This attack is not merely another incident to be condemned in routine language. It is an act meant to unsettle society, frighten vulnerable workers, and create the impression that no space in Kashmir is safe from terror. It is to remind people that terror survives by disrupting trust — trust between communities, trust in public order, trust in the possibility of shared daily life. The fight against terror cannot afford to be reactive alone; it must be preventive, sustained and uncompromising. So too is the broader political and social consensus that terror attacks on unarmed labourers will not be allowed to define Kashmir.