Pahalgam terror attack anniversary: Terrorism remains Pakistani establishment's "bread and butter", says Senge Sering

Washington [DC] April 20 : Ahead of the first anniversary of the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, a sharp critique of Pakistan's military and foreign policy has been voiced by Senge Sering, President of the Institute for Gilgit-Baltistan Studies, who argued that terrorism remains deeply embedded in Pakistan's state functioning.
Referring to lessons from the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025, Sering claimed that terrorism serves as a sustaining force for Pakistan's military establishment. According to him, the use of religion is leveraged as a unifying and recruitment tool by Pakistan, keeping the military cohesive. He described terrorism as the "bread and butter" of the Pakistani establishment, asserting that it helps them to disrupt peace and maintain strategic dominance over neighbouring countries, including India and Afghanistan.
The terror attack on April 22 in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam targeted tourists, killing 26 people, including one Nepalese national. The victims were gunned down near Baisaran Meadow, a popular tourist destination in the region. This attack marks one of the deadliest in the region since the 2019 Pulwama attack, which resulted in the killing of 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans.
The international community condemned the terrorist attack, and the United Nations highlighted 'the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice'.
India struck terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir under Operation Sindoor on May 7 and effectively repelled Islamabad's subsequent escalation, pounding Pakistan airbases. Experts said Operation Sindoor showed the world that India will take terror head-on, as also countries that are known for being fountainheads of terrorism and that India has now graduated from a posture of surgical retaliation to one of doctrinal deterrence, assuring retaliation to every proven act of cross-border terror.