Pahalgam and the Cold Revenge

Col Mani K Gahatraj (1971 War Veteran)

The only solution for bad and violent people are good people that are more skilled in violence – Japanese Samurai code, Bushido

Identify and Destroy the Enemy at the Gate: Bharat should really go down deep into the inner bastion of the hydra headed monster of terrorism, Pakistan, not to teach a lesson but to kill the hydra by severing its head from its body once and for all. The real enemy of India, the monster of terrorism that spreads its fangs smeared in blood of innocent victims from its epicentre in reality are the heads of Army and ISI of Pakistan who live in their palaces in Rawalpindi. They are the ones who practice the theory of thousand cuts to bleed India. The Jihadi leaders such as Hafiz Saheed, Maulana Masoor, Abu Musa and many other heads of terror organisations of Pakistan are only the puppets in the hands of ISI. At the same time the political heads of Pakistan such as the president and prime minister plus the judiciary are just the figure heads for the world’s eyes whereas the real power is wielded by the Army. In such a situation, there is one and the only reason for the relevance of the Pakistani army to stay in power and that is anti-India hysteria with its main target that’s Kashmir. Post abrogation of Article 370 and the return of normalcy in Kashmir when tourism began to flourish, it was time for Pakistan Army to strike and exhibit its relevance. This is how Pahalgam’s Hindu tourists’ were targetted in the afternoon of 22 April 2025 in the picturesque lush green meadows of Pahalgam. The terrorists, armed to the teeth, suddenly appeared from the jungle surrounding the picnic spot, asked the name and religion of the men folk and started killing them at point blank range right in front of their wives and children. A tourist, Bharat Bhusan was holding his child in his arms with his wife next to him. A terrorist asked him his name and religion and he boldly told him that he was a Hindu and his name was Bharat Bhusan. The terrorist told him to hand over the child to his wife and shot him on the head. Other tourists were told to recite Kalma failing which they were shot dead and in case of further doubts the terrorists told the tourists to lower their pants and underwear to check the circumcision before shooting them dead.

Connect the Dots to Mulla Munir: It is not very hard to connect the dots to find this gruesome selective Hindu killings directly linked to Mulla General Asim Munir’s rantings of 16 April 2025 to expat audience wherein he reignited the fire of Hindu hatred by justifying the two-nation theory and adding that Hindus and Muslims were entirely different from each other in their thinking, culture, religion and everything. He further added that Pakistan has not forgotten their Kashmiri brothers and sisters while Kashmir is the jugular vein of Pakistan. It was a clear message to India that he was doing something in Kashmir and what followed after 6 days was the selective massacre of Hindu tourists in Pahalgam on 22 April 2025. Munir’s message was a clear indication of the shape of things to come in Kashmir in the near future. It was a meticulously planned, well calculated operation that took us by surprise, as we were, gloating over the return of normalcy with election done and booming tourism. I am afraid we were not alert. It is very strange that no one in the government hierarchy thought of deploying security personnel in such a sensitive tourist area as Pahalgam. It was a vast and lush green meadow surrounded by pine jungles, an ideal place for picnic as also ideal place for a terror strike. It was a recipe for disaster and I find it hard to digest that the Chief Minister and his security advisors did not think of deploying few police personnel to watch over the surrounding jungle and provide security to tourists. At the same time, it was a precision military planning that was executed with precision timings. Afternoon time, where the sunsets early and it involves about half an hour’s walk from the road head. The terrorists came, took their time to choose and kill and disappeared into the jungle before the Quick Reaction Team of security forces could reach. Thereafter, it became difficult to track them during the hours of darkness. In the mean-time, the terrorists managed to escape through the jungle and merge with the local population and take shelter in a predesignated collaborators/sleeper cell hideout. Later they must have returned to their basses across the Line of Control in Pakistan. It is also to be noted that in such a scenario, the success of terrorist’s operation is only viable with the full support and cooperation of the local collaborators. This genocidal operation has the clear stamp of Pakistani Army executed by ISI through their selected foot soldier terrorists.

Why J & K Election in a Hurry: To a great extent, I do blame the Central govt for holding election so early when the effect of abrogation of Article 370 was just sinking in and the normalcy was returning back. Where was the tearing hurry to hold election which installed a known pro Pak dynast to the top executive chair. Obviously, the police force came under the Chief Minister and obviously the security force was divided as the unified command under the army was diluted. Was the election meant to play to the gallery of international media about the government’s commitment to democracy or was it under the pressure of judicial activism? It may be a combination of both. When it comes to judicial activism, the Central Government has the mandate to tell the Court that it cannot be allowed to encroach upon the functions of a constitutional institutions like the Election Commission of India. Another question that arises is why Kashmir was not detached from Jammu making it a smaller UT to deal with ease with special reference to terrorism.

