The wife of a tourist who was killed in a bloody attack by militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir has recalled her last moments with him, having fun with the sunshine.
Militants opened fire on a crowd of tourists in a beauty spot near the Himalayas yesterday, leaving 27 people dead in a beauty spot just above the tourist town of Pahalgam in south Kashmir.
One victim’s wife told Metro her husband had looked around just moments before the gunfire broke out and said, ‘That is real paradise’ as he played with their children.
‘It was such a wonderful day. Then suddenly, two or three men with guns appeared out of nowhere and commenced firing. My husband was hit before he could even react,’ she said.
‘I screamed, grabbed my children, and bumped into the forest. My kids and I are still in shock. We are able to’t understand what happened to us.
‘What is going to we tell our family back home? They were waiting for us to return with memories, not this nightmare.’
Witnesses recalled screams echoing through the forest as panic spread. It took locals, horsemen, and vendors several hours to hold the injured down the slopes on account of the absence of immediate medical help.
Tens of 1000’s of armed police and soldiers have since been sent across the region, and extra checkpoints have been arrange.
Police called it a ‘terror attack’ and blamed militants fighting against Indian rule. But families of the dead, and 1000’s of others, have taken to the streets to protest the attack.
Indian Navy officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal was one among the 27 people killed. His wife spoke to Metro today and said: ‘I couldn’t even scream. Vinay just fell beside me.
‘I didn’t understand what was happening—one moment we were laughing, and the subsequent, my world was gone.’
Local horseman Bilal Ahmad, 25, said he was guiding a family to a picnic spot when the bullets began.
At first, he thought it was firecrackers, before he saw people falling.
‘I pulled two kids and hid behind an enormous stone. I told them not to maneuver. I saw a tourist get shot while running,’ he said. ‘I’ve never seen anything so terrifying. I just kept praying and hoped we might make it down alive.’
Mohammad Shafi, 42, a snack vendor, told Metro: ‘Blood was in every single place. I didn’t know if I’d survive. I actually have worked here for a few years, and nothing like this has ever happened.
‘Those people were innocent. They got here here for peace, to not die.’
Farooq Khan, 60, one other horseman, said witnesses used shawls to hold the injured away. He recalled a young boy holding his dead uncle, crying quietly: ‘We carried that man on horseback. We were all crying. We forgot our fear. All we wanted was to avoid wasting as many lives as we could.’
An area vendor intervened to assist save people within the line of fireplace before he too was killed. A neighbour of the person said: ‘When the attack began, he didn’t run. He helped families find shelter and tried to distract the gunmen.
‘That’s how he was shot. He could have saved himself, but he selected to avoid wasting others. His death shows the true heart of Kashmir.’
The attack has shocked Kashmir and triggered widespread condemnation. Markets across a lot of the country remained shut on Wednesday. Trade bodies, political parties, transport unions, and civil society groups took to the streets demanding justice.
Bashir Khan, 44, a taxi driver in Pahalgam, said drivers got here together to supply free rides to survivors and families.
‘That is our pain too. We will not be wealthy, but we’ve got hearts. This shouldn’t be what Kashmir stands for. Whoever did this shouldn’t be one among us. This massacre has broken us all,’ he said.
Ghulam Nabi, 50, who sells shawls near Pahalgam, stood with candles at a silent protest. “I closed my shop today to point out that we don’t support this. Those tourists were our guests. They trusted us.
‘They ate our food, rode our horses. And now they’re gone. How will we ever face the remainder of India? We Kashmiris want peace. We’re bored with blood. We would like people to recollect us for our love, not violence.”
Aijaz Ahmad, 32, a rickshaw driver from Srinagar, said: ‘This shouldn’t be just against the law, it’s a betrayal of the whole lot we stand for. Kashmir has all the time been known for its hospitality. These killers tried to take that away. But we won’t allow them to. Every Kashmiri heart is weeping, but in addition standing strong.
‘We would like justice, and we wish peace. Today, we’re giving free rides to tourists. They shouldn’t feel frightened. They’re our guests, and we are going to protect them.’
Kashmir was finally seeing a tourism revival after years of shutdowns on account of COVID-19, political unrest, and violence, but locals fear this violent attack could hurt them again.
Zahid Mir, 28, who runs a hotel in Srinagar, said: ‘The season had just began. We were fully booked for the subsequent few weeks. Now, every guest is trying out.
‘Phones are ringing with cancellations. Who will come now? We will not be terrorists. We just need to earn a living. This attack has hit our hearts and our homes.’
Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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