On February 14, 2019, a suicide bomber crashed into an Indian paramilitary convoy in Pulwama, Kashmir, killing forty Indian soldiers. The attack was the deadliest assault on Indian security personnel in Kashmir in three decades and captured the attention of domestic and international headlines. It also led to a nationalist fervor that fueled, in part, the BJP’s dramatic reelection just months later in the 2019 general election.

How did the attack take place? Who were the masterminds of the operation? And how does this attack fit into a decades-long story of terrorism, militancy, and spycraft that has come to define the contemporary politics of Kashmir? These questions are clinically addressed in a new book by the journalist Rahul Pandita, The Lover Boy of Bahawalpur: How the Pulwama Case was Cracked. 

This week, Rahul joins Milan on the show to discuss the inside story of the Pulwama attacks, the Indian investigation into the attack’s masterminds, and India’s retaliatory airstrikes on Pakistani territory. Plus, the two discuss the legacy of the Modi government’s abrogation of Article 370 and the nature of the terrorism threat in Kashmir today.

Episode notes:

1. “Rahul Pandita on Kashmir: ‘You can leave Kashmir but Kashmir never leaves you,’” Grand Tamasha, August 29, 2021.
2. Adrian Levy, “Inside the Secret World of South Asia's Spies,” Grand Tamasha, October 26, 2021.
3. Rahul Pandita, “Kashmir’s New Insurgency,” Open Magazine, October 22, 2021.
4. Rahul Pandita, “The Usual Suspects,” Open Magazine, September 10, 2021.