Pahalgam Terror Attack: The terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 people, mostly tourists, is among the deadliest assaults on civilians in the Valley in more than two decades.The attack is a chilling reminder of the Chittisinghpura massacre in which 36 Sikhs were killed by terrorists in Chittisinghpura village of Anantnag district on March 20, 2000. The attack was carried out on the eve of the then US president Bill Clinton’s state visit to India from March 21 to March 25.Also Read | J&K Police releases sketches of 3 terrorists linked to Pahalgam attackTuesday’s attack was carried out in the fabled Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam on a day when United States Vice President JD Vance was in India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a state visit to Saudi Arabia.Both Chittisinghpura and Baisaran are in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district.General Asim Munir’s ‘jugular’ vein speechThe Pahalgam attack comes a week after Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir sparked a row when he said Kashmir is Islamabad’s ‘jugular vein.’ The remark evoked a strong objection from New Delhi.“Our stance is absolutely clear, it was our jugular vein, it will be our jugular vein, we will not forget it. We will not leave our Kashmiri brothers in their heroic struggle,” General Munir said in Islamabad while addressing the Overseas Pakistani Convention on April 16. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) reacted to General Munir’s statement last week saying, “how can anything foreign be in a jugular vein? This is a Union Territory of India. Its only relationship with Pakistan is the vacation of illegally occupied territories by that country.”Also Read | Pahalgam Terror Attack LIVE: Amit Shah says culprits of will not be sparedThe Pahalgam attack has brought General Munir’s speech in focus again.The Resistance Front(TRF), an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, is believed to be behind Tuesday’s attack, a claim that Mint has not been able to verify so far. Some reports even suggested that a top Lashkar-e-Taiba commander, Saifullah Kasuri, alias Khalid, is believed to be the ‘mastermind’ of the attack. There has not been any official word on these claims yet.The tensions between India and Pakistan deteriorated further after the abrogation of Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.On the Pahalgam attack day, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif raked up the ‘Kashmir issue’ during his meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara.Sharif, who is visiting Ankara, thanked Turkey for its “unwavering support” on Kashmir, during a joint press conference with Erdogen. This was perhaps hours after the terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam.Also Read | Pahalgam attack rekindles chilling memories of Chittisinghpura massacre“Prime Minister Shehbaz called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as he strongly condemned the killing of 50,000 innocent lives there. He expressed gratitude for Turkey’s unwavering support on the Kashmir issue,” said a report in Pakistan-based Express Tribune about the joint press conference in Ankara on April 22.Different from Hindus: General MunirIn the same address in Islamabad, General Munir also called upon people of the country to tell stories to children so that they don’t forget they are ‘different from Hindus.’”You have to tell Pakistan’s story to your children so that they don’t forget that our forefathers thought we were different from Hindus in every possible aspect of life,” he said, evoking the two-nation theory propagated by Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah.Our stance is absolutely clear, it was our jugular vein, it will be our jugular vein, we will not forget it.”Our religions are different, our customs are different, our traditions are different, our thoughts are different, our ambitions are different. That was the foundation of the two-nation theory that was laid there. We are two nations, we are not one nation,” news agency PTI quoted him as saying.(With inputs from agencies)
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