New Delhi: Today marks a year since the Pahalgam terrorist attack that killed 26, with global media documenting the 22 April 2025 incident by tracing the deceased’s families.
“Several of the victims were young travellers—at the beginning of marriages, careers, their lives brutally cut short,” a BBC report says, recalling the nature of the Pahalgam attack, which targeted mostly Hindu men.
The report by Zoya Mateen, Kamal Saini and Neetu Singh carries an in-depth interview with Aishanya Dwivedi of Kanpur. Her husband, Shubham, was killed in Pahalgam, only two months after their wedding.
“The couple had got married just two months earlier and were on a short holiday in Kashmir with nine other family members…. On the day of the attack, Shubham and Aishanya went to Baisaran valley, a gorgeous meadow high above Pahalgam, while the rest of the group stayed behind in the main town.”
It adds, “In interviews later, Aishanya spoke about how, as they walked through the meadow, a man approached them, asked her husband what his religion was and then shot him. She pleaded with the attackers to kill her as well, she has said, but they did not.”
Showkat Nanda of The New York Times reports the other side of the story, tracing the life of Pahalgam’s economy and tourism following the attacks.
“The attack turned a popular picnic spot, in a picturesque region that locals often call a “mini Switzerland,” into the scene of a massacre,” they write.
After the attack, tourism across the broader Jammu and Kashmir region was hit but has shown a gradual revival, Peer Zahid Ahmad, the deputy director for tourism in the regional administration, told The New York Times.
“Hoteliers say they have cut their staff by more than half. Along the road from Anantnag to Pahalgam, dozens of small juice stalls and roadside cafes have shut down. Many pony handlers said they knew colleagues who had left the trade and taken up work as day labourers at nearby construction sites,” according to the report.
Tourism in the valley has heavily relied on mostly middle-class Hindus, but the “numbers were suppressed throughout the long militancy that began in 1989, when targeted violence and fear drove many Kashmiri Hindus out of the valley”.
“Pahalgam, with steep ravines, grassy hillsides and pine forests that give way to open meadows at the top of the narrow valley, also lies along the route of the annual Amarnath Yatra, which brings hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each summer to visit a Hindu shrine high in the Himalayas.”
The report cites a senior police officer saying that security has been significantly stepped up following the attack. Nearly 400,000 people visited the holy shrine last July and August—down 20 percent from 2024.
Ahead of the West Bengal assembly elections, BJP candidates are walking around showcasing fish. Soutik Biswas of the BBC reports on fish becoming an unofficial “political” symbol in Bengal polls.
“On a sticky morning in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, Koustav Bagchi moves from door to door in a crisp white and red traditional attire, a fish in hand.”
Bagchi is not alone. Other leaders could also be seen carrying fish in their hands, Biswas reports.
“In Bengal, fish is more than food—it is the bloodstream of the cuisine, woven into memory, ritual and everyday life, a marker of both identity and belonging.”
Biswas notes that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “is often associated with a more assertive, sometimes moralised vegetarianism”.
“In the West Bengal election, fish has slipped from the plate into the centre of the campaign, recast as proof of cultural fidelity and a rebuttal to charges of intrusion.”
Biswas reports that Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has warned that the BJP “threatens Bengal’s way” of life. He adds that “fish and rice are non-negotiable”. “Even Bengal’s fiercest football rivalry carries fish.”
“Sociologists believe it is possibly this dense symbolism that has made fish so politically useful. Parties aren’t just invoking it; they are folding it into the choreography of the campaign to bait opponents.”
Veena Venugopal of the Financial Times writes on “Ambani’s cup of woes”. She notes that the war in West Asia “has taken a toll on Mukesh Ambani”.
Ambani’s net worth shrank by $16.9 billion this year, marking the steepest decline among Asian billionaires, and stands at about $91 billion. Meanwhile, Gautam Adani has reclaimed his title as the wealthiest Asian.
Petrochemicals account for more than 50 percent of the Reliance Group’s business. “…oil prices have been extremely volatile, moving with each of Trump’s frequent statements on the war, making it difficult even for Asia’s now second-richest man to stay ahead of the turbulence,” says the FT report.
However, Adani has remained relatively “insulated” as most of his wealth is tied to infrastructure assets, like ports and power generation.
Venugopal says Reliance’s stock has declined by 13 percent this year.
Geopolitical tensions have also delayed Jio’s IPO.
“We will see if Ambani, who has often said that the company’s biggest challenges are also its biggest opportunities, will be able to pull a rabbit from his hat,” Venugopal concludes.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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