Jean-Luc Racine

LeMonde

16-05-2025

While the Indian government boasted of having dismantled the "terrorist ecosystem" in Jammu and Kashmir, this territory was the scene, on April 22, of a deadly attack targeting tourists in Pahalgam. India responded by launching Operation Sindoor – named after the vermilion powder applied to the foreheads of Hindu brides – and bombed nine "terrorist infrastructures" in Kashmir and Pakistani Punjab on the night of May 6-7. Condemning an "act of war," Islamabad said it shot down five Indian aircraft, including Rafales. After several nights of clashes, the two countries announced a ceasefire agreement on May 10.
Jean-Luc Racine, emeritus research director at the French National Center for Scientific Research and author of Cachemire. Au péril de la guerre ("Kashmir. At the Peril of War", untranslated, 2002), analyzes the roots of this long-standing crisis. Once again, the spiral of violence originated from the issue of this Himalayan territory, which is predominantly Muslim and whose sovereignty is disputed.
Asked about the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack, US President Donald Trump retorted that "this conflict has existed for a millennium."
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