Pakistan, the globally acknowledged epicentre of terrorism, once again and successfully carried out a major terror strike on April 22, 2025, in the beautiful Pahalgam meadows of the Anantnag district in Jammu & Kashmir, killing in cold blood 26 innocent unarmed tourists and injuring many more. These tourists were first asked about their religion, and subsequently, all those who were non-Muslims were slaughtered with their wives and children wailing and helplessly looking on. That such an inhuman act of targeting civilians and on the basis of their religion was perpetrated for the first time in Jammu & Kashmir in decades is a cause of great concern for the entire nation. Though Jammu & Kashmir has been the victim of Pak-sponsored terror for decades, this massacre also points clearly to a serious intelligence-cum-security failure. It just goes to show that security is a 24/7 responsibility and one’s guard can never be down.
The Modi government’s Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has, reportedly, given freedom of action to the Indian Armed Forces to exercise whatever option they deem fit to answer Pakistan’s dastardly terror act. It’s been nearly two weeks since the incident, and India has unleashed varied multi pronged non-kinetic actions in reprisal against Pakistan, which surely would hurt the country diplomatically, economically, and, to some extent, politically. The “holding in abeyance” of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty ( IWT), the ceasing of trade with Pakistan, the stoppage of visas to visit Pakistan, the closure of the Indian air space to Pakistani civil flights, the suspension of important Pakistani internet connections,the ban on their ships to enter Indian ports, the closure of the Attari-Wagah border posts, the reduction of High Commision staff, and many other restrictions, are among the array of non-kinetic measures enforced against Pakistan’s highly condemnable behaviour. However, it also appears from reliable media sources that a major punitive reprisal from India is in the offing.
How The World Has Reacted
India has done well to sensitise the global community about Pakistan’s evil act and has since then drawn virtually total globe support in the counter-terror actions being contemplated. On the other hand, Pakistan’s recent actions have been supported to some extent only by China , Turkey and Azerbaijan. That China never misses an opportunity to stand by its all-weather friend Pakistan to embarrass India is a foregone conclusion.
As the Indian Armed Forces would certainly be putting the finishing touches to their contingency plans, coordinating additional security measures and vigilance on the ground, all the three services would be, in all likelihood, getting ready for any major kinetic initiative to be taken by them. The entire nation, including all political parties, populations from all religions, and, especially, Muslims, including locals from Jammu & Kashmir, have vociferously condemned Pakistan’s inhuman perfidy.
Over the last many days, the media has been brimming with many strategic analysts voicing their thoughts and suggestions for the best options for India to teach the Pakistanis a lesson they will not quite forget. Those responsible for India’s security should naturally not be carried away by media-provoked jingoism and other unrealistic ambitions. The armed forces, once employed, will carry out their operations when fully ready and select their targets with care at a time and place of their own choosing. It goes without saying that the fortunes of India’s armed forces impact the entire peace and stability of the South Asian region.
Improving Modern Warfare
The Indian armed forces, easily one of the best and most professional in the world, will soon decide on its modus operandi for this crisis. To stress how the contours of warfare and even counter-terror operations are undergoing a rapid transformation will be stating the obvious. Thus, India must also, with alacrity and supplemented by adequate resources from the government, bring itself up to high levels of combat capabilities in modern warfare to counter and defeat Pakistani machinations, individually, or even when it is in collusion with its mentor, China.
What Pakistan Was Aiming At
Indian defence planners and, equally, the Indian public must realise that the shocking attack at Pahalgam was driven by much larger evil objectives harboured by Pakistan. The state of Jammu & Kashmir, over the last couple of years, had been witnessing an encouraging economic boom, with tourists from all over India and abroad visiting the place in numbers never seen before. Tourist operators, local shopkeepers, shikara and boat owners, hotel and restaurant owners, bus and pony providers were more than happy at this economic resurgence – something that had been irking the Pakistani mischief-makers. The attack was perhaps also aimed at diverting the attention of the Pakistani public from their own miserable and poverty stricken existence. Thus, the ISI and the jihadi Pakistani Army Chief, General Asim Munir, got down instead to spoil the party for the Kashmiris. This aspect has been comprehended, well and proper, by the Jammu & Kashmir people. As is well known, General Munir has been anti-India for years now, and with him getting into trouble on many counts inside Pakistan, he was desirous of diverting the Pakistani public’s attention towards their external challenges. General Munir, it will be recalled, had even recently made an irrational and provocative speech extolling the ‘two-nation theory’.
Another major reason for Pakistan to perpetrate such a heinous act was to spark communal violence in India by murdering only non-Muslim tourists. Fortunately, this strategy to foment a communal divide in Jammu & Kashmir and the entire nation failed miserably, with both Hindus and Muslims wholeheartedly condemning Pakistan’s evil actions.
What India Must Do
Unmistakably, it is now India’s hour of reckoning. Pakistan’s self-destructive and evil policies toward its much larger neighbour, India, cannot be left unanswered. Pakistani terrorists, on the dictates of their Islamabad-based masters, will continue to needle India, try to create communal divide within the country, and indulge in acts of violence against the Indian people. Thus, whatever be the risks, India must, in a calibrated, well-thought-out strategy, strike Pakistan where it truly hurts them.
We must also bring to the notice of suffering Pakistani people the lifestyles of their own deep state, especially of the Pakistani army, as to how they are looting and inflicting misery upon them. Pakistan has to be well-informed that to date, India has not really exploited the many fault lines of Pakistan. The time has now come to do so as it refuses to learn or listen. The time and other details have been left correctly to the Indian armed forces and, I am sanguine, victory will embellish the Indian nation shortly.
(The writer, a retired lieutenant-general and strategic analyst, was the first head of India’s Defence Intelligence Agency)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author