Pahalgam attack: Image of newlywed woman beside husband’s body to haunt Pakistan, says Lt Gen KJS Dhillon

The recent terror attack in Pahalgam’s Baisaran Valley was executed with military-grade precision, says Lt Gen KJS Dhillon (Retd), an expert on Kashmir and military strategy. A former commander of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps, who led the operation against terrorists involved in the Pulwama attack in February 2019 and has years of experience in handling terrorism in Kashmir, said in an interview with The Tribune that the broader implications of the attack were an assault on Kashmir’s peace and livelihood.

“The local population is now a stakeholder in peace,” Dhillon said. “The locals do not want to go back to those dark days. This action by Pakistani terrorists is not against tourists; it is against the livelihood of local Kashmiris.”

He described the attack as a cowardly act, saying, “When you kill innocent, unarmed civilians who cannot retaliate against you, and you segregate people on the basis of religion and kill them in cold blood in front of their wives, brothers, daughters, or sisters, I think nothing can be more heinous than this.”

Dhillon emphasised that the killings would not be forgotten and there would be a response. “This particular incident will go down in history as one of the biggest crimes against humanity,” he warned. “The picture of a newlywed girl sitting haplessly next to her dead husband will haunt Pakistan for decades to come.”

He reasoned, “There is no jihad in this, no liberation war. You are not attacking security forces or the establishment; you are attacking innocent civilians.”

He noted that the terrorists likely trekked to the target area and completed their attack within 15-20 minutes, knowing that security forces would be unable to respond in time. This, he pointed out, reflects the distrust Pakistani agencies have in local Kashmiris, relying instead on Pakistani operatives for such actions.

Lt Gen Dhillon said that India would respond with a calculated approach, choosing the time and place for its actions rather than reacting impulsively. “For the response, we have to go at the time and place of our own choosing, and we have to keep Pakistan guessing as to where the response is,” he said. He emphasised that militaries and nations never respond in anger, but rather with resoluteness and confidence in their abilities.

“Nations and militaries act with a feeling of resoluteness, with full confidence in their abilities,” he said. “They will strike at the place and time of their choosing.” He cautioned that India’s planning should be robust enough to respond to a potential second strike, and that the second strike should be significantly stronger than the first to deter any further action.

India