WAR: INDIA VS. PAKISTAN PAHALGAM TERRORIST ATTACK

Written by Michael Thervil

Last week a group of Extremists executed a coordinated attack in the Baisaran Valley of Pahalgam which encompasses the Jammu and Kashmir districts in India. The result of these attacks left 26 people killed and more than 20 people wounded. This location is known to be a haven for tourists and thus was considered by Extremists to be a soft target. Currently the Indian government is holding its neighboring country Pakistan to be responsible for the attacks and since then has not only beefed up its security measures both in the region and the country; but the Indian government has started both the mass deportation of Pakistan people who hold visas and the cancellation of all visas for Pakistani nationals. Current Indian visa holders had 48 hours to leave India.

While the exact reason for the attack is not fully known, according to the Indian government, all indications are pointing to the organization known as “The Resistance Front” or TRF. From the preliminary reports, the reason for the attack given by those who committed it was because of the cultural differences that were occurring since the non-Kashmirian started increasing their presence in the area.

Even though the TRF initially claimed responsibility for the attack, they later retracted their statement and instead blamed India for either playing a role in the attack or staging the entire situation. This is considered by India an inflammatory claim and an assault on the integrity of India. Adding insult to injury, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar followed up with another inflammatory claim. He stated:

“Those who carried out attacks on Jammu and Kashmere’s Pahalgam district on April 22nd might be freedom fighters.”

This was followed by the Pakistani Defense Minister statement:

“The reaction which came from Delhi is not very surprising for us we could make out that this whole thing is stage to create crisis in the region”

But retracted and inflammatory statements or not, the Indian government has the country of Pakistan in their crosshairs and have issues a public statement not only denouncing the attack and vowing to bring the perpetrators of the crime to justice; but the Indian government is offering $23,500 for each of the perpetrator that the public can either help identify or bring to justice. During the Indian investigation the attackers were all linked to safehouses in Karachi and Muzaffarabad.

The resistance front not only operates in the Jammu and Kashmir district, but they are a spin-off from another designated terrorist group by the name of Lashkar-e-Taiba. What’s interesting about this terrorist attack is that the attackers asked some of the tourists to recite the Kalima which is a verse from the Holy Quran. It was also revealed by some of the tourists that the attackers made the men take off their pants in order to see if they were circumcised. Those who were not were immediately shot and killed. It should be noted that several Indian officials were killed during the attack.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that India would no longer honor the Indus Water Treaty, which is a treaty that agreed upon by both India and Pakistan resulting in India having control, over the Bea, Sutlej, and Ravi eastern rivers while Pakistan would have control over three western rivers of Chenab, Jhelum, and Indus rivers. The Indus Water Treaty was created in the midst of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The reason cited by the Indian government for breaking the Indus Water Treaty is because of the recent event that’s sparking national security concerns. In response Pakistan closed its airspace to Indian airlines. The economic impact on the Indian airline industry has been adversely impacted in their area of increased fuel and longer flight times.

With everything that's been going on between India and Pakistan over decades, people all over the world are wondering if this is the breaking point that will be a hot war between the two countries. Pakistan, a country not only known for harboring terrorists such as Osama Bin-Laden, ISIS-K, Taliban, Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), the Kaysh Al-Adl (Junedallah); but Pakistan has been known to train and fund various terrorist organizations that have been found to be either hiding or operating in plain sight in Pakistan. The cited reason for this is because according to the Pakistani Defense Minister:

“We have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about three decades”

If this is true, then the latest terrorist attack in Pahalgam is to be considered nothing short of blowback that stems from American and British foreign policy.

The Pakistani government is currently rejecting any involvement in the recent terrorist attack.