What Pahalgam says about counter-terrorism realities

The barbarous terror attack by Pakistan-backed militants in Pahalgam killing 26 civilians is a change in tactic from previous such strikes in Jammu & Kashmir.

- Kabir Taneja

Both Pathankot in the state of Punjab in 2016 and Pulwama in 2019 targeted the military. This time, civilians were brutally murdered for the first such mass casualty event since 2000.

The nature of countering terrorism is an unforgiving exercise. That there was a sense of normalcy in the Kashmir Valley over the years is a testament to the fact that Indian security agencies thwart multiple such plans on a regular basis, operations that rightfully do not make the headlines. However, lapses that lead to outcomes such as Pahalgam should be inculcated for institutional and doctrinal upgrades considering terrorism does not work around any rules or regulations.

Despite the India-Pakistan geography arguably being the most militarised real estate on the planet, the conventional view of utilising paramilitary and the Army at the forefront of counterterrorism may need a reset.

Globally, the priority of countering terrorism has taken a back seat. International diplomatic and political pressure points built as part of the post-9/11 "war on terror" era are fraying. Most of these tools and mechanisms, operationalised via a concoction of multilateral institutions and military might, predominantly by the US, are being withdrawn as part of Washington's recalibration over its own role as the self-anointed global police force.

As part of this exercise's outcome, the likes of the Taliban in Afghanistan and former Al Qaeda leader Ahmed Al Sharaa in Syria have garnered acceptance as a new era of para-States arises.

Beyond Syria and Afghanistan, the US has even held in-person dialogue with Hamas to find middle paths and off-ramps in West Asia.