In the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack, central agencies demolished houses of suspected militants. Bombs and bulldozers were brought out to raze the homes. A manhunt was launched.
Days after the April 22 terror attack that pushed nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan into a four-day escalation, authorities had identified five suspects—three believed to be from Pakistan and two local militants from Kashmir.
Now, contrary to the previous statement, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has concluded that all three attackers were from Pakistan. Two locals have also been arrested for allegedly harbouring terrorists.
“If they (locals) helped the attackers, it was not of their own will,” Jammu and Kashmir’s Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said. “Coercion in such situations cannot be ruled out.”
Jammu and Kashmir lost its statehood in 2019. Along with it, Article 35A, which provided the state with special rights and privileges, was effectively nullified as well.
Now the Chief Minister has urged that he is ready to dissolve the assembly if the statehood is restored. “Don’t try to threaten us. Statehood is our right.”
Right after the Pahalgam attack, sketches of three terrorists were released—one of them identified as a Valley local, Adil Hussain Thoker. Now, the sketches have been discarded, according to The Indian Express. Authorities had previously announced a reward of ₹20 lakh for information leading to their arrest.
According to reports, thousands were detained as part of the security crackdown after the attack in the meadow. In many cases, the “controlled blasts” damaged the houses next door.
Houses of suspects linked to the shootings were demolished as well.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given the Indian armed forces “complete operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets and timing” of India’s response in the aftermath of the April 22 attack.
Demolitions began on April 24 with the home of Thoker’s family, a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative police say was involved in the Pahalgam attack. The following day, security forces razed the Pulwama house of another alleged LeT member, Ehsan Ahmad Sheikh. On April 26, a joint team reached Naaz Colony in Bandipora, gathered residents in a nearby field, and demolished the home of Abdul Ahad Shergojri.
Regional parties urged that the indiscriminate demolitions were impacting innocent families. At least 10 houses were demolished by security officials, amid raiding hundred others and detaining thousands for interrogation.
The Pahalgam attack sent India and Pakistan to the doorstep of war — before the ceasefire was called. While Operation Sindoor was launched and all-party delegations were dispatched across the globe, none of the terrorists behind India’s deadliest terrorist attack since the 2008 Mumbai attacks have been arrested.
So what were the demolitions really for?
Carried out by security forces in the wake of an attack that rattled the Valley and the nation, the operations still ended up displacing entire families — elderly and children alike — leaving them without homes or answers.
In 해외카지노 Magazine's 11 May, 2025, issue ‘Kashmir Terror Attack’, Editor-in-Chief Chinki Sinha writes ‘Kashmir Bears the Collateral Damage’.
“That’s the first thing you notice. A lot of glass shards. Transparent, green and blue. The second is the sound of these being crunched when you walk over them. The blast here was not so controlled after all. At least four houses were reduced to rubble. They said this was collateral damage. Windows and doors of many others shattered that night with the impact, while the residents were locked up in the nearby mosque.”
Even after the region was shut down in solidarity with the victims of the massacre, the locals were left to bear the brunt of crackdowns amid their grief.
Toufiq Rashid writes in ‘How Kashmir's Reaction Marked a Shift.’
“For the first time in 35 years, that the entire Valley reacted furiously and openly to an act of terror. For the people of Kashmir, known for their hospitality, the massacre was devastating. Kashmir reacted with rage to the brutality of the attack on its guests.”
Ishfaq Naseem chronicles explosions so intense that people who lived several miles away heard it.
“Outside the house, in an open field, women relatives sat on a plastic sheet and wailed over the loss. “What did the police say about the release of the family? How long will they be kept in detention? The house is already fully damaged. None can live there, so what is the need to demolish it further?” asks one of the relatives,” he mentions in ‘Demolished Homes, Mass Detentions’.
While questions about security lapses lingered after the Pahalgam attack, which unfolded despite a heavy military presence in the region— Modi visited Jammu and Kashmir to inaugurate the Vande Bharat Express, linking Kashmir Valley and the rest of India.
"The atmosphere of development that emerged in Jammu and Kashmir will not be hindered by the attack ... I will not let development stop here," he said.
Kashmir counted its losses again. The rubble and glass shards stayed behind — silent witnesses of the world moving on.
