Pahalgam Terror Attack on Vance Visit to India Pops Pakistan
PM Narendra Modi with US Vice President JD Vance (Image credit PMO)
Modi Faces Complex Plot in Pahalgam Killings: Swift Action Needed to Punish Perpetrators of Savage Attack
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, April 22, 2025: While Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short his Saudi Arabia visit, he is already facing demands to flex muscle for hot pursuits against sponsors of Pahalgam terror attack. At least 27 Hindu tourists were gunned down with terrorists singling them out for their religion at Pahalgam, a picturesque Kashmir destination.
Pallavi, a survivor of the terror attack, told reporters that she was spared by terrorists with instruction to tell the “story to Modi”. Her husband was gunned down in Pahalgam.
Her statement has the potential to become a direct challenge to the Prime Minister to launch a hot pursuit with the video of Pallavi already trending on the social media platforms.
India’s former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal spelt out steps that India should undertake – “suspend the Indus Water Treaty”. He premised his statement in a post on X.
Christopher Clary of University of Albany opined that suspending the 2001 ceasefire agreement on Line of Control (LoC) is almost a low escalation response from India in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack.
The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), the guardian orgenisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has already demanded that “the government should take appropriate steps soon to punish those responsible for this attack.” Dattatreya Hosabale, general secretary of the RSS, sought strong response.
US President Donald Trump made an unequivocal statement of support to India in his message posted on Truth Social. “The United States stands strong with India against terrorism…Prime Minister Modi and the incredible people of India have our full support,” said Trump.
Terrorism has not fully been stamped out of the Kashmir valley. Terrorists had been executing targeted killings in recent years. The Pahalgam terror attack acquires scale of grave challenge for its scale and savagery timed with the visit of Vance.
Seen with the desperation of Asim Munir, the Pakistani Army Chief, which is facing a loss of face amid unabated attacks from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Balochistan Liberation Army, geostrategic experts have implicated the Islamic nation in the Pahalgam terror attack.
Trump’s firmness in denying any space to Pakistan that Islamabad enjoyed in the past has further put Munir in the spot. The US establishing direct contact with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has also rattled the Pakistani Army.
Trump’s determination to dismantle the global drug trafficking is also an assault on Pakistani Army’s money-making business that may dry up funding of weapons development programmes. Trump administration already signalled firmness to dismantle Pakistan’s inter-continental nuclear ballistic missile programme, funded through drug trafficking.
With Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistan could well be seeking to gain regional relevance. Also, Munir, who is already crafting an image of a radical Islamist, may be moving with plan to step into the shoes of Zia-ul-Haque and Parvez Musharaff to take control of Pakistan.
Modi will need to quickly connect the dots while he plans his course of action to “punish the perpetrator of savage Pahalgam killings”. The plot just hints to be much large than the blood-soaked picturesque Pahalgam.
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