‘Act of war’: What happened in Kashmir attack that killed 26 tourists?

In the most recent attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in a quarter century, rebels allegedly killed at least 26 tourists in the picturesque tourist resort of Pahalgam, sparking fears of an escalation in tensions between India and Pakistan.

The attack in Kashmir’s southern district of Anantnag prompted anger across India. The region, which has been wracked by a three-decade armed rebellion, is at its peak tourist season as hundreds of thousands of tourists travel there.

Soon after the attack, teams of police and paramilitary troops rushed to the spot to evacuate the wounded tourists and launch a manhunt for the attackers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short a visit to Saudi Arabia by resuming his meeting with India’s top security officials on Wednesday morning to prepare its response. Meanwhile, Indian Home Minister Amit Shah and other top security officials rushed to Kashmir.

The attack also unfolded as India is hosting US Vice President JD Vance, who arrived on Monday and is scheduled to leave on Thursday.

What we know about the attack, the victims, the attackers, the setting for the killings, what this means for Kashmir and the area, and how India might react.

What happened?

One of the most popular tourist destinations in the area is Pahalgam, which means “valley of shepherds” in Kashmiri, which is located about 50 kilometers [31 miles] from Srinagar’s main city.

On Tuesday, witnesses told Al Jazeera that the area was bustling with tourists. A group of armed men in camouflage clothing reportedly emerged from a nearby forest at around 2:45 pm, a source said, requesting anonymity to discuss details that security forces have not directly disclosed.

The attackers “opened indiscriminate fire at Baisaran meadow, a scenic uphill area accessible only by foot or pony rides”, the official said. The sudden volley of bullets rang out in the minds of many tourists.

Simran Chandani, a tourist from Nagpur in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, said that she was not sure she would survive the attack.

She said Pahalgam was “mini-Switzerland” at the time the attack started, “we were about to leave after having tea and a popular pre-packaged, ready-to-eat noodle snack,” adding, “We were already prepared.”

Then it all changed. She recalled, adding that primarily men were shot upon, “We thought the balloon had burst, people were pushing each other, and we saw a rush of people coming down.”

She joined the others in trying to escape. Chandani said, “I was running in the name of God.”

How many people were killed, and what do we know about them?

More than a dozen people were hurt in the attack, causing at least 26 fatalities.

The tourists killed were almost all civilians, and an Indian Navy officer from the northern state of Haryana on his honeymoon.

A 68-year-old former banker from Andhra Pradesh’s southern state of Pandurangapuram was killed as well. His wife was also there. The deceased also included a realtor from the southern state of Karnataka, an accountant from the eastern state of Odisha, a cement dealer from Uttar Pradesh in the north, and a&nbsp, Gulf-returnee from the southern state of Kerala.

One Nepalese national was killed as well.

Who claimed responsibility for the attack?

The Resistance Front (TRF), a group thought to be an offshoot of Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Taiba, was named in a statement issued in the name of the attack.

The statement linked the attacks to the thousands of residency permits being handed over to Indian citizens, permitting them to live and work in Kashmir. Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the statement’s veracity.

The Indian government had stripped Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status in 2019, asserting more federal control and splitting the former state into two union territories. The decision caused the region’s political unrest and opened the door for the Indian government to grant non-Kashmiris residence permits, which had previously been prohibited.

Indian officials told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity that they suspected that four attackers took part in the killings – two of them from Pakistan, and two from Indian-administered Kashmir.

Have there ever been previous attacks on tourists?

Even amid Kashmir’s unrest, direct attacks on tourists have been rare.

Six foreign tourists were kidnapped by the Al-Faran armed group in Pahalgam in 1995. One was killed, another escaped, and the remaining four were never found.

At Nunwan in Pahalgam in 2000, 21 Hindu pilgrims were killed.

A year later, 13 people, including 11 pilgrims and two locals, were killed near Sheshnag lake in the same area. In a shooting incident in the Anantnag district in 2017, eight pilgrims were killed. In June last year, eight Hindu pilgrims were killed in the southern part of Jammu’s Kathua when their bus was attacked and fell into a gorge after the driver lost control.

However, it’s likely that Tuesday’s attack is the deadliest tourist attack since Nunwan’s attack in 2000.

Overall, Kashmir has not seen death in an attack on this scale since the bombing outside Jammu and Kashmir’s state legislature in October 2001, in which 35 people were killed.

Survivors and elected officials in the area were shocked by the attack’s nature and scale.

“We went to Pahalgam, and I was sitting on the chair in the meadow when I heard three shots, which created chaos”, said&nbsp, Vinu Bai, a 65-year-old tourist from the western state of Gujarat who was being treated with a bullet injury in the district hospital in Anantnag. “Everyone began to run. The bullet in the chaos hit my arm”.

We believed Kashmir to be peaceful, but we were unaware that this would occur.

