Governments desperate to save face often declare “normalcy” before it exists. But no decree, no press release, and no tourism ad can overwrite reality. Kashmir is not normal – because 26 innocent tourists were killed in Pahalgam on April 22, 2025. Today, two months since the incident, the perpetrators continue to evade justice, and many questions remain unanswered.
Now, as tourists cautiously trickle back to Kashmir, the BJP will undoubtedly trumpet this as proof of “peace.” The expectation, as always, will be that we nod along unquestioningly. Pahalgam will be brushed aside, just as Pulwama was, and Uri, Pathankot, Gagangir and Gulmarg. Condolences will be exchanged. But accountability will not be established. Justice will not be served.
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Since August 2019, the BJP government has repeatedly insisted that Jammu and Kashmir is “normal” – that after the abrogation of Article 370, peace has prevailed, life has moved on, and everything is just dandy. On the ground, local Kashmiris – including the current Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah – have said otherwise. But even this embarrassing disconnect from ground realities hasn’t stopped the union government from launching an aggressive PR campaign to promote tourism and project an image of calm in the valley.
Let’s be clear: promoting tourism while respecting the region’s socio-cultural and environmental sensitivities is a welcome initiative. But promoting tourism while neglecting the basic security of tourists is criminal. What unfolded in Pahalgam was not an accident. A colossal intelligence failure occurred under the direct oversight of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, headed by Amit Shah, responsible for law and order and security in the UT of J&K since 2019. In the two months that have since elapsed, what actions has the government taken to diagnose the reasons behind this collective intelligence and security failure? And what steps has the government taken to fix these gaps?
The Pahalgam attack tore apart the government’s carefully constructed and self-congratulatory, yet premature, narrative of “normalcy” in the valley, with which it was misleading the Indian public.
The group behind the Pahalgam attack is the same that carried out deadly strikes in Poonch (Dec 2023), Gagangir, and Gulmarg (Oct 2024). Media reports trace its origins post-2019 and they’ve claimed responsibility for several attacks since 2020. That this network continued to operate under the noses of the MHA and the BJP’s LG administration in J&K, while they basked in their own PR, is damning.
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In this regard, Pahalgam served a grim reminder – that this government is so non-serious about national security that they don’t study past blunders, don’t learn, don’t fix accountability, and, ultimately, much to our dismay, end up presiding over more of such tragedies. The Pahalgam attack could have been prevented had decisive action been taken after Poonch, Gagangir, and Gulmarg.
In the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack, Kashmiri civilians living in different parts of India were suspected, vilified, demonized and attacked as if they were somehow responsible for the tragedy that took place when in fact, it was not their – but the government’s – fault and failure that led to the Pahalgam attack in the first place. As such, if there is anyone worthy of being held responsible, it is the government of India alone, especially the Union Ministry of Home Affairs which categorically failed to harness the capabilities of India’s elaborate intelligence and security apparatus in Jammu and Kashmir to prevent such a grievous attack from taking place. In the process, they have been callous with matters as crucial and fragile as the national security and the lives of Indian tourists in Kashmir.
The Indian National Congress is committed to the nation. We stood united with the people, the armed forces, and even the government’s retaliatory strike. But what followed was deeply disheartening. Operation Sindoor – launched with much enthusiasm – was abruptly abandoned at the first sign of pressure from the United States. That the BJP government is cowardice enveloped in conceit is a well-established fact given their embarrassing track record of the past 11 years. But beyond the BJP, the more relevant question to ask is –
Has India’s foreign policy become so pliable that it buckles in the face of trade threats?
Indians deserve to know the reasons that compelled the government to allow an external power to dictate the end of an operation that was launched in response to terrorism on Indian soil. It is already known that this government has routinely sacrificed public interest to benefit a select few cronies. But compromising India’s national interest and surrendering the honour of Sindoor – under foreign pressure – for reasons only time will reveal – is a disturbing threshold even by the BJP’s standards.
As a responsible opposition, we stood shoulder to shoulder with the government to expose Pakistan at the global stage, but this government even refused to hold a special session of the Lok Sabha on the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor. Lok Sabha is the House of the People. By refusing to call a special session, does the government wish to indicate that the People of India do not deserve answers, and this privilege is only accorded to the diaspora?
