A month has passed since the picture of the frozen-in-shock honeymooner, Himanshi Narwal, sitting beside the body of her gunned-down husband, naval officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal, went viral from the Baisaran meadows near Pahalgam, where Pakistan-backed terrorists shot dead 26 innocent civilians after ascertaining whether they were Hindus or Muslims.

The five terrorists involved in the 22 April massacre are still at large, although the case was transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) a day after the incident. The Indian Army and other security agencies are carrying out search operations across Jammu and Kashmir to nab the killers.

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This was perhaps for the first time that the country saw Kashmiris coming out openly against the terror attack that had badly hit their livelihoods through tourism.

Reacting powerfully to the terror attack, the Modi government established a new normal of military deterrence by launching on 7 May the ‘Operation Sindoor’, striking nine terror infrastructures in Pakistan and PoJK. In response, Pakistan targeted the civilian areas with missiles and drones, particularly across Jammu and Kashmir.

At least 16 civilians were killed in Poonch and Rajouri districts, besides at least ten soldiers and BSF personnel. Several residential houses were destroyed in Uri, Tangdhar, Rajouri, Poonch, and other areas. More than 57 civilians were injured in these attacks from across the Line of Control (LoC).

The tourism sector in J&K and Ladakh union territories has been badly hit as the number of visitors has been reduced to a trickle. The governments of both UTs are grappling to find ways to revive tourism that is the backbone of the economy of the two regions.

The government admitted that the Pahalgam attack, in which 25 tourists and one local Kashmiri were killed, was a security lapse.

This was the biggest terrorist attack after the 2019 Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives, and the terrorist attack at Uri in which 20 soldiers were martyred.

The dead and injured were from across the country and belonged to Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, J&K, and West Bengal. Among the killed were three recently married government officials from the IAF, the Indian Navy, and the Intelligence Bureau.

The terrorists carrying M-4 carbines and AK-47 rifles singled out the men and asked for their religion before shooting the Hindu and Christian tourists. They also asked some tourists to recite the Islamic Kalma, a Muslim declaration of faith, to identify non-Muslims.

Another major outcome of the terror attack was India suspending the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) of 1960, under which the river waters flow to Pakistan. In retaliation, Pakistan has put in abeyance the ‘Simla Agreement of 1972’. Some Pakistani diplomats were expelled, and the borders with Pakistan were shut.