Iltija Mufti, a young politician associated with a local opposition group, said Pahalgam was usually patrolled heavily by Indian security forces. She said it was “incredibly shocking” for an attack like this to occur in a place like Baisaran.

“There’s no place for such an attack to take place in our society”.

How has the Indian government responded?

On Wednesday, India’s leaders met to discuss the country’s response.

Modi, who was earlier supposed to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for a state dinner in Jeddah, cut short his trip and rushed back to India.

“The terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir is absolutely unacceptable.” Condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. I appoint a quick recovery for the injured. All possible assistance is being provided to those affected”, PM Modi said in a tweet. “They will not be spared,” declares the statement “Those responsible for this heinous act will be brought to justice”!

Home Minister Amit Shah also rushed to Srinagar and met top security officials in the region. The government was criticized by Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Indian National Congress, for “hollow claims” of normalcy in Kashmir since the special status was revoked in 2019.

“The whole country is united against terrorism”, Gandhi said. The government should now take responsibility and take concrete steps to prevent such barbaric incidents from occurring in Jammu and Kashmir and prevent innocent Indians from losing their lives in this way, according to the government’s statement.

Will Pakistan be subject to India’s retaliation?

Experts said that the government’s response could include some form of retaliation against Pakistan for the brutal attack.

“This is a war action. That’s how we are seeing it. The announcement was made shortly after Pakistan’s army chief’s speech, according to Tara Kartha, director of the New Delhi-based think tank Center for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS). Kartha, who was formerly an official at India’s National Security Council Secretariat, was referring to last week’s address by Pakistani Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir, where he reiterated his support for the two-nation theory that led to India’s partition in 1947, and affirmed “difference from Hindus”.

Kartha claimed that Pahalgam’s actions matched Munir’s “invective-loaded” address on April 16 with the same tone. “Only if Pakistan condemns the attack in the strongest terms and promises action against terrorists in the next 48 hours will a serious crisis be averted”.

In the early hours of Wednesday, Pakistan responded.

“We are concerned at the loss of tourists ‘ lives in an attack in Anantnag district of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it condoled the deceased’s immediate family members and wished them a quick recovery. India and Pakistan both claim all of Kashmir, and each controls a part of it.

Some experts warned against an impulsive response, even though that statement is unlikely to ease tensions in India, where the government will be under intense pressure to respond to Pakistan.

India’s relative stability compared with its “highly volatile neighbour” should inform its response, said Saba Naqvi, a veteran political commentator based in New Delhi.

She referred to Modi’s Hindu majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that “many people here believe that the BJP regime will simply drop bombs there and everything will be avenged.” “But it is not as simple as that”.

What does the attack mean for Kashmir?

Politicians and civil society in Kashmir have condemned the attack, claiming that it caused more harm to residents than to anyone else.

“This is a terrorist act. I don’t believe I can think of it as anything else. Whoever has done it only wants to harm Kashmiris, our economy, and a sense of political stability that had returned to place in the past couple of months”, Waheed ur Rehman Para, a Kashmiri legislator from the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), told Al Jazeera.

Tourism accounts for nearly 7% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), making up the region’s economy. A rush of visitors to Kashmir also serves the political messaging of Modi’s BJP that it has succeeded in bringing peace and calm to the region.

Even so, things in the area were a lot more unusual than before the Pahalgam attack. Since 2019, the Indian government has cracked down on political activists and civilians alike, arresting thousands of people under draconian laws that allow it to keep them under detention for lengthy periods without a trial.

After nearly a decade, Kashmir’s first elected head was chosen in October of last year.

Omar Abdullah, a popular provincial politician who campaigned on the promise of reinstating the lost autonomy, clinched a landslide victory in these polls. However, the new laws of the union territory severely restrict his authority, with many of his authority now being held by a lieutenant governor chosen by the president.

Still, the Pahalgam attack has brought many hoteliers and tour operators to the defence of tourists and against those behind the killings.

“This must be avoided at all costs.” What is most difficult, more than anything else, for us at this hour is the heavy human loss this has imposed. Tourism is not a top priority right now, according to former hotelier of Pahalgam Abdul Wahid Malik, who was also the guild’s president.

A landslide in Ramban village, a gateway connecting the mountainous Kashmir region with the plains of Jammu, has disrupted traffic in and out of the landlocked valley, pushing airfares higher and making it difficult for fear-stricken tourists to leave the region, following Tuesday’s attack.

Malik provided four rooms for a tourist family at his hotel after learning that they were in trouble. “We are duty-bound to ensure their safety”, he said. “Our family has been devastated by the attack.”

Tourism and business operators in Kashmir called for a shutdown on Wednesday. The incident shocked other residents, as well.

“Kashmir is known for being warm and hospitable”, said Nadiya Farooq, 31, a resident of Srinagar.

Source: Aljazeera