Sanjeev Kumar is a schoolteacher. He and his wife, Rashmi, lived with their only son, thirteen-and-a-half-year-old Vihan, in Poonch.
In the early hours of 7 May, around 2:00–2:30 am, there was a power outage, and TV channels started airing scenes of shelling. Vihan began shivering and had to be given medicine. He went back to sleep, but at 4:45 am, another blast woke him up just half an hour later.
Operation Sindoor was in full swing. Vihan started sending messages to his friends. He was happy that Narendra Modi had avenged the killing of tourists in Pahalgam. Sanjeev tried to divert his attention by engaging him in a mathematics exercise, which Vihan completed in no time.
He then ventured out and picked up a splinter, which Rashmi took away from him. That is when Rashmi had a premonition. By now, relatives and friends had started leaving Poonch for safer locations. They, too, decided to leave in their car.
Within ten minutes, their car became the unfortunate target of shelling. When Sanjeev regained consciousness, he saw Rashmi unconscious in the seat in front, next to him. As he turned, he saw Vihan lying unconscious.
When he held Vihan’s chin, pieces of flesh from Vihan’s brain came into his hand. Sanjeev and Rashmi had lost their only child.
Now there is no meaning in patriotism, security, strategy, foreign policy, etc., for Sanjeev. He and Rashmi, who is unable to even utter a word, feel that there is no future for them.
He feels let down by the government, as people were not pre-informed of the war. He regrets that the government did not evacuate citizens to a safer location. He asks passionately, “Is it not the government’s duty to save common citizens of the country in the time of war?”
This is a common refrain across Rajouri, Poonch, and Uri—the areas worst affected by the recent India-Pakistan war.
The government informed Pakistan before strikes on nine terrorist locations. Could it not have informed its own citizens? People were told there would be mock drills on 7 May. Instead, the war started, and people were left befuddled, to fend for themselves.
The second complaint of people from the border districts along the Line of Control is that while people from mainland India were beseeching the Prime Minister to launch a decisive attack on Pakistan—and media houses went a step further, claiming the capture of Pakistani cities—nobody in the border areas wanted war.
They are the ones who suffer. They have suffered wars earlier and are not sure if they have seen the last one. They invite the warmongers to spend one night in the border areas when shelling is taking place. Only then would the jingoists realize the horrors of war.
It is easy to sit in a TV studio and claim victory over Pakistan. The reality is that, either because of US intervention or a bilateral agreement, the war was stopped sooner than expected.
Hindutva supporters were disappointed with Narendra Modi for stopping the war too soon. But any wise leader in the Prime Minister’s place would have done what Narendra Modi did. Otherwise, we would have added to the list of unending wars like Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine, which, as we are witnessing, have become a source of continuous suffering for people—materially as well as psychologically.
The PM had advised Putin that this is no age of war. He should have also added: nobody can win in the age of technological warfare.
A young father in Uri, living very close to the LoC, narrated that while children in other parts of India might be thinking about their studies and extra-curricular activities, his children ask every evening whether they can sleep on the bed or have to sleep under the staircase.
Such uncertainty looming over the population living next to the border is traumatic.
This raises a very pertinent question: why haven’t the Indian and Pakistani governments reached an understanding yet—like the Indian and Chinese governments—that their soldiers will not fire at each other and that there will be no shelling of civilian populations in border areas?
Except for the one-off Galwan incident, no soldiers or civilians have been hurt in a long time on the Chinese border.
But for this, the Indian government would have to talk to the Pakistani government. Instead of sending one delegation to Pakistan or inviting one from there, India has sent seven delegations all over the world—except Pakistan and China.
If the Indian government says that it is a bilateral issue, they would have to talk to Pakistan at some point. Why not do it sooner rather than later?
It would not suffice to say that except for PoK there is no issue to be discussed with Pakistan. Residents of Jammu and Kashmir feel they are being made fodder in the battle between India and Pakistan, but neither nation is concerned about the well-being of their citizens.
Just like Narendra Modi has not visited Manipur since 3 May 2023, when the ongoing conflict between Meiteis and Kukis started, he has not found time to visit the war-affected areas of India amidst the election campaigning in Bihar.
The residents of Jammu and Kashmir feel their issue has not been resolved. They feel humiliated that their Chief Minister is asked to leave high-level meetings when it comes time to discuss the security of Jammu and Kashmir.
They ask, “Are we not an integral part of India?”
Syed Naushad Hussain Shah, brother of Adil—who was killed by terrorists on 22 April when he tried to snatch their weapons to stop the killing of tourists—says he is more pained by the killing of tourists than by the loss of his own brother.
He appeals to tourists to not stop coming to J&K and says there are more Adils here.
Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde is getting a new house built next to the old one for the surviving members of Adil’s family.
Adil, no doubt, is the hero of the Pahalgam incident and stands for all the right things—communal harmony, peace, tolerance, reason, and above all, humanity.
It is the Adils of J&K who are the hope for a peaceful Jammu and Kashmir.
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Sandeep Pandey is General Secretary of Socialist Party (India). This article is written after a six-day visit to J&K as part of the Kashmir Solidarity Mission during 25–30 May 2025
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