Fourteen February is not just a date circled on a calendar. It is a scar on the conscience of a nationFourteen February is not just a date circled on a calendar. It is a scar on the conscience of a nation
February 14, 2026. Seven years ago, on this very day, India did not exchange roses. It carried coffins
While much of the world celebrates Valentine’s Day, India observes it as a Black Day, a date carved into national memory with grief and resolve. On 14 February 2019, at Lethapora in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force moving along the Jammu–Srinagar National Highway was shattered by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber. In a matter of seconds, 40 CRPF personnel were martyred. The attacker, Adil Ahmad Dar, was killed in the blast. The assault, claimed by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, stands as one of the deadliest strikes against Indian security forces in recent history.
That afternoon did not just take lives. It changed the tone of a nation
Forty coffins draped in the tricolour travelled home. Forty families were altered forever.
Seven years have passed. But have we truly learned?
Since Pulwama, terror has not vanished. On 7 March 2019, a grenade blast shook Jammu bus stand. On 9 April 2019, Maoists struck in Dantewada. The Gadchiroli Naxal bombing on 1 May 2019, the June 2019 Kashmir attack, the 2020 Sukma Maoist assault, and the 2021 Sukma-Bijapur ambush reaffirmed that insurgency still simmers. The Rajouri attacks of January 2023 targeted civilians. The arson attack on the Elathur train in Kerala shocked the nation. The Dantewada bombing in April 2023 once again took security personnel.
And then came 22 April 2025. At Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam, a place tourists lovingly call “mini Switzerland,” at least 26 people, including Indian civilians and a Nepali national, were killed in yet another brutal strike. A meadow meant for laughter echoed with gunfire.
According to documented accounts, at least eleven terror-related attacks have occurred in India between 2019 and 2025 after Pulwama. Eleven reminders that terror has not been erased.
This is not about scoring political points. It is about responsibility
Global watchdog Financial Action Task Force has pointed to a disturbing trend. In its reports, FATF revealed that digital platforms, social media, messaging applications, crowdfunding sites, and even e-commerce platforms have been misused for terror financing. Investigations into Pulwama found that key components of the explosive device were procured through an e-commerce platform, and explosives were moved across borders. FATF has also stated that attacks like Pahalgam could not have occurred without financial backing and organised fund movement.
If money is the oxygen of terror, are we choking its supply enough?
If Pulwama was a turning point, why do we still count coffins? Have intelligence and surveillance systems closed every gap? Are we investing sufficiently in deradicalisation in conflict zones and Naxal-affected belts? Are we strengthening cyber-monitoring as terror shifts online? Or do we remember martyrs intensely for a week, only to move on?
A nation cannot afford selective outrage
The sacrifice of 40 CRPF personnel demands more than annual tributes. It demands bipartisan unity on national security. It demands transparent accountability, strategic patience, technological preparedness, and community engagement. It demands that we confront uncomfortable truths about radicalisation, terror financing, and internal vulnerabilities.
Pulwama was not just an attack. It was a stark warning written in blood. Seven years later, the question is not whether we remember. The question is whether we have listened.
