The brutal terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22, which resulted in the death of 26 civilians, marks a serious escalation by Pakistan, according to Lieutenant General DS Hooda (Retd), former General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Indian Army’s Northern Command. Speaking at an event organized by The Indian Express, Lt Gen Hooda highlighted that such an incident — where a large number of tourists were targeted and killed — had never occurred before in Jammu and Kashmir.
Lt Gen Hooda, who had led the 2016 surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC), emphasized that the Pahalgam attack was meticulously planned. He pointed out that the terrorists carefully chose a location where there was no significant security presence, fully aware that the challenging terrain would delay the response of security forces. “The planning has been done at a fairly high level and when I’m saying a fairly high level, you know, as the government is also saying, the fingers are pointing at Pakistan,” Hooda stated.
He further remarked that certain deliberate and disturbing actions during the attack — such as the targeted killing of Hindus, the segregation of Hindus and Muslims, sparing women, and forcing people to recite the Kalma — were stark indicators of the terrorists’ intent. However, Lt Gen Hooda noted that these tactics, while horrifying, were not entirely unexpected given the evolving nature of terror threats in the region.