Since the end of hostilities between India and Pakistan, President Trump has declared on 15 different occasions that he used trade as a threat to arm-twist both India and Pakistan into a ceasefire agreement. He also expressed interest in mediating talks between India and Pakistan, at a neutral venue, to resolve the ‘Kashmir issue’ – an abysmal retreat from India’s long-standing position after the Simla Accord, 1972, asserting that Jammu and Kashmir is a bilateral issue, and not a theatre for foreign interference.
The government’s retreat, under external influence, was prevaricating and reduced our global standing to that of a hesitant, hyphenated state, clubbed with Pakistan in perception and posture.
Despite our repeated questions, the Modi government chose silence on President Trump’s claims – until 18 June, when Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri finally issued a statement. He said PM Modi had a 35-minute call with Trump and insisted that the May ceasefire between India and Pakistan was achieved solely through military-to-military dialogue, with no role for the U.S.
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But just hours later, Trump flatly contradicted that version, boasting once again that he brokered the ceasefire by using trade as leverage between two nuclear powers. A claim made by the President of the United States cannot be challenged by a foreign secretary. If Trump is misrepresenting the facts, it is Prime Minister Modi – and not a bureaucrat, no matter how senior – who must come forward and publicly reject the claim. His continued silence only deepens suspicion.
Meanwhile, the aftermath of Operation Sindoor also exposed the steep decline in India’s diplomatic clout. Even traditional allies like Russia abstained from branding Pakistan as a terrorist state. Instead, neighbours like Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives that were once our friends, stood aloof and have in fact increased their proximity with China. Around the same time, Pakistan secured an assistance of $1bn from the IMF, $40 bn from the World Bank and $800 mn from the Asian Development Bank – all testimonies of India’s declining diplomatic influence. It is clear that the expensive globe-trotting by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on official visits only wastes the Indian taxpayer money. And doesn’t bring much benefit to the country.
Since April 22, Rahul Gandhi has visited Jammu and Kashmir twice, focusing on its most vulnerable border areas. What he witnessed was far from the government’s hollow claims of “normalcy” – instead, he found pain, fear, alienation, and communities struggling to survive. In stark contrast, the Prime Minister has made just one visit to J&K since the Pahalgam attack – not to meet victims or assess the ground situation, but to inaugurate the Chenab Bridge. Has the Prime Minister abandoned those affected by Pakistan’s shelling and the families of those who died defending our borders? Or is he only capable of cutting ribbons and claiming credit for projects like the Chenab Bridge, which was in fact initiated under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh?
Narendra Modi’s silence echoes the same cold indifference he showed by refusing to set foot in Manipur during the 25 months since ethnic violence broke out in May 2023 – violence that left hundreds dead and 60,000 displaced.
This pattern – of selective empathy, partisan governance, and calculated apathy- tears at the very fabric of India’s federal democracy. It was also on full display when, after Operation Sindoor, the Prime Minister chose to meet only with Chief Ministers of NDA-ruled states, avoiding any genuine, all-party national consultation. One is forced to ask: Is this government even capable of rising above its politics to lead the nation in a moment of crisis?
These are pressing concerns that deserve timely answers. But there are other equally important questions, like: Why is there still no accountability for the April 22 attack? Why are the perpetrators of Poonch, Gagangir, Gulmarg, and now Pahalgam still at large? Why did you skip the very all-party meeting called by your government? What exactly were the terms of the ceasefire with the United States? If this government has nothing to hide, then it must stop dodging and face Parliament with transparency and courage.
India demands answers – not as a favour, but as a constitutional right. It is the government’s duty, both moral and legal, to provide them. For, when a government fails to act transparently, it leaves the nation groping in the dark. When it refuses to admit hard truths, it invites greater mistrust. And when it rushes to declare “normalcy” without doing the work needed to create it, the result is tragedy like Pahalgam.
Author: Pawan Khera (Senior Congress leader)
This article has been authored by Pawan Khera, a senior Congress leader who heads the party’s media and publicity department as its chairman.
