengthen its presence in Punjab, where Sikh support is crucial

Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service

The Kartarpur corridor project’s future hangs in the balance amid escalating India-Pakistan tensions following the Pahalgam terror ambush. Despite the uncertainty, the corridor remained open today, with pilgrims visiting as usual. However, the Indian government has yet to clarify whether the project will continue or be suspended.

Sources indicate that the BJP-led Union Government faces a tough decision regarding the project’s future. The party is keen to strengthen its presence in Punjab, where Sikh support is crucial. Given the Kartarpur corridor’s significance to Sikhs and Sikhism, altering its status could impact the party’s relationship with the Sikh community.

Meanwhile, Pakistan stands to lose substantial revenue if the corridor is closed. The country charges a USD 20 fee per pilgrim at Pakistani Integrated Check Post (ICP), generating significant income from the 200-400 daily visitors, particularly on weekends. Despite India’s repeated requests to waive this fee, Pakistan remains resolute.

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation at Kulnar Bazipora in Bandipora district following information about presence of terrorists in the area

An overground worker of terrorists was killed while two security force personnel were injured in an encounter in the Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, officials said here.

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation at Kulnar Bazipora in Bandipora district following information about presence of terrorists in the area, the officials said.

They said the search operation turned into an encounter after the hiding terrorists opened fire on the security forces’ positions.

One terrorist associate and two policemen were injured in the firing by terrorists, the officials said, adding the injured terrorist associate later succumbed to injuries.

One of the worst massacres in the state’s violent history, it instilled deep fear among the Sikh community, who had chosen to stay in the valley despite the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits

Nanak Singh, sole survivor of 2000 massacre.

Less than 50 km from Baisaran, where 26 persons were brutally gunned down by terrorists, the wounds of another village have reopened after 25 years.

Chittisinghpora, a Sikh-dominated village in Anantnag district, endured a horrific massacre on March 20, 2000, when terrorists dressed in army fatigues stormed in, rounded up villagers, both young and old, near a gurdwara and opened indiscriminate fire, killing 35 persons.

One of the worst massacres in the state’s violent history, it instilled deep fear among the Sikh community, who had chosen to stay in the valley despite the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits.

Now, as the state and nation reels from the Pahalgam attack, the pain and terror of the past have resurfaced in this village of around 2,000, mostly Sikhs. For 70-year-old Nanak Singh, the sole survivor of the 2000 massacre, the recent killings have brought back the trauma of that night two decades ago. He lost seven members of his extended family, including his son, in the carnage.

“We couldn’t eat that night when news of the Pahalgam attack came in and images of the carnage flashed on TV. It felt like March 20, 2000, was being played out yet again. My son was also killed in cold blood. They didn’t even spare a 17-year-old boy,” Nanak, a retired government employee, told The Tribune.

Since the Tuesday’s massacre, the village has been in shock. “We locked our doors that evening, too scared to step outside, even though it happened several kilometers away. But our wounds have been torn open again,” said Joginder Singh, another elderly villager.

Though the village has tried to move on, the massacre has left an indelible mark. A CRPF outpost, surrounded by concertina wire, just meters away from Nanak Singh’s home, is a grim reminder of the bloodshed the terrorists left behind.

Recently, villagers began renovating the gurdwara where the massacre took place. They, however, maintain that moving on remains beyond the realms of reality. “People say peace is returning to Kashmir, but these attacks remind us that demons in human form are still roaming around us, trying to destroy our lives,” remarked an elderly resident.

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has asked Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi not only to bring those responsible for the Pahalgam terror attack to justice but also to intensify efforts to crush infrastructure of terrorism and its ecosystem

Tribune News Service

The meeting was attended by Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi, GOC-in-C Northern Command Lt Gen MV Suchindra Kumar, Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Pratik Sharma and GoC 15 Corps Lt Gen Prashant Srivastava.

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has asked Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi, who called on him here today to take effective steps, not only to bring those responsible for the Pahalgam terror attack to justice but also to intensify efforts to crush infrastructure of terrorism and its ecosystem.

During the discussion, the L-G said the nation has full faith in the bravery and valour of our Army, police and CAPFs, and they must work in close synergy to identify perpetrators, enablers and overground workers (OWGs) of Pahalgam terrorist killing and pursue the entire chain in a sustained manner and neutralise them.

“Every perpetrator and supporter of Pahalgam terror attack, whatever his location or affiliation, must be hunted and they must pay the heavy price for the cowardly and dastardly act against our citizens,” the L-G told the top army officials.

