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24-04-2025
Bureau Report + Agencies
NEW DELHI/ PAHALGAM: An Indian naval officer on honeymoon, a tourist guide who was sole breadwinner for his family, and a businessman holidaying with his wife and children were among the victims of the horrific attack that killed 26 people in Indian-administered Kashmir.
A group of gunmen opened fire on Tuesday on tourists at a resort in Pahalgam, a picturesque town in the Himalayas often described as the “Switzerland of India”.
Visitors from different states in India were killed, others seriously injured; there is no official confirmation on the numbers yet from the government.
The attack was one of the deadliest in recent years in the troubled region, and it has shattered the lives of many.
The attack took place on Tuesday afternoon. Eyewitnesses told media that tourists had gathered at Baisaran, a mountain-top meadow 5km (three miles) from Pahalgam, when they heard the sound of bullets ripping through the air.
They began to run for cover and in the chaos, some were injured or separated from their groups.
Veenu Bhai, who fractured his arm as he was trying to escape, told media that there was confusion and mayhem everywhere. Children could be heard screaming and no one knew what was going on, he said.
Priyadarshini, whose husband Prashant Satpathy was killed in the attack, told the Indian Express newspaper that he was hit by a bullet as they were alighting from a ropeway.
JS Chandramouli, a retired banker who had travelled to Kashmir with his wife and four others, became separated from his group and his bullet-ridden body was found several hours later at the site of the attack, the newspaper reported.
Most of the victims were Hindu men.
Some eyewitnesses said it appeared the gunmen targeted non-Muslims but others have described the shooting as random. A local Muslim man was among the victims.
India’s government has not given an official account on whether people were targeted on the basis of religion.
Himanshi, who was on honeymoon with her husband Vinay Narwal, an Indian naval officer, can be heard saying in a video that has now gone viral that one of the attackers asked her husband if he was a Muslim.
“When he said no, the man shot him dead,” she said.
The couple married last week, on 16 April. On Wednesday, Himanshi bid a tearful farewell to her husband as he lay in a coffin draped with the Indian flag.
“He was the best man. I pray that his soul rests in peace and he has the best life wherever he is,” she said.
Vinay’s grandfather, Hawa Singh Narwal, told media that his grandson had initially wanted to go to Switzerland for his honeymoon but “he did not get a visa,” he said.
Asavari, the daughter of Santosh Jagdale, a businessman from Maharashtra state told media that the gunmen asked her father to recite an Islamic verse.
“When he failed to do so, they pumped three bullets into him, one in the head, one behind the ear and another in the back,” she said.
She added that the attackers killed her uncle too, who was standing next to her.
Pallavi, whose husband Manjunath Rao was killed, told reporters that when she confronted the attackers and asked them to shoot her too, one of them said, “I won’t kill you. Go tell this to (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi.”
The tragedy has torn families’ apart and engulfed households in grief.
As they speak to journalists, many relatives break down in tears.
