To the families and friends shattered by the Pahalgam massacre, your grief deserves justice, not hollow words or candlelit hashtags. May the loss of your loved ones never go in vain.
On April 22, 2025, blood was spilled on the lush slopes near Baisaran meadow, just outside the tourist town of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir. Islamist gunmen ambushed a group of Hindu tourists, executing 26 people — 25 Bharatiya nationals and 1 Nepalese citizen. These weren’t random victims. Each one was selected after a name-and-faith interrogation. They were killed at point-blank range. This wasn’t an attack — it was a religious cleansing in broad daylight. Systematic. Intentional. Cowardly.
Terrorism from Within: Traitors Among Us
Let this sink in: the real threat is not always the man holding the gun, but the one who handed him the map, fed him dinner, gave him a safehouse, and told him when to strike. And this “one” is not some shadowy figure in Pakistan. It is often a fellow Indian (radicalized by an ideology) — a local who breathes our air, walks our roads, and lives among us.
In Pahalgam, over 15 local Kashmiri overground workers (OGWs) helped Pakistani terrorists execute a well-planned bloodbath. These aren’t some misguided teens. These are embedded collaborators who act as the eyes, ears, and arms of the foreign killers.
We’ve seen this playbook before: in the 2017 Amarnath Yatra attack, where local handlers guided terrorists to target pilgrims; in the 2016 Uri siege, where OGWs provided logistics; in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, where sleeper cells mapped every escape route.
The bullet comes from across the border, but the blueprint is drawn at home.
Why is This Dangerous?
Because while the terrorist is a visible enemy, the OGWs are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They’re not hiding in some Pakistani trench — they’re right here in Kashmir, walking among us as pony handlers, shikara boatmen, dhaba owners, hotel workers, and guides.
By day, they’re your friendly guide or chai-wallah; by night, they’re mapping routes for killers. Their weapon isn’t a gun, it’s your trust. And yet, we ignore them because they serve us kehwa and offer a friendly salaam.
Let us dispense with euphemisms — OGWs are not misguided youth; they are logistical terrorists — eyes, ears, and enablers of jihad. Let’s not kid ourselves anymore — these OGWs are terrorists too. Not pulling the trigger doesn’t clean their hands; it just keeps them hidden.
The Rotten Ideology: Not Victims, Volunteers.
They do it because they believe in it. Not because they’re poor or jobless. And certainly not because they’re misunderstood.
This is about ideology: a supremacist, separatist, jihadist worldview that refuses to coexist. They don’t see Bharat as their nation. They see it as Dar-ul-Harb — a land to be conquered. They may wear jeans, run businesses, or speak of peace on camera — but in their hearts, they carry a medieval hatred that sees kafirs as occupiers and martyrdom as glory.
Spare us the lectures on “alienation.” These aren’t misguided boys with stones — they’re foot soldiers of jihad, armed with rifles and corrupted Islamic verses twisted to justify slaughter. They smile at you, serve you kehwa, quote Ghalib on Instagram, and then whisper your location to a Pakistani handler on WhatsApp.
Let’s call it what it is: Islamist radicalization — rooted in sermons and protected by our silence. Their weapon is your trust. Their shield is the Constitution. And their target is your life. The Indian state must recognize this as a civilizational threat.
Until that is done, more Pahalgams will bleed.
The Cost of Cowardice
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: we aren’t doing enough to root them out.
Even after over 200 OGWs were detained in Pahalgam, do you see national outrage? No hashtags. No protests demanding punishment for these local collaborators. Just the same tired script: blame Pakistan while the traitor next door brews chai at your hotel. Confronting the traitor next door is uncomfortable — politically, socially, and communally. Welcome to the Republic of Cowardice.
But this cowardice comes at a cost — a brutal, bloody cost. Human lives. Families. Soldiers. Tourists. Mothers. Children. This isn’t just spineless — it’s lethal.
Enough. Treat OGWs like the terrorists they are:
Public trials
Life sentences
Asset seizures
Death for facilitators of murder
Aid a terrorist, and you are a terrorist.
Period.
No More Volunteers in Our Own Destruction
Let’s cut the nonsense. Terrorism isn’t imported — it’s homegrown, hiding in our gullibility. Every chai-stall spy, every smiling informant, every apologist crying “context” is complicit. There is no excuse — historical, political, or religious — that justifies handing over troop positions or sheltering a jihadi in your guesthouse.
And if you still hesitate to call out the pattern, the ideology, the community, the betrayal — congratulations, you’ve become their PR agent. The next time a soldier is martyred, a pilgrim bus is bombed, or a tourist never makes it home, remember: the bullet came from Pakistan, but the route was cleared by someone who served kehwa the night before.
Another Pahalgam will happen. And when it does, don’t ask what went wrong. Ask instead how many traitors we refused to name because it was too “sensitive.”
The traitor isn’t “among us.” He is us, until we rip off his mask.
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