4 hours ago
5
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
The terrorist massacre of 26 innocent people has magnified the alienation long felt in a region that lives under tight watch and has limited democratic rights.
By Anupreeta Das and Showkat Nanda
Photographs by Atul Loke
Showkat Nanda reported from Srinagar, Kashmir. Anupreeta Das reported from New Delhi.
May 1, 2025, 3:34 a.m. ET
Kashmir is many things. It is a disputed borderland that India and Pakistan have fought over for more than three-quarters of a century, making it one of the world’s most strife-torn and militarized zones. It is a Bollywood cinematographer’s alpine dream, its fabled beauty and trauma providing grist for tales of love, longing and war.
Since 2019, when the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India tightened its grip on the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, promising security and economic development, it has become a tourist hot spot drawing millions of visitors a year. In the government’s narrative of progress, Kashmir is a shining success.
The region’s people have their own story to tell. It is one of festering alienation — magnified by last week’s horrific terrorist attack in Kashmir — after years of living under the watchful eyes of security forces while being deprived of many democratic rights.
Image
Image
Indian troops have launched an aggressive, widespread hunt for the killers that feels like collective punishment to many in the Muslim-majority region. The authorities have detained thousands of Kashmiris for questioning and demolished the homes of at least 10 people accused in the attack.
