Pakistan Politics Must Dent Military Influence

On 22 April, 26 tourists from different parts of India, including one Nepali, were brutally killed by terrorists near Pahalgam, India.

- SIDDHARTHA THAPA

On 22 April, 26 tourists from different parts of India, including one Nepali, were brutally killed by terrorists near Pahalgam, India. The terrorists segregated Hindus and then executed the helpless tourists at gunpoint. This gruesome act of terrorism, conducted in the most savage form, demonstrates the barbaric intent of the terrorists to instigate a Hindu-Muslim conflict to first destabilize Jammu and Kashmir and then India at large.

The international community was quick to condemn this horrific act of terrorism. Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was quick to not only condemn the tragic Pahalgam incident on X, but he also took the opportunity to talk in person with his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing Nepal's support to India's fight against terrorism.

The fact that a vast number of Muslim countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have also condemned this act of terrorism and pledged their support to India is symbolically important. The support of Muslim countries to India demonstrates that terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir has nothing to do with the Hindu-Muslim conflict. Rather, it hints that state-sponsored terrorism has been a steady strategy to instigate the Hindu-Muslim divide to destabilize India.

The objective of the Pahalgam incident is complex. First, the terrorists wanted to inflict pain and sow uncertainty in Kashmir, instigating the Hindu-Muslim conflict and provoking an Indian reaction. Second, amid Pakistan's economic downfall and internal hardships, compounded by insurgencies in Baloch and Pashtun areas in western provinces, considerable social and security challenges confront Pakistan.