‘They asked Hindu men to separate from Muslim men’: Pahalgam terror attack survivor

As many as 26 people were killed in the dastardly attack by terrorists on tourists in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22

Eyewitness accounts of those who survived the Pahalgam terror attack continued to emerge on Thursday, two days after the massacre that killed 26 people, mostly tourists.

Arathi from Kerala (L), who lost her father Ramachandran to the attack, Shital Kalathiya (R) explained how the attack unfolded when they had just reached the meadow top and sat down for a meal. (ANI/X)

Shital Kalathiya, wife of Shailesh Kalathiya, one of those 26 killed, explained how the attack unfolded when they had just reached the meadow top and sat down for a meal. She also explained how the terrorists tried to identify the religion of tourists before shooting.

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“We had just reached Mini Switzerland when the firing had started. It happened twice, and after the second shot, everyone started running. They surrounded us and asked the Hindu men to separate from the Muslim men. We were all silent and were hoping that they would go away. But everything just happened in a second. They watched all of them die. There was nothing I could do,” Shital recollected while speaking to ANI.

She also questioned the lack of security arrangements and the absence of security personnel on the spot. “We had only seen this happening in movies, but when we saw this in real life, it broke us. What shocked us the most was that there was not a single security person present. if they knew that such risks were present at that place, they shouldn't have let anyone go up there,” she added.

Shawl hawkers recall helping tourists

Sajad Ahmad Bhat, a shawl hawker from Pahalgam, said he received a message about the attack in the Baisaran Valley from the head of Pahalgam Pony Association.

Bhat said that local hawkers like him gave water to those injured and carried those tourists who could not walk. “Humanity comes before religion. We must help the tourists as they are our guests, and our livelihood depends on them. We brought many of them to the hospital... We did not care about our own lives because when we went there, people were pleading for help. When I saw the tourists crying, tears came to my eyes. Their arrival lights up the lamps in our houses. Our life is incomplete without them,” he said.

Terrorist said ‘Kalma’

Arathi from Kerala, who lost her father Ramachandran to the attack, recalled the chaos as they started to run with others after hearing gunshots.

She also said that a group of people were intercepted by an armed terrorist. “There were 2-3 groups beside us. We saw the man asking the group something, and then he was shooting at them. At this, I panicked, and I told my father that the man was coming towards us. My father was calm, and he said Let’s see what happens. The man came towards us and said ‘Kalma’. When we said we didn't understand what he was saying, the man shot my father...Kashmiris are very helpful. Both the Central and J&K governments also helped us a lot,” Arathi said.