Opinion | Islamabad Terror Attack Through the Eyes of a Common Kashmiri

As a Kashmiri Muslim, I know what it means when terror is allowed to operate under the cover of ideology and strategy. We rejected that path and chose coexistence. The world must now decide whether it will continue to look away, or finally hold Pakistan to account before this cycle of terrorism claims even more lives.

When news broke of a suicide attack inside a mosque in Islamabad, my first response was not disbelief, but recognition. Not because such violence is normal anywhere, but because Pakistan has spent decades normalizing terror as a political instrument. What unfolded in the capital was not an anomaly. It was a culmination. For years, violence was pushed outward, exported to borderlands, minorities, and disputed regions, carefully kept away from the symbols of state power. Islamabad was meant to remain untouched, a curated city projecting order while chaos burned elsewhere. That separation has now collapsed. Terror has crossed the final psychological barrier and entered the space Pakistan long claimed was secure, controlled, and immune. On Friday, a suicide bomber detonated himself inside a Shia mosque in the Tarlai Kalan area on the outskirts of Islamabad during Friday prayers. The explosion tore through a packed congregation, killing dozens and injuring many more, including women and children. Hospitals were put on emergency alert as scenes of chaos unfolded in a city that is often projected as Pakistan’s safest and most controlled space. Masjid Khadija Tul Kubra, like many Shia places of worship in Pakistan, had already been functioning under fear. That fear proved justified.

Syed Jahanzeeb, a geo-political analyst from Srinagar

What happened in Islamabad does not surprise me in the least. Pakistan created a hierarchy of violence for years, deciding who could be killed and where. Sectarian groups were allowed to grow as long as they did not threaten the state directly. But hatred does not respect boundaries drawn by intelligence agencies. Parachinar, Quetta, and now Islamabad show the same pattern. Once you normalize violence against a community, it eventually reaches everyone. Terror has finally arrived at the doorstep Pakistan thought was protected. I condemn this act of terror and request international communities to take Pakistan to the task.

Abdul Rashid, a shopkeeper from Downtown Srinagar

I remember how they tried the same poison here. They wanted Shias and Sunnis to turn against each other in Kashmir. It did not work. People refused. But in Pakistan, they allowed this thinking to grow. First they killed Shias in far-off areas, and now even mosques in the capital are not safe. This is what happens when religion is turned into a weapon. The fire they lit for others is now burning their own house. Here in Kashmir, we mourned together, prayed together, and buried our dead together. That unity protected us. Pakistan chose hatred over healing, and today it is facing the consequences of that choice.

Hina Masoodi, a postgraduate student from Budgam

As a young Kashmiri, I see a very clear difference. We have Shias and Sunnis living side by side here without fear. In Pakistan, Shias live knowing they can be targeted anytime, anywhere. That fear did not come overnight. It was created over decades by silence and selective action. Islamabad being attacked only proves that extremism cannot be controlled once it is tolerated. It keeps expanding until it reaches places people thought were immune. What worries me is how normal this violence has become there. When society stops being shocked by the killing of its own people, something very deep has already broken. That is not strength. That is collapse.

Ghulam Nabi, a retired government employee from Baramulla

Pakistan spent years telling the world that terrorism in Kashmir was some kind of freedom struggle. We saw the reality. Guns destroyed our homes and futures. We rejected it. Today, Pakistan is paying the price of the same policy. When you train people to kill in the name of faith, you lose control over whom they kill. The Shia mosque attack in Islamabad is not an intelligence failure. It is moral failure.

Faizan Ahmad, a columnist based in Srinagar

There is a bitter irony in all this. Pakistan tried hard to export sectarianism into Kashmir and failed. Here, a Shia cleric like Aga Ruhullah represents a constituency with an overwhelming Sunni population. That is our answer to their ideology. In Pakistan, sectarian hate was allowed to survive as a strategic tool. Now it has turned inward. Islamabad is no longer an exception. It is the next stop in a long line of consequences. This attack should force serious introspection, not denial. A state cannot build stability on selective morality and expect peace to last.

Conclusion

What happened in Islamabad cannot be dismissed as another tragic episode in a long list of attacks. It is a warning. A state that has failed to dismantle sectarian terror, that has tolerated hatred as a strategic convenience, and that has repeatedly shielded extremist networks cannot be treated as a normal actor without consequences. International financial institutions and donor states must confront an uncomfortable truth. Economic assistance to Pakistan, whether through IMF programs or bilateral support, has not been matched with credible action against terrorism or meaningful protection of religious minorities. When accountability is absent, funding risks sustaining the very structures that enable persecution at home and the export of violence beyond its borders, including into Kashmir. The international community must move beyond expressions of concern and demand measurable change. This means conditioning financial aid on the dismantling of sectarian networks, prosecution of extremist leadership, and verifiable protection for minority communities. Anything less amounts to complicity through silence. As a Kashmiri Muslim, I know what it means when terror is allowed to operate under the cover of ideology and strategy. We rejected that path and chose coexistence. The world must now decide whether it will continue to look away, or finally hold Pakistan to account before this cycle of violence claims even more lives.

Email: soulofkashmir1@gmail.com