The April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam didn’t just pierce the illusion of peace in Kashmir, it ripped open a festering wound India has long ignored. As 26 innocent lives were lost, the real question that emerged wasn’t just about who fired the shots but who we’ve let in, unchecked, over the years.

In the name of rehabilitation and reconciliation, India opened its doors in 2010 to former militants returning from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) – a policy that was questionable then and disastrous now. What followed was a silent infiltration: nearly 400 women from across the border arrived with these men, some via Nepal, bypassing official immigration routes, documentation, and scrutiny.

Fast forward to 2024 and they are still here. Unvetted. Unverified. Unacknowledged – at least on paper. They have no citizenship, no passports, and no legal status. Yet, they live openly in India, raise families, protest on the streets, and now plead not to be deported.

But can a sovereign country afford this moral confusion in a territory as volatile as Kashmir?

Here are the hard hitting facts – 

These women – foreign nationals, mostly from a hostile neighbour – have given birth to over 3,000 children on Indian soil. Children who exist in a legal vacuum, neither recognized nor regulated, yet undeniably part of the population. With each passing year, that number grows. Each new birth is not just a demographic statistic, it’s a potential future flashpoint.

—What kind of nation allows a population of undocumented foreign-origin individuals to grow unchecked in a region known for its historical volatility?

—What happens if conflict reignites?

—What happens if even a fraction of this population is radicalized or manipulated?

It’s not just bad governance. It’s national self-sabotage.

Some of these women now say, “We are already Indian, because we came from PoK.” A convenient claim, but with no legal documentation or verification, how is India even allowing them in?

One woman says she fears deportation because her home, husband, and children are in Kashmir. Another cries for citizenship. And while their emotional appeals tug at the heartstrings, India must remember: this is not about emotion. This is about national security, sovereignty, and strategic clarity.

You cannot enter a country illegally, raise children outside the system, claim rights without proving loyalty, and then expect seamless assimilation – especially in a state like Jammu & Kashmir, where every demographic shift has consequences.

And here’s the most uncomfortable question of all:
If war were to break out tomorrow, who will these families support?

Their husbands may have chosen to lay down arms, but the wives are foreign citizens – raised, educated, and possibly influenced in regions that often spew anti-India sentiment. To presume ideological neutrality is dangerously naïve.

We are not talking about a few couples here. We’re talking about hundreds of families who entered India through the backdoor and are now raising a generation with murky allegiances, no citizenship, and access to one of the most sensitive parts of the subcontinent.

This isn’t prejudice. It’s pattern recognition.
This isn’t xenophobia. It’s geopolitical realism.

Yet India dithers. The Centre is now “collecting data.” A decade and a half later. After multiple red flags. After intelligence warnings. After a brutal terror strike. Is this a response or damage control?

The truth is, the 2010 “return and rehabilitation” policy was launched without foresight or firm guidelines. It allowed former militants and their foreign spouses to slip in through Nepal and melt into Kashmir’s towns and cities. There was no consistent tracking, no biometric recording, no regular verification. Just blind faith in the hope that peace would follow.

But peace isn’t built on wishful thinking. It’s built on secure borders, clear laws, and non-negotiable rules for entry.

And today, we are reaping the consequences.

The children of these unions are now teenagers, many stateless and disillusioned, some possibly resentful of a country that doesn’t recognize them but continues to shelter them. That’s a ticking time bomb. Not every child will turn rogue, but what if just one does?

India must now make hard decisions. Not tomorrow. Today.

Regularize and scrutinize every single undocumented family, either through a clear legal path or through deportation based on security assessments.

Freeze the expansion of such demographic footprints in Kashmir.

End the loophole of backdoor entries through Nepal once and for all.

And most importantly, stop blurring the line between humanitarianism and strategic weakness.

Because here’s the bitter truth – 
In matters of national security, indecision is betrayal.
And in Kashmir, every blind spot becomes a battlefield.