“They were ordered to lie down in the field. Their families watched as they were executed—one by one.”
That’s how a survivor described what happened on April 22, 2025, in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. Twenty-six Hindu men, 25 Indian nationals, and one from Nepal, were killed execution-style. Shot in the head, in broad daylight, in front of their families.
There were no military targets. No strategic assets. Just civilians, deliberately selected. Deliberately destroyed.
The perpetrators were identified as four men: two Pakistani nationals, Ali Bhai (alias Talha) and Asif Fauji, and two locals from Kashmir, Adil Hussain Thoker and Ahsan. Intelligence officials believe the operation was overseen by Hashim Moosa, a former Pakistani Special Forces operative now suspected to be hiding in south Kashmir.
Responsibility was claimed by The Resistance Front (TRF), a group long considered a proxy for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). According to digital evidence and intercepted communications, the attackers acted under direct guidance from across the border.
This wasn’t just a massacre. It was a message, scripted for impact, religiously targeted, and geopolitically timed.
Who is The Resistance Front?
Emerging in 2019 after India revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, TRF positioned itself as a local resistance group. But security agencies were quick to establish that TRF is a rebranding of LeT, created to avoid international scrutiny.
Digital trails from the Pahalgam attack once again pointed to safehouses in Muzaffarabad and Karachi, further reinforcing the group’s transnational nature.
India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) connected the dots, TRF provided ideological cover, LeT provided logistics, and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) provided support.
This model is old. What’s new is the intimacy of the violence—executing civilians in front of their families, in a region slowly recovering from decades of trauma.
Kashmir Was Changing. That’s Why It Was Targeted.
What makes this attack more than just another headline is the context it was attempted to sabotage.
In 2024, Jammu and Kashmir saw record-breaking tourism, with 2.8 crore visitors—the highest ever. The projection for 2025 was even higher, driven by investments in infrastructure, cultural tourism, and adventure sports. The boom created thousands of local jobs, boosting industries from hospitality to handicrafts.
But more importantly, Kashmiris themselves were beginning to buy into the promise of peace. Sentiment, especially among youth, was turning. Cultural festivals returned. Girls’ education surged. Local businesses began thriving, without the shadow of a gun.
Economic Momentum That Was Building:
- FDI interest surged in 2024–2025, including a ₹4,800 crore logistics deal from a UAE consortium.
- Over ₹25,000 crore in infrastructure projects were underway, including roads, schools, digital grids, and hospitals.
- Mining and rare-earth exploration began attracting foreign interest after government surveys confirmed lithium and sapphire reserves in the region.
- Startups were emerging in Srinagar. Tourism guides and ex-militants began choosing commerce over conflict.
In short, Kashmir was not just returning to normal, it was redefining it. And this quiet revolution was one of identity as much as economy. More and more locals began seeing themselves as part of the Indian story, not in opposition to it.
So Why Now? The Geopolitical Calendar
The Pahalgam attack took place at a moment of global attention: U.S. Vice President JD Vance was visiting India from April 21–24. His meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi focused on strategic defense cooperation, bilateral trade, and Indo-Pacific security.
The timing was no coincidence.
At the same time, China had made overtures to import more Indian goods, amid growing pressure from U.S. tariffs on Chinese exports (245%). With global supply chains shifting, India was emerging as the alternative to China—a fact not lost on either Islamabad or Beijing.
With Kashmir stabilizing and India rising as a global economic partner, Pakistan found itself geopolitically sidelined.
The result? A high-visibility massacre. Not a declaration of war—but a carefully calibrated disruption.
Religious Targeting as Strategy
There’s no ambiguity about who was targeted: Hindu men, traveling with their families. The TRF’s own statement framed the attack as retaliation against “demographic invasion”—a reference to post-Article 370 resettlement policies that allowed non-locals to buy property and settle in the region.
For the attackers, religion wasn’t incidental, it was instrumental.
This was psychological warfare: fracture the fragile peace, rekindle suspicion, and reverse the soft ideological assimilation happening on the ground.
Pakistan’s Playbook: Denial and Deflection
Pakistan’s government swiftly denied involvement. As in previous incidents, Uri (2016), Pulwama (2019), Mumbai (2008), Islamabad blamed “non-state actors” acting without oversight.
India responded by restricting the Indus River water flow under the 1960 treaty. Pakistan countered by calling the move an “act of war.”
This dance, proxy attacks, denial, diplomatic counter-measures, is part of the well-worn script. But each round costs lives. And the victims in Pahalgam weren’t soldiers. They were unarmed tourists, fathers and sons, executed in front of their families.
What the World Must Understand
The Pahalgam massacre was not just a tragedy. It was a strategic act of destabilization.
It sought to:
- Derail economic revival in Kashmir
- Erode religious coexistence
- Scare away foreign investors
- Embarrass India during a high-level diplomatic visit
And it worked, briefly. But India did not escalate militarily. And Kashmiris, though shaken, have not turned their backs on peace.
Because the truth is: what’s most threatening to groups like TRF isn’t a drone strike. It’s normalcy.
Sources:
- Bhatia, R. (2024). Kashmir attack reignites India-Pakistan tensions. The Diplomat. https://thediplomat.com/2024/03/kashmir-attack-reignites-india-pakistan-tensions-amid-fragile-ceasefire/
- Khan, A. (2023). Kashmir violence and diplomatic fallout. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/22/india-pakistan-ties-sour-as-kashmir-violence-surges
- Raghavan, S. (2024). Strategic stability and Kashmir. Journal of South Asian Studies, 47(1), 15–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2024.1945320
- International Crisis Group. (2023). Shaky ground: India-Pakistan ceasefire. https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/india-pakistan/shaky-ground-india-pakistan-ceasefire-and-future-risks
- Economic Times. (2025). UAE signs ₹4,800 cr logistics pact in J&K
- The Hindu. (2024). Tourist influx hits all-time high
- PIB India. (2024). Ministry of Tourism – Kashmir visitor data
- India Today. (2025). Youth in Kashmir choosing startups over separatism
- Wikipedia: Background on TRF, LeT, JeM, PAFF
