Pahalgam, April 22, 2025 – A brutal terror attack at Baisaran meadow near Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 21, claiming 28 lives—26 tourists, including a Navy Lieutenant and two foreigners (Nepal, UAE), plus two locals—in the deadliest strike since 2019’s Pulwama bombing. The Resistance Front (TRF), a Lashkar-e-Taiba offshoot, claimed responsibility, citing 85,000 “outsider” settlements as driving “demographic change” (Times of India). Six militants, led by TRF’s Saifullah Kasuri, fired on picnickers at 2:30 PM, targeting non-Muslims after demanding kalma recitations, survivors told India Today (India Today, X post).
PM Narendra Modi cut short his Saudi trip, landing in Delhi Wednesday for a Cabinet meeting with NSA Ajit Doval (NDTV). “Those behind this heinous act won’t be spared,” he tweeted, vowing justice (Hindustan Times). Home Minister Amit Shah visited Srinagar, laying wreaths for victims and meeting survivors at GMC Hospital, where 20 injured—five critical—are treated (The Hindu). Shah’s aerial survey of Baisaran, cordoned by Army, CRPF, and J&K Police, followed NIA’s probe launch (Times of India). Operation Tikka, using foliage-penetrating radar, hunts the attackers (India Today).
Victims included newlywed Lt. Vinay Narwal, 26, from Haryana, and Shubham Dwivedi from Kanpur, shot in the head (NDTV). Kashmir’s rare shutdown, with blacked-out newspaper front pages, marked 35 years’ first such protest (The Hindu). Air India and IndiGo added four Srinagar-Delhi/Mumbai flights, waiving fees till April 30 (Hindustan Times). X buzzes—“Pahalgam’s bleeding!”—with protests in Jammu blaming Pakistan, though its minister Khawaja Asif called attackers “homegrown” (X post, Times of India).
Global leaders—Trump, Putin, Guterres—condemned the “devastating” act, with Trump calling Modi to pledge US support (NDTV). J&K CM Omar Abdullah called it “larger than any civilian attack in years,” while Rahul Gandhi urged unity (The Hindu). For India’s 140 crore, it’s a wound—tourism, vital for 1.3 crore Kashmiris, faces collapse. Will security deliver, or fear reign?
