On the evening of 9 June, as hundreds of high-profile guests gathered in Delhi to watch Narendra Modi sworn in as Indian prime minister for the third time, a bloody massacre unfolded 400 miles (640km) north in the mountains of Kashmir.
A bus carrying Hindu pilgrims was ambushed by militants in the southern Reasi area of Indian-administered Kashmir, killing nine and injuring 33. “A masked militant appeared on the road and started firing towards us, hitting the driver in his forehead,” said Santosh Kumar Verma, 44, a pilgrim from the state of Uttar Pradesh, who was sitting on the front seat of the bus.
