“When I reached there, I saw the injured and dead bodies lying around. The first thing I did was to save the injured.”
This is what Waheed, head of the local ponywalla association, told Newslaundry on the phone after rushing nearly 10 injured tourists on ponies and one person on a makeshift stretcher after terrorists opened fire at the popular tourist destination of Baisaran in Pahalgam.
In a widely circulated video from the aftermath, a woman is seen pleading with locals to save her husband. “We were having bhelpuri when they came. They shot my husband. Please save my husband!” she said. The local recording the video kept consoling her and directed her to Waheed. “Everyone including the snack sellers, hawkers, and tour photographers had fled the area. When I reached there, there were only those who were either injured and those who were from the family or the relatives of the victims,” he said.
Waheed and others spent more than an hour to rescue the injured but he said he had to leave the dead bodies there for the police and security forces to recover. “I was only thinking about the injured, trying to save them. I did not have many people to help me with it but I brought all the injured back.”
Tuesday’s massacre, which killed at least 28 people, has made many like Waheed nervous. The attack, after all, threatens to shatter the fragile peace that had allowed Kashmir's tourism economy to bloom against all odds. It strikes at the heart of Kashmir's economic lifeline just as the region had achieved unprecedented visitor numbers – 2.35 crore tourists in 2024, including 65,000 foreigners. Local business leaders now fear this incident could collapse the fragile economic recovery.
For years, barring a few incidents, insurgent groups in Kashmir mostly spared tourists. The last such major attack in Pahalgam was reported in 2000 in which over 30 Yatris were killed. But there has been a disturbing trend of terror incidents targeting non-locals, members of the minority groups and tourists since 2019 following the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A.
The attack also comes at the time when US Vice President JD Vance is on a four-day trip to India. The US State Department has repeatedly warned its citizens not to travel to several Indian regions, including Jammu and Kashmir, for security concerns amid claims of normalcy.
Targeted killings
The first cracker of the bullets was heard in the afternoon, shocking the locals and the visitors touring the hills of Pahalgam. At the same time in Baisaran, a small meadow close to the resort’s main market, dozens of tourists were running for their lives, fleeing bullets. “They were being shot from a close range,” a security officer familiar with the details told Newslaundry.
Baisaran is about five kilometres from Pahalgam, which serves as the base camp for the annual Amarnath Yatra. Although it does not fall on the Yatra route, it is one of the key destinations on the tourist itinerary visiting the resort. The route to Baisaran is unpaved and visitors usually trek or take ponies to reach here.
The official said that the terrorists approached the crowd, some of whom were resting and waiting, others snacking, and many simply taking in the view of the meadow, before opening fire on them. “They got close and opened their bags to take out their weapons. Then they began identifying everyone before shooting them,” he said.
Some of the victims tried to rush to the pine forest nearby but couldn’t cover the distance. By the end of the shooting, militants had killed most men – nearly all of them non-locals and non-Muslims.
The victims belonged to the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana, Chattisgarh, Chennai, Odisha as well as Jammu and Kashmir. One of the locals was identified as Hussain Shah of Anantnag district. Among those shot at also was 83-year-old Santru, a resident of Tamil Nadu, who was grievously injured and rushed to the local government hospital. At least one foreigner has also been killed – he has been identified as Sundip Nevpane from Nepal.
For about 10 minutes, the attackers were shooting in all directions spreading chaos and fear. After the initial burst, they walked swiftly, taking aim at the victims before fleeing the spot. By then, there was carnage. No one was standing and bodies lay scattered across the meadow.
The sound of the gunfire had also spread fear across distance.
“I couldn’t move for a while. I felt I had lost all senses, it felt like I was also hit and dead for a moment but I survived,” said a tourist in Pahalgam who heard the gunshots.
Many accounts of the families of the victims, shared online on social media networks, indicated that the victims pleaded for their lives but the attackers continued the killing spree.
Pallavi, a resident of Karnataka, was quoted by various media organisations as saying that she asked the terrorists to kill her and her son as well after she saw her husband being fired upon. “They said they wouldn’t, but told me to tell Modi,” she was quoted as saying, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The timing
The attack has once again left local trade leaders and tourism industry stakeholders nervous.
“We strongly condemn the killing of innocent tourists. Kashmiris have always welcomed visitors with open hearts and warm hospitality. This tragic incident is a deliberate attempt to target and cripple our economy,” Kashmir Trade Alliance’s Aijaz Shahdar said in a statement.
Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in Srinagar late Tuesday after calling a security review meeting with all the security agencies as he vowed retaliation with “harshest consequences”. He was briefed by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who termed the attack an “abomination”. The security briefing reportedly held at Raj Bhavan was attended by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and other top security and administrative officials.
The attack was widely condemned by social, religious and political parties in Jammu and Kashmir terming it “shocking” and “gruesome”. Several groups including the Mutahida Majlis Ulema (MMU), an umbrella body of over 40 local social and religious bodies, called for a shutdown on Wednesday in solidarity with the victims of the attack. The call for shutdown has been endorsed by political parties as well as local trade unions and trade and tour bodies.
“Hapless people of Kashmir know the pain and grief of such tragedies for those who lost their loved ones today. Such gruesomeness is abhorred in Islam, which is essentially a religion of peace and goodwill, and against all human ethics,” the MMU said in a statement.
The Private School’s Association of Jammu Kashmir said all the private schools in the region will remain shut in the wake of the attack. "We strongly condemn the terrorist attack at Pahalgam and stand in unwavering solidarity with the bereaved families. The closure of schools is a symbolic gesture to express our collective grief and outrage and to reaffirm our commitment to peace and humanity," the body’s president GN Var said.
Small teams can do great things. All it takes is a subscription. Subscribe now and power Newslaundry’s work.
Newslaundry is a reader-supported, ad-free, independent news outlet based out of New Delhi. Support their journalism, here.
