Kashmiris opposed the Pahalgam attack yet still face the brunt of the fallout

Shortly after the terror attack in Pahalgam on 22 April, a large number of residents of India-administered Kashmir took to the streets in a protest march – an unprecedented move in over three decades of conflict in the territory. 

The next day, the whole of Kashmir observed a complete shutdown, jointly called by the local business fraternity, private school associations, religious bodies and political parties. All shops, business establishments and schools remained closed, while public transport services were suspended. The shutdown was observed as a collective act of protest and mourning for the 26 people – 25 of them tourists – who lost their lives in the attack. 

There were also spontaneous candle-light protests that strongly denounced the attack, among the deadliest attacks targeting civilians in India-administered Kashmir in recent years.  “People felt that this is something that can’t be done in their name,” said Danish Ali, a resident of Srinagar. The Resistance Front, a little-known armed group and offshoot of the Islamist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, initially claimed responsibility for the attack but denied involvement days later, likely due to the pushback from Kashmir residents. 

Baisaran meadow, where the massacre took place, is only accessible on foot or by horseback, with no motorable road connecting it directly to the town of Pahalgam, located about 5 kilometres away. This made it difficult for authorities and security forces to reach the site promptly for rescue operations. It was the local residents – horse riders, tourist guides and traders – who stepped in heroically to rescue and evacuate stranded tourists.

One of the horse riders, Syed Adil Hussain Shah, was shot dead by the attackers when he reportedly tried to confront them for killing the tourists. One resident, Sajad Ahmad, saved a stranded tourist by carrying him on his shoulders all the way from Baisaran to Pahalgam. Another local, Nazakat Ali, saved 11 tourists, and ensured they got away safely. This group included Arvind Agrawal, a member of the Chhattisgarh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s youth wing, and his wife. Many Kashmiris opened the doors of their homes and offered food, money and free transport to the tourists stranded in the area after the Pahalgam attack.  

Javid Ahmad Tenga, the president of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that Kashmiris wanted to “send a message” that they are against the killing of any civilian – irrespective of religion, caste, creed and colour. “We have always condemned the killing of civilians,” Tenga said. “The Pahalgam attack was absolute carnage and we denounce it.”. 

MAINSTREAM MEDIA across India and Pakistan has focused on the aftermath of the attack – including the lives lost after air-strikes by India on Pakistan, heavy artillery shelling by Pakistan across the Line of Control, Pakistan’s claims of having shot down Indian fighter jets and at least one drone, and a series of punitive measures suspending trade, travel and other key agreements between the two countries. Few have focused on the protests by residents of Kashmir, which analysts argue signal a “sea-change”  in India-administered Kashmir. 

Yet, rather than seizing the opportunity to reconcile with Kashmiris, who have increasingly been using the ballot box to criticise the rule of the Indian government under the Bharatiya Janata Party after its abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution in 2019, New Delhi has chosen the route of collective punishment instead. India’s mainstream media and political leadership have worked to fuel nationalism and communal hate in ways that are reminiscent of the aftermath of an earlier incident, the 2019 militant attack in Pulwama. 

Those who called for calm or highlighted the help that residents of Kashmir had offered after the Pahalgam attack were viciously trolled online. This included even Himanshi Narwhal, who lost her 26-year-old husband, a naval officer, and Arathi R Menon, who lost her father in the attack. Both women were targeted because they dared to speak out against the rampant communal hatred across India after Pahalgam. According to the Delhi-based advocacy group Association for Protection of Civil Rights, there have been 184 hate crimes targeting residents of Kashmir and Muslims across India from 22 April to 8 May, including 84 instances of hate speech, 39 assaults, 19 cases of vandalism and three murders. Dozens of Kashmiri students and vendors have been assaulted and harassed across mainland India, while in Kashmir the family members of suspected militants have seen targeted demolitions of their homes by government authorities. On top of this, scores of civilians have lost their lives due to the skirmishes between India and Pakistan in the wake of the attack. 

“Few realise the tremendous risks the protestors were accepting,” said Ajai Sahni, the executive director of the Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management and South Asia Terrorism Portal. Protesters faced the real possibility of being punished by militants for condemning the attack, he pointed out. Anuradha Bhasin, the managing editor of Kashmir Times, noted that this was one of the first times that ordinary people registered their protest against militant violence. “These are people who have lived with this pain for the last 30 years and they deeply understand the grief and trauma the families of the slain are now experiencing,” she added. 

Several leading newspapers in Kashmir printed black front pages in a powerful message against the massacre. For the first time, the iconic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar observed a two-minute silence in honour of the victims. Even the leader of the separatist Hurriyat Conference political front, Umar Farooq, while leading Friday prayers, delivered an emotional address to the congregation.

“This incident broke our hearts. The way people were brutally killed after identification and interrogation, in front of their families – it is beyond belief, and horrifying,” he said. Indian authorities often shut down the mosque for Friday congregational prayers, fearing protests from the public. The downtown area of the city, where the grand mosque is located, is known for anti-India protests. This made the Friday address and the two-minute silence in the mosque especially significant.