On May 8, India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri stood in front of a sea of reporters in New Delhi to address the nation. Commenting on the deadly attack in the scenic town of Pahalgam, Misri said one of the attackers' objectives was "provoking communal discord, both in Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the nation."

Islamist militants killed 26 civilians in India-administered Kashmir on April 22 — most of them shot point blank in front of their family members after asking if they were Muslim or Hindu.

Misri spoke while flanked by Colonel Sophia Qureshi, a Muslim, and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, a Hindu — portraying a picture of unity between religious communities, genders and the military with its government.

So when he said, "it is to the credit of the government and the people of India that these designs were foiled," his words were believable. But there is also a different reality.

Surge in hate speech

With India's government blaming Pakistan for supporting cross-border terrorism, anti-Muslim hate has surged, often fueled by ultranationalist social media accounts, which label Indian Muslims as "infiltrators" or "traitors."

The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), a right-wing Hindu nationalist group, released a statement urging the government to drive out "Pakistani citizens and their sleeper cells." VHP leader Surendra Jain also said it was "clearly visible by this incident that the terrorist definitely has a Mazahab (religion)," Indian media reported. The VHP did not respond to DW's request for comment.

Online hatred has spilled into real life, too.  The "Karachi Bakery" in the southern city of Hyderabad was vandalized by angry protesters demanding the bakery change its name as Karachi is the name of a city in Pakistan.

Local media reported that police charged several people over the incident, including members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The irony is that the bakery is owned by Hindus, whose ancestors migrated from Karachi to India during the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 following the end of British colonial rule.

In the first 10 days after the Pahalgam attack, at least 64 anti-Muslim hate speech events were recorded in nine states and the region of Jammu and Kashmir, according to the India Hate Lab, an NGO.

Fears of backlash after Pahalgam attack

In Agra, a biryani shop owner was shot in "retribution" for the brutal attack some 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) away in Pahalgam. In Aligarh, some three hours southeast of Delhi, a 15-year-old Muslim boy was reportedly assaulted and forced to urinate on a Pakistani flag. Videos of the assault circulated on social media for days.  

"People get heated up while talking about the terror attacks and say Islamophobic things, often forgetting I'm there too," Anuj*, an Indian Muslim from Mumbai, told DW. "They look at me differently."

Anuj is also concerned about his parents who live in a town in the western state of Gujarat.

"They [right-wing groups] are holding rallies with anti-Muslim sloganeering. My parents are afraid of what could happen in the coming days," he said, adding they have been discussing leaving India for good. 

In the hilly town of Nainital, seven hours north of Delhi, a protest against the rape of a 12-year-old morphed into communal violence. 

"The man who is accused of rape is Muslim. Around 5-6 p.m. on May 1, there was increasing pressure from the community to take action against that man which is understandable and right. But men from Hindu right-wing groups joined in soon," said Shahid*, a business owner from the town.

Shahid recounted how anger from both Hindu and Muslim communities spilled out into the streets. As a result, several Muslim-owned shops were destroyed. "There was a curfew-like feeling in the market over the next two days. My family begged me not to go to work."

"Even now, that's all people talk about. The violence, the terror attack and India's war with Pakistan. Neighbors come and tell me 'see how we've destroyed Pakistan's drones,'" he said, adding that the otherwise harmless comment has a nasty undertone. As if to say — "see your community's plans have been foiled." 

Breeding resentment

The India-Pakistan conflict feeding minority hatred on either side is not a new phenomenon, but the scale of incidents post the Pahalgam attack "has never happened before," according to Ghazala Wahab, editor of Force, an Indian magazine on national security. 

"There is a huge difference between all previous governments and the present government. There was the 1965 war and 1971 war and then we had a permanent sort of conflict in Siachen. Despite all of that, we never had a problem with people-to-people communication between India and Pakistan," she told DW.

Following the April 22 killings, India closed its borders with Pakistan and canceled all visas issued to Pakistani nationals. Travel and trade has been suspended.

"There were sporadic instances of violence before but those were by fringe elements of the right-wing. If you remember in 1991 they dug up the cricket pitch in Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium days before an India-Pakistan match," she said.

"But now the fringe are mainstream."

Senior journalist Nirupama Subramanian told DW that fringe right-wing groups have become emboldened in recent years due to a culture of impunity. 

Yet, as far as the response to the Pahalgam attack is concerned, she said there have been "scattered acts of bullying, harassment, even acts of violence but it hasn't erupted into a riot, which was probably the intention of the attack. That didn't happen, and I take that as a silver lining," she said.

A BJP spokesperson did not respond to DW's request for comment.

'Creating a psyche of fear'

Tanika Sarkar, a former professor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University who has written several books on the intersection of politics, religion and society in India, explained how the distrust may be reactionary. 

"What happens is that war does not immediately translate into violence at home but it translates into very bitter memories and histories and allegations. I don't know how it is on the Pakistani side, I suppose very much the same thing," she told DW.

In the latest conflict in particular, India's news channels did not help. Between May 8 and May 10, some of the most viewed channels reported sensational, unverified information which later turned out to be false. That, coupled with messages circulated on WhatsApp, created an environment of fear.

"This is a situation where you can't believe or disbelieve anything. And in that situation if you are so minded, then you will start looking at every Muslim with suspicion," Sarkar said, adding that fear creates fear. 

"Even if these attacks aren't the norm, they create a psyche of fear in the hearts of every Muslim who lives in India."

*Names changed on request.

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru