In response to the horror that unfolded in Pahalgam, the Narendra Modi government has, quite rightly, undertaken a number of measures. The interventions on the external front have been robust. Mr Modi’s government has announced a number of retaliatory steps, including the stalling of the Indus Waters Treaty. Along with military exercises on some border points, New Delhi has also pressed the diplomatic button, engaging the international fraternity to apprise it of the Pahalgam savagery and Pakistan’s links to it. These may bring Pakistan under immense pressure and the Centre must not let the momentum slide.

The goings-on on the external front must not make the government take its eyes off the home front. This is because the massacre in Pahalgam and the frenzied war-mongering by a large segment of society, aided and abetted by the media, have piled further pressure on inter-community ties that have witnessed significant erosion in recent times. Mischievous attempts to brand Indian Muslims — Kashmiris in particular — as Islamists continue unabated; there have been reports of Kashmiri students being assaulted in several states; the blowing up of homes of the families of militants in Kashmir has been compared, not without reason, to dispensing collective punishment by a State that has not shown a willingness to distinguish extremists from ordinary people; a biryani-seller was shot dead in Agra by a vigilante allegedly to avenge Pahalgam. The prime minister has stated that national unity will steer India’s response to Pahalgam. The communal rhetoric and the hatred directed at Muslims in the wake of the tragedy cannot be a testament to national unity; these transgressions, in fact, signify a conspiracy to view the collective resolve through a communal lens. Mr Modi and his party must resist the temptation to reap electoral dividends by polarising public sentiments regarding a deadly assault. There is another challenge on the domestic front that must be overcome. Hearteningly, in a show of courage and solidarity, tourists have refused to abandon Kashmir; there have been visits to Pahalgam as well. The people’s defiance of terror must be saluted. The government must ensure the security and the well-being of both visitors to and residents of the Valley. Mr Modi cannot let India and Kashmir bleed, once again.