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The elected government led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah took all the right steps to restore statehood in the first six months of its tenure, but the deadly attack by terrorists on tourists in the Baisaran grasslands of Pahalgam on April 22 put a halt to any immediate discussion of Jammu and Kashmir’s return as a state.
The terrorists shot dead 26 people – 25 tourists and a local pony driver.
Survivors alleged that the attackers chose their targets after confirming that they were not Muslims – a revelation that sent communal shockwaves through the rest of the country.
The attack was widely condemned across the valley.
For the first time in 35 years, spontaneous protests were organized across the entire length of the valley in condemnation.
The protesters clearly declared: “Not in my name.” On 7 May, the Indian Army launched cross-border attacks to avenge the Grassland massacre. Its ill effects were visible in the following days, when the border residents of the Union Territory came under shelling from Pakistan.
Poonch, Rajouri, Kupwara and Baramulla along the border bore the brunt of enemy firing, with 20 people losing their lives and more than 2,000 structures, including three dozen schools, destroyed.
On 28 July, the government said, the perpetrators of the 22 April massacre were eliminated in Operation Mahadev in the Dachigam forest area in Harwan.
It was still recovering from the massacre, reaction and bombing when Jammu and Kashmir was hit by a natural disaster.
On August 14, more than 50 people died due to cloudburst in Kishtwar, Jammu.
The sudden flood caused huge damage to standing crops in many areas of Jammu and Kashmir valley.
Jammu suffered the most damage as the Tawi river swelled for the first time in more than a decade.
The flash floods also washed away a large section of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, cutting off road connectivity between Kashmir and the rest of the country for weeks.
The bust of the white-collar terror module – highly educated people radicalizing youth to join terrorist ranks – came as a shock with several doctors being arrested during massive raids conducted by the JK Police along with their counterparts in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in the first week of November.
A huge cache of explosives was seized from the rented room of a Kashmiri doctor in Faridabad in the National Capital Region, while weapons and other incriminating materials were recovered from a medical college hostel in Anantnag district.
As the clampdown on the culprits tightened, one of the suspects – Dr Umar Nabi – was killed in a car blast near the Red Fort metro station in Delhi on November 10.
According to investigators, the blast occurred when Nabi was trying to transfer explosives in his possession. Ten people were killed and many injured in the blast.
2,900 kg of explosive material seized from Faridabad was taken to Naugam as case property for investigation.
However, on 14 November, explosives were detonated at the police station where it was kept, killing nine people.
Hit by violence and the wrath of nature, the Union Territory found itself struggling with a shortage of funds. Tourism was most affected.
The valley was filled with tourists for the first four months of the year, but the party ended with the attack of 22 April. Tourists also stayed away from the valley due to India-Pakistan tension after Operation Sindoor.
All hopes of tourism revival this year were dashed with the closure of around 50 popular tourist destinations on security grounds on the orders of the Lieutenant Governor following the Pahalgam attack.
Although most tourist sites have reopened, the tourism sector is back to normal with minimal tourists.
Horticulture, the other mainstay of Kashmir’s economy, suffered a setback due to the closure of the flood-hit Jammu-Srinagar National Highway at the peak of the apple harvesting season. However, timely intervention of the Union Railway Ministry ensured that the losses were minimal and Kashmiri apples reached the terminal markets by train by the time the highway was restored.
The launch of Vande Bharat – direct rail connectivity between Kashmir and the rest of the country – somewhat saved an otherwise disappointing year for the Union Territory.
The train reduced travel time and cost for people visiting Kashmir.
The train has already been used to transport food grains for civilians and heavy equipment for the armed forces.