The Parliament of Jammu and Kashmir passed a resolution on April 28 condemning the terrorist attack in Pahalgam that left 26 people dead, most of them Indian tourists.
The resolution pledged to resolutely combat “plans to disrupt harmony between communities and hinder progress,” Vatican’s Fides News Agency reported.
Tensions remain high along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border dividing Indian-controlled and Pakistani-controlled areas of Kashmir, with ceasefire violations reported for the fourth consecutive day.
India described the attack, allegedly carried out by Pakistan-based terrorist groups, as an “act of war.”
In response to the escalating situation, the Indian government banned 16 Pakistani YouTube channels for disseminating provocative content and disinformation. Meanwhile, Pakistan retaliated by prohibiting Indian airlines from using its airspace.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif insisted that Pakistan “seeks peace in the region,” saying, “Pakistan condemns all forms of terrorism and has nothing to do with the recent terrorist attack in Pahalgam in the Indian-controlled region of Kashmir.”
Sharif also reiterated Pakistan’s willingness to “cooperate in a transparent and impartial investigation into the terrorist attack” and reminded that “the Pakistani people themselves had been victims of terrorism over the past two decades, with thousands of their citizens losing their lives.”
He criticized India’s suspension of cooperation under the Indus Water Treaty, declaring, “Using water as a weapon is unacceptable.”
In the region’s small Catholic community, Bishop Ivan Pereira of Jammu-Srinagar expressed deep sorrow over the attack. He condemned the assault as a “horrific terrorist attack against innocent tourists,” Fides reported.
Bishop Pereira said the tragedy “casts a dark shadow on our collective conscience” and constitutes “an attack on the sanctity of human life and a betrayal of the values we hold dear as a nation: peace, harmony, and the dignity of every human being.”
He assured the faithful of his “unceasing prayers for peace.”
Among those killed was Sushil Nathaniel, a 57-year-old Catholic and regional director of an insurance company. Nathaniel had been vacationing in Kashmir with his wife and two children, who survived the attack.
According to his wife Jennifer, the assailants stopped Nathaniel, questioned him about his faith, and, upon learning he was Catholic and unable to recite the Islamic “Kalima,” shot him in the head.
The Diocese of Indore, where Nathaniel belonged, held his funeral service. Bishop Thomas Kuttimackal, who presided over the Mass, praised Nathaniel’s witness, saying he displayed “courage in not hiding his faith even under threat of arms” and called him “a martyr.”
