After Pahalgam, what is the counterterrorism grid in Jammu and Kashmir up against?

Two months ago, on April 22, a group of militants gunned down 25 tourists holidaying in the meadows of Pahalgam in South Kashmir. A local man was also killed.

Even by the standards of violence seen in Kashmir's 36-year-old armed insurgency, the targeted killing of tourists was a first. It pushed India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

On May 7, India launched Operation Sindoor and carried out military strikes on alleged terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The four-day conflict eventually came to an end following the purported intervention of the United States.

But the attackers of Pahalgam are still untraced. The National Investigation Agency has taken over the investigation but there has been no major breakthrough in the case.

The Pahalgam attack came at a time when the Centre’s grip over the restive region was absolute and militancy-related violence was at its lowest. After New Delhi scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 of the Constitution and downsized it from a state to a Union territory, it has ruled the region directly with the security establishment under the central government’s exclusive control.

For the counterinsurgency grid in Jammu and Kashmir, the April 22 terror strike has left behind several questions. Scroll spoke to security...

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