Traditionally, resistance movements in Kashmir did not target tourists. This was because it had an implicit agreement with the business class and local Kashmiris whose bread and butter was tourism. So harming tourists would make you look like an extremist who doesn’t care about the locals. Additionally, the terrorist attack was condemned by Kashmiris coming out in the streets to protest for the first time in history. TRF doesn’t have widespread support among Kashmiris because of this attack and a previous killing in Reasi, of tourists as well. In both attacks, Kashmiri people lost lives as well. A famous militant, Burhan Wani had a lot of popularity in Kashmir-300,000 people attended his funeral. But he and his gang were caught, and while they had received arms from across the border, they didn’t have the sophisticated technology that these terrorists did. This particular operation was highly sophisticated and efficient, more in the pattern of trained terrorists from the attacks above listed than indigenous rebels we’ve seen in Kashmir. So it is quite likely it was a Pakistan funded proxy. LeT is called the most reliable and efficient proxy Pakistan uses against India, though they have conducted attacks in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well.

I can suggest a few books on Kashmir Christopher Snedden - Independant Kashmir (sympathetic to the cause, but arguably that’s the moral position to take. Either way, it’s fairly objective.) And a few on terrorism and LeT, if you’d like In their own words: Understanding Lashkar-e-Tayyaba - C. Christine Fair Storming the World Stage - the Story of Lashkar-e-Taiba - Frankel Stephen The one above goes into depth about the Pakistani government’s complicity in the activities of the group. Some of the sites detailed in this book were struck by the Indian government in the missile strike.