Open Forum

New Delhi, 30 April 2025

Pahalgam Tragedy

ECONOMIC TRIGGER NOT RELIGION?

By Dhurjati Mukherjee 

The media’s portrayal of the recent killing of 26 tourists in Pahalgam is a grim pointer to the growing religious fundamentalism in a country where Swami Vivekananda spoke of unity of all religions and Mahatma Gandhi advocated how different religions point to the same path of truth, fellow-feeling and love. Sadly, today humanenessis no longer a primary concern of religious doctrines; these are being used to gain power on one hand and on the other political parties have weaved in religion into politics for garnering votes! The Hindu-Muslim divide must be done away with. 

The present-day radicalisation of Muslim youth is derived neither from the Quran nor from the Hadith as politicians mislead them to believe that the community must regain its supremacy using terror. The situation has arisen because the economy of Pakistan has been completely shattered and there is massive unemployment and inflation in that country. The disillusionment and negative thinking of some Muslim radicals lead them to such heinous attacks of violence, which receive condemnation from most philosophers and scholars.   

The situation is not much different in India where a large segment of youth is provoked by political leaders to turn aggressive and invoke fundamentalism. They fail to understand that the basic Hindu dharma is a confluence of various beliefs and intended to unify people. Being half educated, they also do not have jobs and the capacity to read interpretation of the scriptures to take a decisive stand on religious matters. The growth of terrorism in the sub-continent may be attributed to the economic distress affecting the common man. But these trends are affecting society and do not augur well for the country. 

Coming to the question of political violence that has raised its head in many parts of the world, it is worth referring to the political scientist, Murray Edelman who in his remarkable book The Symbolic Uses of Politics made a very pertinent observation at the very beginning. It stated: “Political history is largely an account of mass violence and of the expenditure of vast resources to cope with mythical fears and hopes. At the same time, large sections of people remain quiescent under noxiously oppressive conditions and sometimes passionately defend the very social institutions that deprive or degrade them.” 

Looking back these past few years, it may be said that India has achieved greater success in containing Islamist violence. Its robust security apparatus ensured that terrorism was on the backfoot, and that the separatist ecosystem became fearful of repercussions should it provide any support to militancy. But this horrific tragedy in Pahalgam, time, does point to intelligence failure as the terrorists targeted a crowded tourist destination and escaped unscathed without a shot being fired at them. 

It is indeed regrettable that a section of analysts is talking about India taking recourse to attacking Pakistan. This is not desired at this juncture. The government has already taken some firm steps that no doubt demonstrates the statesmanship of Prime Minister Modi, and that the Opposition is giving full support to the government. The abrogation of the Indus Water Treaty has been retaliated by Pakistan by suspending the 1972 Simla Agreement, which was signed between then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi after Pakistan’s defeat in the Bangladesh war. 

The government is firm that such terrorist attacks would not be tolerated, and the country will give a befitting reply. Importantly, the Kashmiris have stood together and condemned the killings, more so as targeting of tourists has been and was a no-go. A busy tourist season ensured their bread and butter and are apprehensive about the impact the horrific killings would have on it. The anger against Pakistan is spilling on the streets. 

At same time, it’s vital that government increases vigilance and intelligence network. The increasing prosperity of India, notwithstanding the inequality, has been an eyesore for Pakistan which wants to create trouble by sending terrorists. Moreover, since last year, the Valley has attracted record number of tourists and its economy has been strengthened.  

Meanwhile, on the international front, Washington may face pressures from India to scale back security ties with Pakistan that have inched forward in recent months with the US releasing nearly $400 million to monitor its F-16s sold to Pakistan and the planned resumption of bilateral counter-terrorism dialogue in June. Washington will be sympathetic to New Delhi’s concerns, but the Trump administration will not sacrifice the larger interest of arms exports, despite efforts to maintain stability in South Asia. 

While America wants us to sell more defence equipment, the military in Pakistan wants to increase the defence budget to assert its importance. Doesn’t this indicate that a peaceful South Asia would go against interests of nations such as the US, France, Russia. If military budgets are increased, these shall impact developmental expenses, hitting lower echelons of society. 

The observation of PakistanArmy chief, Syed Asim Munir that his country would continue to support the struggle in Kashmir in the name of Islam, has come into focus. He justified Pakistan’s creation and referred to irrevocable differences between Hindus and Muslims but didn’t admit the two communities had been living and working together. His calling Pakistan a hard state was a clear reflection of the distorted imagination of Islam that goes far away from its intrinsic values of community fraternity, love and building relationships. 

While Modi rightly talked of bringing to book the perpetrators of terrorism, he stopped short of elucidating the core values and attributes that defined the soul of Bharat and India’s rich philosophical tradition and culture. When Norway faced the Oslo attack in 2011, its prime minister had stated the country would stand firm in defending “our values of an “open, tolerant and inclusive” society”. This response to violence needs to be appreciated as it talks of more democracy, more openness and greater fellow-feeling. 

Religion is a personal matter and should not be a hurdle in uniting people. It is difficult to fathom the real reason for him making such comments and just before the Pahalgam killings.  

The taking away of a human life for whatever reason must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. When we talk of religion and Hinduism, such insane killings are nowhere written in the scriptures of any religion.The civil society should stand up to support the government in its endeavour to track the terrorists and ensure peace in the Valley. More importantly, the people should go back to the Valley and enjoy its beauty. This would be a befitting reply to the neighbour. ---INFA 

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)