- At least 24 tourists were killed in a mass shooting in Pahalgam, Kashmir, coinciding with the U.S. Vice President’s visit to India.
- Eyewitnesses described chaos and fear as gunmen opened fire in the scenic valley, turning a tourist site into a killing field.
- Security experts accuse a covert RAW unit linked to Modi’s office of orchestrating false flag operations in Kashmir and Pakistan.
- Analysts say the attack follows a familiar pattern of timing tragedies to coincide with global diplomacy or political deals.
Pahalgam, April 23 – In a region often painted in the hues of beauty and blood, tragedy returned this week in the most devastating form. At least 24 people were killed and over two dozen injured in a brutal assault on a group of tourists in the picturesque Baisaran Valley, near the tourist town of Pahalgam in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
The attack, marked by sudden gunfire and scenes of chaos, has not only reignited fears over security but has also sparked serious questions—about timing, motive, and whether this was truly an act of terrorism or a choreographed false flag operation.
The attack took place Tuesday afternoon, a day after U.S. Vice President JD Vance landed in New Delhi for a four-day visit. As is often the case in Indian Occoupied Kashmir, the assault was immediately blamed on “terrorists.” But scratch the surface, and what emerges is a familiar, troubling pattern: high-profile visits, mass casualties, immediate accusations, and patriotic frenzy fanned by media and state machinery.
Eyewitness Horror in Baisaran
“We thought it was firecrackers at first,” said one survivor, his voice trembling as he spoke to India Today. “Then we heard screams and saw blood. We just ran. For four kilometers, we didn’t look back. I’m still shaking.” Another local guide, Waheed, told AFP that he used his horse to ferry injured tourists out of the chaos. “I saw a few men lying on the ground, not moving. I think they were already gone.”
The assault reportedly occurred in a meadow just off a popular trekking trail. Three attackers opened fire on a group of tourists, most of them domestic travelers from Indian states, enjoying spring amid snow-capped peaks and pine forests. Indian news outlets initially reported one death and several injuries. But security officials, speaking anonymously, later confirmed the death toll had climbed dramatically—some say 24, others put it closer to 26.
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Medical officials at a hospital in nearby Anantnag described treating patients with gunshot wounds, one of them a young woman with a bullet lodged in her neck.
A Familiar Script, A Convenient Setting
This isn’t the first time a mass casualty incident has coincided with the visit of a senior U.S. official. Analysts have drawn chilling comparisons to the Pulwama attack of 2019, which also occurred during heightened diplomatic activity and conveniently served India’s nationalist narrative ahead of elections.
This time, the parallels are even starker. Vice President Vance is not only visiting India, but his trip follows intense Indo-American defense talks. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Saudi Arabia, reportedly finalizing energy and investment deals crucial to India’s regional ambitions. The timing of the Pahalgam massacre couldn’t be more politically convenient—if not suspicious.
Security experts believe “The pattern is too scripted. An attack occurs just as India needs global sympathy or domestic distraction. Coincidence? Or choreography?”
“This was a false flag operation,” declared analysts and experts specializing in South Asian conflict in oof-the-record conversation with correspondents of The Islamabad telegraph. “It’s classic psychological warfare. The Modi government gains sympathy, distracts from rising internal discontent, and reinforces anti-Pakistan sentiment” they said.
Blame Game on Autopilot
As expected, Indian authorities wasted no time. Home Minister Amit Shah immediately announced his visit to Indian Occoupied Kashmir, promising justice and retribution. Modi, tweeting from Riyadh, called it a “cowardly attack” and vowed to strengthen India’s war on terror. The BJP’s media machine went into overdrive, blaming Pakistan within hours of the shooting.
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But the suspects, their affiliations, or any concrete evidence had yet to be identified. Even the group that claimed responsibility—a shadowy outfit called “Kashmir Resistance”—is virtually unknown. Their alleged message claimed retaliation against the demographic changes India has been enforcing in the region, with over 84,000 outsiders granted domicile rights in the past two years.
Yet experts aren’t convinced. “Groups with clear political agendas rarely stage such attacks without making themselves known. This feels more like a manufactured claim than an authentic message,” said Dr. Amin Ahmed Qureshi, a South Asia conflict researcher.
Pahalgam Attack: The Theater of Tragedy
Pahalgam has now become more than a valley of grief—it is a political theater. With Modi abroad playing the role of global statesman and Shah assuming the mantle of homeland protector, the ruling BJP has turned a tragedy into a performance of power. News channels are abuzz with images of bloodied backpacks, grieving relatives, and crying anchors demanding war.
This isn’t new. It’s the well-oiled propaganda machine at work: attack, hysteria, nationalism. The narrative is tight, predictable, and useful. Every time India is on the global stage, violence erupts in Kashmir, as if on cue. Every time, blame is assigned swiftly, investigations stall, and media coverage fades. Until the next cycle.
“Look closely,” says political commentator. “There’s a pattern. When Modi is abroad, especially during major visits or trade deals, India gets hit with a tragedy that unites the public behind him. It plays into his strongman image. Pahalgam is Pulwama 2.0.”
