How many more lives must be torn from us before we confront the unbearable reality of our complacency?
In Pahalgam, 28 innocent lives were callously taken on April 22nd, 2025. A young Navy officer, newly wed, executed while on his honeymoon. His wife, irreparably shattered, sat beside his lifeless body—a visceral image now indelibly etched into the national consciousness. An IB officer was ruthlessly murdered in front of his wife and child. When she implored to join him in death, the terrorist, with chilling disregard, responded: “Modi ko bolo.”
This is not simply an act of terrorism; it is a profound violation, a calculated attack on the very fabric of our national identity. A deliberate attempt to undermine our collective resolve and to test the limits of our endurance. Once again, the architects of this savagery are Pakistan. Just as they were in Pulwama, where 40 of our brave CRPF soldiers were martyred in a brazen assault. We pledged that such an atrocity would never be repeated. And yet, here we are— still left to mourn, still paralyzed by a justice that remains conspicuously out of reach.
Image Source: The Hindu
What was our response? We held elections in Kashmir, as if the sanctity of democracy could somehow be preserved amidst the blood of the innocent.
Kashmir did not merit an election.
Kashmir demanded retribution.
Diplomacy has betrayed us. Dialogue is a charade. Restraint has rendered us complicit in our own degradation.
No more airstrikes. No more surgical strikes. This farce has dragged on far too long. Too much pretension. Too much acquiescence to international pressures. Too much caution in the name of diplomacy, too much feigned restraint. No more tolerance for the next brutal massacre.
We will not beg for mercy.
We will not seek approval.
We will not apologize.
We will strike—decisively, mercilessly, without hesitation.
And the world will no longer pity us.
They will fear us.