Hindu men killed before families: What Pahalgam terror attack reveals

New Delhi: The chilling list of 26 civilians killed in the Pahalgam terrorist attack is a harrowing reminder of the dark days of the 1990s. 25 of the victims were Hindu men, brutally executed, many in front of their families, in a manner that echoes the darkest chapters of insurgency in the region.

According to documents accessed by officials and corroborated by survivor accounts, the victims were ordinary civilians, fathers, sons, husbands, whose lives were snatched away in cold blood. 

Eyewitnesses recount scenes of unimaginable horror: men being shot point-blank before the eyes of their wives and children, as terrorists carried out the killings with ruthless precision.

Among the dead is also one local Muslim, whose inclusion in the list raises the possibility that he may have been targeted for opposing or resisting the attackers. 

However, the broader pattern suggests a chillingly familiar playbook, systematic elimination of Hindus to create fear, disrupt communal harmony, and revive the climate of terror that gripped the Valley three decades ago.

The deliberate targeting of civilians on religious lines bears the hallmarks of the jihadist strategy that scarred the Valley in the 1990s, when Kashmiri Pandits were forced to flee en masse amid threats, assassinations, and widespread intimidation. 

Tuesday’s cowardly attack is a brutal reminder that while the actors and tools may evolve, the ideology remains unchanged.

Security officials believe this is part of a larger design to reignite communal tensions and stall the return of peace to the region. 

The choice of victims, location, and the method – open, public executions – are meant to provoke outrage and fear, not just among local communities but across the nation.

"This is not random. This is calibrated terror. They want to send a message by killing civilians based on identity," a senior security official said, requesting anonymity.