This week, Poonch is running air-raid drills again. Security has been beefed up at tourist spots across Kashmir ahead of the first anniversary of the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 people were shot dead by terrorists on April 22 last year. In Poonch, the border town that bore some of the worst civilian casualties during the military escalation that followed civil defence exercises are underway. Families who lost relatives to Pakistani shelling last May are watching mock drills simulate the same emergency that was, for them, entirely real.
And yet, 200 kilometres away in Pahalgam, the meadows are full of tourists again. That contrast between fragility at the border and normalcy being performed for visitors is the most honest summary of what one year has and hasn’t changed.
April 22, 2025: What Actually Happened in Pahalgam
On April 22, 2025, a terrorist attack ripped through Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam, killing 25 tourists and a local pony-ride operator. The brutal attack, carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, led to an exodus of tourists from Jammu and Kashmir, prompting the authorities to shut nearly 50 tourist spots before reopening some in a phased manner after a security audit.
It was the deadliest attack on Indian civilians since the 2008 Mumbai bombings. The victims were on a holiday. The attackers, according to multiple accounts, asked people to identify their religion before opening fire, a deliberate attempt to turn a security incident into a communal flashpoint.
The attack was designed to do two things: fracture trust from inside India, and signal to the world that Kashmir was not safe for outsiders. It succeeded, temporarily, on both fronts. Tourism collapsed almost overnight. Political pressure on the government to respond was enormous. The question was never whether India would respond it but was how far it would go.
Operation Sindoor: What India Actually Did
Sixteen days after the attack, India answered that question.
On 7 May 2025, India launched Operation Sindoor with missile strikes on terrorism-related infrastructure of Pakistan-based militant groups Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir. The Indian government described the strikes as “focused, measured, and non-escalatory.”
Pakistan retaliated. What followed was four days of drone strikes, artillery exchanges, and a large-scale air battle involving over 114 aircraft from both sides. Neither Pakistani nor Indian aircraft crossed the border, engaging instead in a stand-off conflict at distances of more than 100 kilometres at times.
On the ground and in the air, India used weapons that mattered beyond the immediate military outcome. In just four days, India carried out precision strikes on fortified positions using only domestically developed or assembled systems like BrahMos missiles, Akashteer air defence units, and loitering munitions without relying on US platforms or foreign logistics. The message for India’s defence establishment was as much about self-reliance as it was about Pakistan.
A Swiss military analysis concluded that India retained escalation dominance over Pakistan from May 7 to 10 and demonstrated a deep-strike capability without crossing nuclear thresholds. The Indian Air Force struck seven sites up to 200 kilometres inside Pakistani territory. Air defence radars were taken out. Drone hubs were destroyed. The cumulative effect was a significant reduction in Pakistani airspace coverage, with several intact radar stations ceasing emissions to avoid attracting further strikes.
Pakistan requested a ceasefire in 88 hours after the operation began. India accepted, but framed it explicitly as a pause: any future terror attack on Indian soil would be treated as an act of war.
But here’s the uncomfortable part that most anniversary coverage will skip…
Both Pakistan and India claim they won. Pakistan says it downed Indian aircraft, including Rafale fighters, and proved it could impose costs on India’s air arm. India says it demonstrated unprecedented strike precision using indigenous systems. That mutual “win” perception is the real danger because both sides are drawing confidence, not caution.
Operation Sindoor was also India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, a 65-year-old water-sharing agreement that had survived three wars and the Kargil crisis. The message was clear. This time, there would be costs beyond the battlefield.
Pahalgam Today: Tourists, QR Codes, and a Bicycle Ride
The most visible on-the-ground change in Pahalgam today is a small square printed on a laminated card.
A unique QR code-based identification system has been introduced for all tourism service providers in Pahalgam. The system enables verification of registered operators including pony-ride providers, hawkers, business establishments, and outside vendors. Each service provider has been vetted by police, registered by authorities, and given a code containing their name, address, Aadhaar number, registration number, operational route, and police-verification status.
