At least 26 people were killed and several others were injured after terrorists opened fire at tourists in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) on Tuesday in the worst such attack in the country in nearly two decades. The attack took place at a popular tourist destination in the Pahalgam district’s scenic Himalayan region. 

The terrorist attack in J&K’s Pahalgam district came days after Pakistan Army chief Gen Asim Munir described Kashmir as Islamabad’s “jugular vein”. 

Pakistan Army Chief’s Remark

Addressing the Overseas Pakistanis Convention in Islamabad on April 16, General Munir spoke about Kashmir and said, “Our stance is absolutely clear, it was our jugular vein, it will be our jugular vein, we will not forget it. We will not leave our Kashmiri brothers in their heroic struggle.”

He told a gathering of Pakistanis who are based abroad that they were the country’s ambassadors and must not forget that they belong to a “superior ideology and culture”. 

“You should definitely tell Pakistan’s story to your children. Our forefathers thought that we were different from the Hindus in every aspect of life. Our religions, our customs, traditions, thoughts and ambitions are different. That was the foundation of the two-nation theory that was laid.”

He also defended the two-nation theory that was the basis for the Partition in 1947.

Pahalgam Terror Attack 

Terrorists struck at a prime tourist location in Pahalgam’s Baisaran Valley, a meadow atop a hill often referred to as “mini Switzerland”, on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least 26 people, mostly tourists, and injuring around 17 others. The dead included 25 Indians and one Nepalese national, police said.

Video footage shot by survivors showed bodies lying on a meadow with people crying and pleading for help.

It was the worst attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai shootings, in which more than 160 people were killed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who cut short his Saudi Arabia trip and arrived in India on Wednesday morning, said that those behind “this heinous act will be brought to justice and will not be spared”.

Terror Group Claims Responsibility

The Resistance Front, a shadow group of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group, claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media message. It said it was discontent that over 85,000 “outsiders” had been settled in the region, spurring a “demographic change”.

However, a government statement confirming the  Resistance Front’s involvement in the attack is awaited.