On April 22, 2025, an assault occurred in Baisaran Valley, near Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir. Armed assailants fired on tourists, resulting in 26 deaths and over 20 injuries. Initially claimed by “The Resistance Front,” the group later retracted their statement due to a communication breakdown.
The attack highlights the persistent violence defining Kashmir’s occupation. Kashmir is a strategically significant region where India, Pakistan, and China intersect. It is a battleground for territorial disputes and a focal point for competing national interests. Central to the issue is the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination.
Using a pseudonym for safety reasons, Zameer Bhat spoke with Spring Magazine. In his words, the attack on tourists in Pahalgam is just another manifestation of an unbroken cycle of violence that has shaped his entire life.
“I was born in this conflict,” Zameer reflects. “What happened in Pahalgam is a tragedy, yes—but it’s also the result of decades of silencing our voices. We are not just caught in the crossfire—we are being buried under it. Until the world hears us, truly hears us, this cycle will keep repeating.”
Revoking autonomy, reigniting tensions
The latest violence occurs against the backdrop of India revoking Jammu and Kashmir’s special autonomy on August 5, 2019. Following this, the region experienced a strong military and security presence, characterized by extensive movement restrictions, communication blackouts, and the detention of political figures.
The BJP government’s decision, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was perceived as a commitment to strengthen support among Hindu nationalist voters, who considered the special status of Jammu and Kashmir a concession to the region’s Muslim majority. Consequently, Pakistan, which has consistently claimed Jammu and Kashmir, criticized the action as unlawful.
On February 14, 2019, a suicide bombing by a Pakistan-based militant group in Pulwama (in Jammu and Kashmir) targeted a convoy of Indian paramilitary forces, killing 40 soldiers. In response, India launched airstrikes in Balakot, Pakistan. India moved nearly 50,000 military and paramilitary personnel into the region, deepening a decades-long occupation marked by the 700,000 soldiers already occupying the land.
More than four years after India revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special autonomy, the region remains one of the most heavily militarized zones in the world. Behind the headlines of cross-border strikes, militant attacks, and mass detentions lies a deeper story—one rooted not just in modern politics, but in the unfinished business of colonial rule.
Colonial roots, unhealed wounds
The recent escalation in Kashmir arises from a history rooted in colonialism and empire.
When British rule fractured India in the mid-1800s, the subcontinent was divided into numerous princely states, each with its own ruler. At independence in 1947, partition displaced millions and left Kashmir as a particularly volatile area. Kashmir, a Muslim-majority state ruled by a Hindu king, became a flashpoint. Under pressure during a Pakistani tribal invasion, Maharaja Hari Singh decided to accede to India, sparking the first Indo-Pak war and setting the stage for decades of militarization and unrest.
This decision, made without Kashmiri consent, still shapes the region today, where sovereignty remains unresolved and competing national narratives persist.
In 1949, a UN-brokered ceasefire divided the region along the Line of Control, with a promise of a plebiscite to allow Kashmiris to decide their future—yet that vote was never held. Instead, the region saw further conflict, with wars in 1965 and 1971, leaving the people of Kashmir caught in the crossfire of competing nationalisms.
The denial of Kashmiri self-determination
By the time the Kargil War broke out in 1999, India and Pakistan had both officially announced their nuclear status the previous year. Kashmir had already become one of the most militarized regions in the world, with half a million Indian soldiers occupying its land. Human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, documented widespread abuses during the conflict, including torture, extrajudicial killings, and forced disappearances.
Zameer, born in 1992, was only 7 years old during the Kargil War. He grew up in Anantnag, surrounded by the violence, oppression, and brutality that formed the backdrop of his youth. Now a schoolteacher and community organizer, Zameer has witnessed the lasting effects of war on his people, a trauma passed down through generations.
Reflecting on the 1999 abuses, he says, “What Human Rights Watch documented in 1999 wasn’t an exception—it was the blueprint. We’ve lived through torture, disappearances, and broken promises. And now, in 2025, after Pahalgam, we’re told again that security justifies everything. But who protects us from the protectors? The world only remembers Kashmir when there’s blood, never when we’re pleading for dignity.”
Zameer frames the struggle with clarity: “Kashmir is a battlefield for India and Pakistan, and much of the news reporting and analysis always centers on these powers whenever violence flares up in the region. But our voices are always erased from a deeper understanding of the conflict. They call it a security operation, but to us, it’s daily life under siege. We don’t want to be part of a power struggle between two states—we just want the right to shape our future.”
A struggle beyond borders
Currently, both nuclear-armed nations are perilously close to conflict, having recently exchanged fire along their border. Each has strategically repositioned military assets, indicating that all-out war could soon occur. India has halted the Indus Waters Treaty, a vital agreement formed in 1960 that regulates control and sharing of the Indus River waters between the two nations. The water from the Indus River and other rivers covered by this agreement flows from India into Pakistan. Modi has publicly vowed severe retaliation against Pakistan, as India believes Lahore supported the Resistance Front, the group that initially claimed the Pahalgam attack.
Both India and Pakistan have intervened in Kashmir to further their geopolitical interests. India portrays itself as the world’s largest democracy while suppressing Kashmiri autonomy, and Pakistan claims to advocate for Kashmiri independence by arming militants.
But neither has advanced the decades-long demand for a referendum.
78 years since partition, Kashmir remains occupied. It has witnessed three wars, numerous skirmishes, and ongoing occupation. Despite the bloodshed and suffering, the aspirations of the Kashmiri people remain clear.
“Until Kashmiris are allowed to decide their future, no peace will last,” said Zameer. “We don’t want to be pawns in the geopolitical game played by India and Pakistan. We want to be free.”
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