Resemblance with Hamas and Hitler: The Pahalgam massacre has ditto resemblance to the Hamas’s heinous attack on unsuspecting Israelis enjoying a music festival or just enjoying a lazy Sunday on 7 Oct 2023. It was the same motive, same modus operandi, only thing Pahalgam attack was on a smaller target and they did not take hostages. The terrorist organisation of Pakistani army, ISI, the trained terrorist leaders and their ground level hitmen can well be compared to the race-based terrorism of Hitler towards Jews with the dirty hatchet job being directed by Himmler and Goebbels while the Nazi SS troops was another version of present days terrorists of Pakistan, indoctrinated and trained to kill and carryout mass genocide against Hindus. What Himmler and Goebbels were to Hitler, ISI is to the Army Chief of Pakistan.

As much as the dictators of the past such as Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini and Mao Ze Dong owned their countries as persona fiefdom, so does the army Chief of Pakistan since Ayub Khan snatched power. The whole world knows that it is the Army of Pakistan that has a nation and not the other way around. As such, the president, the prime minister and the judiciary are all under the beck and call of the Pakistan Army.  Former Pentagon official Michael Rubin has said that Pakistan Army Chief, Asim Munir, is the same as the al-Qaeda Chief late Osama Bin Laden, and his end should also be the same as that of Osama Bin Laden. Michael Rubin further asserts that as much as a pig will remain a pig even if you put lipstick on its lips, so will Pakistan always be the epicentre of terrorism. It only adds up to Michael Rubin’s statement when Asim Munir had clearly and loudly ranted on 16 April 2025 that Hindus and Muslims were very different in their culture, religion and belief while Kashmir was the jugular vein of Pakistan.

India’s Cold Revenge: Now India is dealing with this terrorist epicentre, Pakistan whose national aim is to bleed India by thousand cuts.  So far, right from its birth in 1947, as preached by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, so called father of the nation, that majority Hindus of India have been educated and indoctrinated to be secular, tolerant, mature, magnanimous on the lines of post Kalinga Ashoka and Prithvi Raj Chauhan. Energised and further propagated by the Congress party that was in power for the longest period since Independ led by pro-minority Muslim vote seeking leadership that has always patronised the Islamist jihadis and separatists in the Hindu garb in cohort with the leftist and the pro-Pak Bollywood movie cabal. In this way, the majority Hindu nation has been led along the path of false secularism with non-violence as the key national concept. The Indians had forgotten the teachings of Bhagwan Krishna, Bhagwan Ram and later years Hindu heroes such as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Rana Pratap and General Lachit Barphukan. Bhagwan Krishna has clearly stated that one has to fight to safeguard one’s dharma, nation and family. It means that when the enemy is at the gate there is no room for negotiations and non-violence. It is also taught by these great seers that one has to take up arms to defeat and destroy the evil. Resultantly, we saw that even after a decisive victory in 1971 Indo-Pak war, India showed magnanimity by returning 93000 Pakistani prisoners of war, returned all the captured territories without hard bargaining for solving the Kashmir issue and accepting the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir as fait-accompli. It is only after 2014, led by nationalist government India seems to have been given the second and real independence, freed from the shackles of colonial mindset of slavery. With a new sense of nationalism, India’s stand and response on many issues started changing for better towards more assertive and self-respecting nation. In such a changed national scenario we saw surgical strike after Uri attack by Pakistani terrorists and swift air attack on the terrorist base in Balakot after Pulwama attack by the same Pakistani terrorists. In 2020 world remembers Indian Army’s quick and deadly response to the Chinese Army after their heinous attack on our unsuspecting officers and soldiers in Galwan. What followed was Indian defence forces’ massive deployment and major push towards infrastructure development along the northern border threatening the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. All this besides aggressively occupying the commanding heights. The previous government’s, submissive stand vis-a-vis China that it couldn’t dare build roads to the borders for fear of annoying the Chinese dragon and believing in lopsided theory that our roads will be used by Chinese army to attack our areas.

The Punishment: This time around, after the heinous crime in Pahalgam, things are very different. Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated in categorical terms that the terrorists will be chased and eliminated in any corner of the world they hide while the real perpetrators and planners of this crime will be punished in a manner that they cannot even imagine. These came as most comforting, and strong words from the Prime Minister of India for the angry and grieving nation.

