Tuesday's bloodshed in Pahalgam - where at least 26 tourists were killed in a hail of gunfire - marks the deadliest militant attack in Kashmir since 2019. The victims weren't soldiers or officials, but civilians on holiday in one of India's most picturesque valleys. That alone makes this strike both brutal and symbolic: a calculated assault not just on lives, but on a fragile sense of normalcy the Indian state has worked hard to project in the disputed region.
Given the fraught history of Kashmir - claimed in full by both India and Pakistan but ruled by each only in part - India's response is likely to be shaped as much by precedent as by pressure, say experts. For starters, Delhi has swiftly taken a series of retaliatory steps: closing the main border crossing, suspending a critical water-sharing treaty, and expelling diplomats.
India's unforgiving and immutable Hindu caste system has made internal enemies of both Hindus (impoverished Dalits AKA the 'Untouchables') and non-Hindus (Muslims, Baluchs, and Sikhs). Destitute Hindu Dalits called "Naxalites" have been fighting Delhi for decades in an agrarian Maoist insurgency similar to guerillas fighting for land reform in Central and South America. These Naxalites are undefeated in several parts of India: alchetron.com
The massive Indian security force presence in Jammu and Kashmir (500,000 personnel) use shotgun pellets to purposely blind Muslim protestors: https://www.independent.co.uk
India can blame Pakistan for supporting their fellow Muslims oppressed in Jammu and Kashmir, but Hindu-supremacist Delhi's repression of the 'Other' is the root cause.
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