A Nepali national was among at least 26 people who were killed when militants opened fire on a group of tourists at Pahalgam of Jammu and Kashmir, India, on Tuesday.A public health student and aspiring social worker, Sudip, 27, had travelled to Kashmir with his mother, sister and brother-in-law for a short family trip when the tragedy struck.
Originally from Belbhariya in ward 14 of Butwal Sub-metropolitan City, Sudip had been living at Kalikanagar in Butwal for the past four years with his mother Rima and sister Sushma following his parents’ separation. Despite studying for a Bachelor of Public Health in Kathmandu, he often traveled back and forth to care for his mother, who lived alone after Sushma’s marriage two years ago.
The devastating massacre targeted sightseers in a popular tourist destination in Pahalgam, in the mountainous Anantnag district, and is the region’s worst assault on civilians in years. Most of the 26 people killed are understood to be travelers.
While authorities investigate the attack, tensions are rising between India and its neighbor. Despite Pakistan denying that it had any role in the attack, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said in a Wednesday press conference that “cross-border linkages of the terrorist act” had been “brought out” during a special meeting of his country’s security cabinet. vSurvivors described horror as the attack unfolded and a bloody scene wrought by the gunmen.
One eyewitness told the news agency Press Trust of India that unidentified gunmen opened fire on the tourists from close range. “My husband was shot in the head while seven others were also injured in the attack,” one woman survivor said, according to PTI. Another survivor, Asavari Jagdale, told PTI the gunmen came into the tent where her family was hiding. The attackers accused the family – hailing from India’s western Pune city – of supporting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, before shooting Jagdale’s male relatives, including her father, she said. Local resident Abdul Waheed told he jumped on his pony to help transport the injured back to areas where they could be driven to the hospital, and enlisted others in his local pony association to help. For those who were too injured, they used makeshift cots to carry them down the valley.
“I saw people crying, screaming, just lying in the aftermath of the attack. There were children, women, men, everyone,” he said. “It was a massive trauma. I did not sleep all night.” On Wednesday evening, police in Kashmir announced a reward of 200,000 Indian rupees ($2,339) for “any information leading to the neutralization of the terrorists involved in this cowardly act.” The picturesque Himalayan region, administered in part by both India and Pakistan though still disputed by both sides, is often rife with violence and has a heavy security presence – but attacks on tourists are rare.
“It is an implicit sort of contract between the local population and the militant groups that the tourist trade will not be undermined because almost everyone in Kashmir, especially in the Valley, is directly or indirectly dependent on the tourism industry,” said counter-terrorism expert and author Ajai Sahni. By Tuesday night, outraged residents had gathered in the region to protest. Videos of the protest show a crowd chanting slogans, holding candles and signs that read: “Stop terrorism.” Other signs called for the resignation of Indian home affairs minister, Amit Shah. Tourists were also scrambling to leave the region, with airlines putting on extra flights.
Source: Here