Before April 22, 2025, none of this existed.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah worked to re-establish tourist confidence by holding a Cabinet meeting in Pahalgam and going on a long bicycle ride there, conveying a firm message to outsiders that the place was safe for visitors. The optics were deliberate. Bureaucrats in suits, approving government business from a tourist destination under siege — it was an unusual gesture, and it was noticed.
Pahalgam is witnessing a tourist surge post-attack, but what deserves more attention is how Kashmiris themselves responded with genuine grief and anger toward the perpetrators, a truth largely ignored by mainstream coverage. This matters more than most coverage has acknowledged. Too often, reporting on Kashmir treats the region as a place defined entirely by resentment toward India — a single, unchanging mood..
What Didn’t Change: The Honest Audit of Pahalgam
The security measures are real. The tourist numbers are recovering. But an honest audit of one year requires looking at what has not moved.
The Ceasefire Is Holding But It Isn’t Peace
The border is quieter than it was last May. But quiet is not the same as stable. Both India and Pakistan are now accelerating military modernization. India is upgrading intelligence capabilities and weapons acquisition, while Pakistan is deepening reliance on Chinese arms and satellite intelligence. Two militaries drawing opposite lessons from the same conflict, and arming accordingly, is not a foundation for de-escalation. It is preparation for the next round.
There are no peace talks. No back-channel process has been publicly acknowledged. No confidence-building measures are being discussed. Pakistan promoted Army Chief Asim Munir to the rank of Field Marshal for his leadership during the conflict, and subsequently nominated Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize, citing his role in brokering the ceasefire. India has said nothing publicly about what normalisation would even require.
The Indus Waters Treaty Remains Suspended
India has reiterated that the Indus Waters Treaty will remain in abeyance until Pakistan takes credible and irreversible steps to end support for terrorism. No such steps have been taken, or acknowledged by either side.
This is not a symbolic gesture. The Indus Basin irrigates around 80% of Pakistan’s arid land, and agriculture supports around two-thirds of its population. The treaty’s suspension affects farmers in Sindh and Punjab who had nothing to do with the Pahalgam attack. Water is now emerging as a geopolitical lever in bilateral relations in a way it never was, even through the wars of 1965 and 1971 — and as trust declines, dispute resolution is becoming harder, not easier.
Internationally, India’s position is increasingly isolated on this specific issue. An international court of arbitration ruled in June 2025 that the treaty does not provide for unilateral abeyance and reaffirmed its jurisdiction — a ruling India rejected, calling the court “illegal.” That is a significant posture: India is now in a legal standoff with an international body over a water treaty while simultaneously asking the world to see it as a rules-based actor.
Kashmir’s Underlying Conflict Is Unchanged
The security footprint is heavier. But the conditions that make Kashmir a place requiring such high security measures in some districts have not changed.
One more reason for the security measures in Kashmir, including religious shrines, is that ahead of the anniversary, and two US nationals were recently detained at Srinagar airport after a satellite phone was found in their luggage during routine screening. These are the conditions of this place still operating under exceptional circumstances, dressed in the language of normalcy.
Therefore, Kashmiris remain what they have been for decades: caught between forces larger than themselves, asked to perform stability for tourists and investors while living with a conflict that has no political resolution on the horizon.
Is India Safer? The No-Spin Answer
For tourists visiting Pahalgam this spring: YES, more than before. Every vendor is verified. The meadows are open. The security presence is visible and responsive. In the narrow sense of tourist infrastructure, the system has improved.
For border communities in Poonch: NO. The authorities running air-raid drills this week know that the ceasefire is a line on a calendar, not a settlement.
The Baisaran meadow is beautiful again. The tourists are back. The Indus Waters Treaty is suspended. The ceasefire has no political process behind it. And in Poonch, the sirens are still running drills. That is what one year looks like.
Sources
- Two US Nationals Detained at Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar Airport After Satellite Phone Found in Their Luggage.” Hindustan Times, 2025
- Jammu and Kashmir Introduces QR Code-Based Verification for Tourists’ Safety in Pahalgam.” NDTV, 2025
- Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch to See Civil Defence Air Raid and Blackout Mock Exercise from April 20–24.” News18, 2025