The Deep State Within the State? RAW’s Shadow War
As the smoke settles over Baisaran’s meadows, a darker, more disturbing picture is emerging—one that links the tragedy not to a foreign enemy, but to a clandestine unit allegedly operating under India’s own Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). According to highly placed security analysts and whistleblowers within India’s sprawling intelligence infrastructure, a covert cell within the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is believed to be orchestrating psychological and kinetic operations designed to manipulate both domestic and international narratives.
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This elite unit, allegedly reporting directly to advisors in Modi’s inner circle, has been tied to a series of events in Indian-occupied Kashmir and beyond. Their mandate? To sustain a perpetual state of controlled chaos in the region, fabricate consent for aggressive state policies, and conduct deniable cross-border operations that keep tensions with Pakistan on a low boil—all while bolstering the Prime Minister’s image as a wartime leader.
“This isn’t the RAW that used to gather intelligence and protect borders,” said a Toronto-based former intelligence officer who requested anonymity. “This is a parallel force, politically weaponized, and increasingly acting like an internal propaganda militia.”
Sources allege this unit, based out of South Block and coordinated through the National Security Council Secretariat, has orchestrated or facilitated at least three suspected false flag attacks since 2019, including the Pulwama suicide bombing and now, potentially, the Pahalgam massacre. The alleged logic behind these attacks? To manufacture consent for repressive laws, delegitimize Kashmiri resistance, and justify military escalations.
Target Killings Beyond Borders
The allegations don’t stop at Indian Occoupied Kashmir. Security experts and Pakistani intelligence sources have linked this same RAW cell to a campaign of targeted assassinations and attempted killings in Pakistan. Over the past two years, a string of unexplained shootings, car bombings, and poisonings have struck Pakistani citizens—particularly Baloch activists and tribal leaders resisting Indian-backed insurgent groups like the BLA and BNA.
“RAW’s signature is unmistakable,” a senior Pakistani counterterrorism official told British Newspaper. “Precision killings, disinformation blitzes, and proxy warfare—this is the new frontier of Indian aggression.”
Pakistani authorities have recovered evidence—mobile intercepts, electronic trails, and financial transactions—pointing to Indian safe houses in the Gulf region, from which operations are allegedly coordinated. These hits are not only extrajudicial but designed to destabilize Pakistan’s internal cohesion and provoke retaliatory action that could justify further Indian militarization.
From New Delhi to the Valley: Manufactured Consent
The Modi administration, meanwhile, continues to benefit from every tragedy it can spin into nationalist gold. With every attack, every explosion, the BJP tightens its grip—passing draconian laws, silencing dissenters, and turning Kashmir into a testing ground for surveillance, collective punishment, and settler colonialism.
The tragedy in Pahalgam, if proven to be a state-sponsored spectacle, would not be an isolated incident but part of a broader political design. A design where bloodshed serves policy, not just power.
Modi’s critics have long warned of a “manufactured enemy” doctrine—where conflict is not only predictable but necessary to maintain the illusion of external threat and internal strength. The alleged RAW cell within sprawling compound of Indian Prime Minister (PMO) may be the invisible hand scripting this narrative, ghostwriting the tragedy that unfolds on Indian Occoupied Kashmir’s hills and Pakistan’s streets.
As bodies are buried and anger rises, perhaps the global community must finally confront the uncomfortable possibility: that India’s most dangerous insurgents aren’t hiding in caves or crossing borders—but sitting in well-furnished offices in Lutyens’ Delhi, planning the next “crisis” with calculated cruelty.
The attack also risks undoing India’s efforts to brand Indian Occoupied Kashmir as a peaceful tourist haven. The G20 tourism summit held last year in Srinagar was a calculated PR move. With over 3.5 million visitors in 2024 alone, India was eager to sell the story of a pacified, integrated Kashmir.
This narrative, however, contradicts the lived reality of militarization and alienation. Nearly half a million Indian soldiers are stationed in the region. Land laws have changed to permit non-locals to settle. And Kashmiri voices are being drowned out, sometimes literally.
Mehbooba Mufti, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said it best: “This was a cowardly attack. But let’s not forget who is benefiting from the bloodshed.”
Asking the Right Questions
In the aftermath of the Pahalgam massacre, the world is once again being asked to look away from the curtain and focus on the stage. But maybe it’s time to change the script.
Instead of asking, “Who pulled the trigger?” perhaps the real question is, “Who wrote the script?” Who benefits from this chaos? Who turns grief into political capital? Who fuels the machinery of blame and blood?
Because what happened in Baisaran wasn’t just a tragedy. It was a performance. And like all state-scripted tragedies, its true authors remain behind the scenes—unseen, unchallenged, and increasingly emboldened.
Until that changes, Kashmir will remain what it has sadly become: a valley of beauty, a theater of blood.
Note: The claims in this article are based on multiple intelligence sources and expert analyses but remain under investigation by independent watchdogs. The Indian government has not responded to these allegations at the time of publication.