India, May 19 -- Besides shocked outrage, I felt a twinge of fear and disquiet on hearing the news of the Pahalgam horror because I know from experience that every terrorist act instigates what has now become an ugly reflexive response from the citizenry. The really sickening fallout is that a particularly venomous section of Indians sees in such tragedies a godsend to paint Muslims as traitorous acolytes of Pakistan and backers of terrorism deserving punishment.

It's been almost eight decades since the Partition, but there has hardly been a let-up in the pathological distrust that separates Hindus and Muslims. In the last ten years, anti-Muslim sentiment has gone through the roof, amplified by the diabolical machinations of the party in...