The meeting also reviewed security mechanisms in place, various short-term, long-term measures and integration and coordination among the various security agencies. The meeting was attended by Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi, GOC-in-C Northern Command Lt Gen MV Suchindra Kumar, Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Pratik Sharma and GoC 15 Corps Lt Gen Prashant Srivastava.

The firing by Pakistan Army comes amid rising tensions following the Pahalgam terror attack

Arjun Sharma

Amid heightened tensions following the Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistan on Friday morning violated ceasefire at multiple locations along Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.  

Sources said Pakistan used small arms to target Indian posts on this side of the border. As per initial information, ceasefire violations took place in the Leepa valley in Kashmir among some other areas. 

Sources in intelligence informed, “There were incidents of small arm firing at some places on Line of Control initiated by Pakistan. The violations were effectively responded to and there were no reports of any casualties on our side”.

The firing by Pakistan Army comes amid rising tensions between the two sides following the dastardly attack at the tourist resort of Pahalgam in Kashmir, where 26 civilians were killed by terrorists.

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Tourist Massacre in Pahalgam: 26 Dead in Deadliest Attack Since Pulwama

Local shot too in Baisaran meadow attack | Haryana Navy officer, 2 foreigners among victims | Deadliest strike since Pulwama

Adil Akhzer Our Correspondent

25 tourists massacred in Pahalgam

Local shot too in Baisaran meadow attack | Haryana Navy officer, 2 foreigners among victims | Deadliest strike since Pulwama

In the deadliest terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since the 2019 Pulwama strike, 25 tourists, including two foreigners, and a local were killed and several injured after being fired upon by terrorists in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam on Tuesday afternoon. A Navy officer from Haryana, Lieutenant Vinay Narwal (26), who got married on April 16 and was on leave, was among the victims.

In an image that has gone viral on the social media, a newly wed woman is seen awaiting help by her husband’s side after the shooting. Photo courtesy: X

The attack took place at Baisaran, a famed meadow about 6 km from the resort town of Pahalgam that is accessible only by foot or ponies, said officials, calling the killings “a massacre”. Police officials said the victims were shot from close range.

The attack is said to have been masterminded by The Resistance Front, a proxy for the Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba, which was also responsible for the Pulwama strike. An official said the tourists belonged to different states, including Karnataka, Maharashtra, UP and Gujarat. He said the foreigners were from Nepal and the UAE.

Eyewitnesses said terrorists came into the grassland and started firing at tourists walking around eateries, taking pony rides or just picnicking. A person associated with the tourism industry, who reached the spot after the killings, told The Tribune over the phone that he “found bodies lying at multiple places”. “The tourists told us there were three-four terrorists,” he said. As gunshots rang out, there was panic and tourists ran for cover but there was no place to hide in the wide and open space, said a woman tourist. She said terrorists first asked the name before shooting down the victims. In one of the videos that went viral on social media, a woman could be heard wailing and pleading for help. “A man came and shot my husband on the head… Please ask for help,” she said.

CM Omar Abdullah described the attack as “much larger than anything seen directed at civilians in recent years”. Top police and civil administration officials were rushed from Srinagar to Pahalgam. A massive anti-terror operation had been launched to hunt down the attackers, said a security official. This is the first major attack on tourists in the Valley, though individual killings have been reported in the past.

The attack came days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a security review meeting in Srinagar and at a time when the UT administration is gearing up for the Amarnath Yatra, which is scheduled to start in July.

Lt Governor Manoj Sinha condemned the “cowardly attack” and assured people “that those responsible would not go unpunished”.

“Spoke to the DGP and security officials. Army and J&K Police teams have rushed to the area and launched search operations. Directed the district administration and health officials to provide immediate care to those admitted to Pahalgam hospital,” said Sinha.

The Chief Minister said he was “shocked beyond belief”. “This attack on our visitors is an abomination. The perpetrators of this attack are animals, inhuman and worthy of contempt. No words of condemnation are enough. I send my sympathies to the families of the deceased,” he said.

In a statement, the Army said, “In a cowardly and heart-wrenching act of violence, terrorists opened fire on tourists and locals…. A joint anti-terror operation has been launched in Baisaran, Pahalgam and Anantnag.” The Army also said candle march was organised by the residents in Sopore, Ganderbal, Handwara, Bandipora and other parts of Kashmir to condemn the killings.