Kashmir terror attack highlights global stakes as India’s rise challenges rivals.

The brutal killing of 26 Hindu male civilians in Pahalgam, Kashmir, was no random act of terror. 

It was a surgical strike by the Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the same group responsible for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

In Pahalgam, the terrorists meticulously singled out Hindu male victims from all over India. The only Muslim, Kashmiri, to die was a local pony operator – murdered while defending the tourists. 

The message was unmistakable: this was a sectarian slaughter, planned to inflame.

The timing was telling. Just days earlier, Pakistan’s army chief Gen. Munir had delivered an incendiary speech in Islamabad, defining Pakistan as the only country born from the Quran in 1300 years since the Prophet formed the first Islamic Emirate and calling Kashmir Pakistan’s “jugular vein.” His tone – brimming with religious nationalism – barely concealed contempt for India and its secular identity.

Pakistani-Indian relations and Kashmir

The Indian government argues that Pakistan has long used terrorism to disrupt the return of stability to Kashmir. While some Western analysts view India’s narrative of “normalcy” with skepticism, few deny that Kashmir has seen growing economic integration with the rest of India – through investment, tourism, and business. Modi’s revocation of Article 370, once deeply controversial, has visibly brought economic gains to the valley embraced by a majority of Kashmiris.