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On 22 April 2025, a terrorist attack at Baisaran Valley near Pahalgam in the Anantnag district of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir killed at least 28 tourists and injured more than 20 others. Reactions to the invasion have varied considerably, with the international community generally offering condolences for the victims of the attack.
Indian authorities accused Pakistan's government of complicity with Pakistan-based groups which conducted the attack, and vowed to destroy all elements associated with the terrorists. [1] [2] Pakistan's government denied complicity or involvement in the attacks, and threatened interventions in response to potential escalations. [3] [4]
Protests condemning the attack were held in many parts of India and overseas at the High Commission of Pakistan, London. [2] [5] [6]
The attack drew immediate widespread condemnation from political leaders. Indian president Droupadi Murmu called it a "dastardly and inhuman act." [7] Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar called the act "reprehensible" and condemned it. [7] Modi termed the attack as "shocking and painful" and said that those responsible would be brought to justice. [8] Indian National Congress leader Udit Raj called for decisive action, stating it was "time to teach Pakistan a lesson" and advocating for the destruction of "all terrorist hideouts." [9]
Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah described the incident as "much larger than anything we've seen directed at civilians in recent years." [10] Defence Minister Rajnath Singh labelled it an "act of cowardice." [7] The leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, criticised the Indian government's policy on Kashmir in light of the attack but also extended support to the government to deal with the threat. [11] [12] Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma called for declaration of war on both Pakistan & Bangladesh to avenge the persecution of Hindus. [13] India blamed Pakistan-based groups, suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, expelled Pakistani diplomats, and closed major border crossings like the Attari-Wagah crossing.
Reported changes to a United Nations Security Council statement addressing the attack and a phone call on April 27 between China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar were portrayed by Indian media as evidence of China's support to Pakistan's demands and position on the incident. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]
On 28 April, the Indian government banned 16 Pakistani Youtube channels, including Dawn & Geo News for broadcasting 'provocative' anti-Indian content. [19]
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry expressed condolences to the families of the victims, [20] and its defence minister Khawaja Asif dismissed the allegations of his country's involvement in the attack and regarded such events as revolutions. [21] [3] However, in an interview with the Sky News, while responding to allegations of terrorism, minister Asif said that Pakistan engaged in terrorist activities on the direction of US, Britain and the West since 3 decades. [22] [23] Pakistan accused India of politicizing the incident, and retaliated by suspending the Simla Agreement and closing its airspace to Indian flights. It warned that interference with the Indus Treaty would be treated as an act of war.
On 24 April, Pakistan suspended visas issued to Indian nationals and closed its airspace to Indian aircraft, expelled Indian diplomats and instructed Indian military advisers to depart the country no later than the 30 April. [24] However, the Kartarpur Corridor remained open for Sikh pilgrims. [25] Pakistan also cut off all trade with India. [1] Pakistan also suspended the Simla Agreement, on 24 April 2025 in retaliation. [4] [26] The Attari–Wagah border ceremony was also reduced and the symbolic handshake did not take place. [27] [28]
On 26 April, former Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari issued a statement regarding India's suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, declaring: "Either water will flow in this Indus, or their blood will." [9] Bhutto's remarks were criticised by the Indian Muslim parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi, who called attention to Bhutto's own mother's assasination by terrorists. [29]
Pakistani railways minister Hanif Abbasi has threatened a full-scale nuclear war against India. He also threatened to launch the nuclear warheads named Ghori & Ghaznavi. [30]
India's pro government right-wing media outlets have reportedly indulged in propagating Islamophobic narratives while covering this event, linking it to previous communal tensions like the Nagpur riots & Murshidabad riots. Arnab Goswami demanded a 'Final Solution' like treatment of Pakistanis & Indian Muslims as revenge of this incident on live air. [82] [83]
The Hindu American Foundation has accused several Western media outlets like BBC, New York Times Deutsche Welle, Washington Post, CNN & Reuters of whitewashing the incident by gaslighting the religious targeting of civilians, refusal to refer the perpetrators as 'terrorists', instead calling them as 'gunmen' and 'militants', doing propaganda work for Pakistan by overemphasizing Pakistan's denial of financing anti-Indian terrorist activities & portraying the Indian stance as aggressive warmongering due to political correctness. [84] The New York Times, which has a reputation of fostering anti-Indian sentiments, was criticised by the US Foreign Affairs Committee for its refusal to acknowledge the incident as a terrorist activity. [85] The Indian government also sent a letter protesting the anti-Indian coverage of the incident by BBC India. [19] Dicussing the Western coverage of the incident, the Times of India states [86]
When Hindus are killed, the story must always be reframed - not as religious persecution or ideological terror, but as a part of some nebulous, ongoing "tension",..
The victim's are quietly transformed into faceless statistics, stripped of religion, identity and dignity; the perpetrators are softly described as "unknown assailants" or "radicals with grievances", and terrorism itself is neutered into a regrettable but unavoidable "incident"..... it is bias - deliberate and sustained - the kind that recasts murderers into misunderstood actors in a conflict too complex for moral clarity, and victim's into inconvenient footnotes.
In the global newsroom's carefully maintained hierarchy of grief, Hindu lives occupy a peculiar space : simultaneously too privileged to be mourned and too politically awkward to be acknowledged.
If 26 Jews had been murdered in Paris or 26 Christians had been slaughtered on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka or 26 LGBTQ club-goers had been gunned down in Orlando, there would have been no hesitation in calling it terrorism; the candles would have been lit, the headlines would have screamed, and the op-eds would have poured in, demanding justice, vengeance and global soul-searching....
But when Hindus are massacred, they are quietly demoted to statistics; they are flattened into "tensions", buried under euphemisms, and met with the kind of silence that speaks louder than any headline.
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