Keeping these words, in the early hours of 7 May, India’s defence forces – Army, Navy and Air Force, carried out a joint strike bombarding and pounding terrorist camps that were reduced to rubbe at nine different places along the LoC in POK and also deep inside Pakistan. We hope and pray that every time Pakistan allows its territory to push in terrorists or if it dares to challenge our might militarily, our nations punishment to Pakistan will be even more severe, unforgiving, and ruthless with a far-reaching consequence to the already impoverished nation that has a begging bowl in one hand and a gun in another. From now onwards, any diabolic move by Pakistan should not be met with localised strikes. Uri and Pulwama like reactions will not do. Cutting the main head of the hydra monster is the only cure as eliminating tentacles will not kill it and it will come back to kill our people again and again. Our nation has to respond and not react only to the Pakistan Army and ISI. India will have to adopt a multidimensional approach encompassing diplomatic, economic, and kinetic approaches to include the cyber domain, space and sea. We need to hit their major lines of communications and sea routes so as to economically bleed them dry. Water war has already been waged by India by suspending Indus Water Treaty which will mean Pakistan’s farm lands will go dry. Non-kinetic measures such as suspension of Indus Water Treaty, down-sizing both the embassies, declaring Pakistani defence personnel in Indian embassy persona no grata, cancelling SARC visas and ordering all Pakistani nationals in India to leave the country immediately are good responses.  Pakistan, in its knee jerk reaction has abrogated the Shimla agreement which was already null and void after their attack on Kargil, as such it has no meaning. I am personally very happy that Attari-Wagh Border circus has been deleted, hopefully for ever. It was an unnecessary appendage that was being practised for no good reason or outcome.

The Kinetic Action: As regards our kinetic action, which the world has witnessed has been well calculated, well planned, ruthless and a massive punishment with everlasting impact. Now we need to be well prepared to deal with the possible escalation of the situation, including hot war or even the use of nuclear weapons. Simultaneously, India needs to consider the ISI network in Bangladesh that has most likely spilled over to West Bengal and this has to be nipped in the bud once and for all. In other words, we may have to address two fronts against Pakistan and Bangladesh, which, as of today has reverted back to being the de-facto East Pakistan. Situation in West Bengal for a long time, specially after the post-poll violence against the Hindus followed by Nandigram and now Murshidabad need to be dealt with operational urgency. Hindus in West Bengal are angry that central government is not doing enough but it seems that Hindus themselves are not fighting back. Every bully will fall back if the oppressed give it back in the same coin.

Kinetic Response: The Army & ISI of Pakistan would now be busy war gaming.

Following options may be open for Indian kinetic strike in days to come, if Pakistan refuses to mend it’s ways: –

b)      Destroy their nuclear facilities

c)      Strike them from Baluchistan side in conjunction with Baluch Army and Taliban in Afghanistan

d)      Block their sea routes in Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean at the same time sink and capture their ships

e)      Destroy all their power generating facilities and push them into the stone age

f)       Most importantly, hit and destroy Pakistan’s Army and ISI headquarters

An Assertive and Aggressive Bharat-Shedding off Restraint Model: India drastically needs to change its policy of being a so called responsible, sensible and mature nation that is past master of exercising restraint. We have tolerated and restrained ourselves for many decades against Pakistan’s agenda of bleeding us with thousand cuts. We gave away strategic areas like Haji Pir Pass back to Pakistan after capturing it in the 1965 war. As if that was not enough, after a decisive victory in 1971 Indo Pak War we returned 93000 prisoners of war without bargaining whereas we could have easily told them to vacate POK and recognise the international border as such. At the same time, we gave away Bangladesh on a platter to the ungrateful people of Bangladesh and are reaping the harvest now. We could have easily broadened the Siliguri corridor by taking northern part of Bangladesh as a deal for liberating that nation. Now, a miniscule, good for nothing nation with very little resources is showing eyes to the very nation that created them and we seem to be doing nothing except diplomatic and little economic knee-jerk reactions. Another shameful act of tolerance and restraint by the then government was ordering the Indian forces, including the Air Force, not to cross the Line of Control after the Pakistani forces had crossed it and occupied Kargil heights playing havoc with our forces. Consequently, we exercised restraint. It was like tying one hand of our forces and telling them to fight with the other and evict the enemy. All such magnanimity and humane consideration to score diplomatic brownie points to impress the other nations. Nothing could be more bizarre in warfare. The executive head of the state is required to spell out a clear aim and task for the forces to fulfil but is not supposed tell a force commander how to do it. We hope to God that from now onwards such lessons would be remembered and that the politicians and civilian bureaucrats, including NSA, do not encroach into military execution. 

Dealing firmly with the Elephant in the Room: At the end of the day, while the nation has to stand as one to face the challenges and systematically and deliberately destroy the epicentre of terrorism called Pakistan, also importantly, we need to decisively and ruthlessly deal with the elephant in the room.  

JAI Hind