In the end, the police arrested one of their own, a decorated officer. And while that allayed concerns about militant-led attacks, it exacerbated fears that some people would be unable to move past the region’s violence. In this case, the officer was charged with attempted murder, accused of staging the unsuccessful grenade attack in what several officials called an effort to raise enough worries about continuing violence to win him a promotion to inspector.

Attacks in Kashmir have plunged in recent years, with the top leaders of India and Pakistan again promising better relations in the contested region. While many Kashmiris still resent India’s dominance, far fewer are willing to fight it anymore — although sporadic assaults, including a recent attack that killed eight soldiers, continue.

India has responded to the relative quiet by withdrawing the army from Srinagar — the summer capital of the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir — and some larger towns, but a vast police and paramilitary presence remains. Paramilitary killings of civilians last week during protests over a reported desecration of the Koran led to demonstrations across Kashmir. Nearly 100,000 police officers, meanwhile, were assigned to preventing insurgent attacks.

“Unfortunately, there is a vested interest in certain quarters to keep the conflict alive,” Omar Abdullah, Jammu and Kashmir’s chief minister, said in an interview at his official residence in Srinagar. “One of the challenges we face as the level of violence goes down is figuring out how to deal with those people who have benefited from violence, whose career prospects have been determined by violence and who used to make money from violence.”

Shiv Kumar Sharma, the arrested officer, would seem to fit that description. He rapidly moved through the ranks and earned thousands of dollars in bonuses because his bosses considered him unusually good at finding and killing militants. Former colleagues say he loved gold chains, dark sunglasses, fine clothing and the fame that his many operations brought him.