New Delhi, April 23 -- The Indian security establishment could hardly have received a more explicit warning of an impending terrorist strike in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) than from the lips of Pakistan's new army chief, General Asim Munir. Five days before the attack, while addressing a conclave of Overseas Pakistanis in Islamabad on Wednesday, General Munir had pledged that Pakistan would continue to stand by the Kashmiri people in what he called their "struggle against Indian occupation."

"It was our jugular vein, it is our jugular vein, we will not forget it," Munir said. Congress Party Member of Parliament Kapil Sibal cited Munir's 'jugular vein' statement as clear evidence that the attack was state sponsored.

In the indiscriminate mur...