Two days after the heartbreaking Pahalgam terror attack where 26 people were killed and several others were left injured, locals recalled the horror they witnessed.
Sajad Ahmad Bhat, a shawl hawker from Pahalgam was seen carrying a tourist injured during the attack in a video that went viral on social media.
Recalling the incident, Bhat said that he had received a message from the head of Pahalgam Poney Association, Abdul Waheed Wan, further stating that it was his duty to help the tourists, who were also their guests.
“I was sitting at my home when I received a text from the Pahalgam Poney Association president, Abdul Waheed Wan about the incident in the Baisaran Valley. We went with him and reached the location around 3-3:30 p.m… We gave water to the injured and lifted those who could not walk…. Humanity comes before religion. It is our duty to 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…” Bhat told ANI.
President of Pahalgam ATV Stand, Irshad Ahmad said that he had been sent instructions on a call to rescue people from the Baisaran valley on ATV bikes.
Ahmad further stated that he had rescued Navy Officer Vinay Narwal who had died on the spot.
“We received a call that the situation is normal and we have to go for rescue. We took all our bikes to Baisaran valley since it is a non-motorable road. So we took our ATVs. We have been taking the force and the police on our ATVs to the valley for the last two days… I was the one who brought the Navy Officer (Lieutenant Vinay Narwal) and his wife to the ambulance. I checked his pulse on the way and realised that he had died. At the moment, I lied to his wife that he was alive and that she should not worry… When I saw the situation there, I cried four times… We don’t want such incidents ever to be repeated in our Kashmir,” Ahmad said speaking to ANI.
A local chef, who has spent 30 years serving visitors at a hotel in Pahalgam, shared his distress, noting that his livelihood depends entirely on tourists visiting the region. He expressed his anguish over the terror attack and stated that he now doesn’t know what he will do next.
“I have been working as a chef in Pahalgam for the last 30 years. I have never seen such a huge incident here. I am poor, and my livelihood depends entirely on the tourists. Now, I don’t know what I will do. I don’t have enough property to get by. The tourism season was going well, and all hotels were at full capacity. But now, the loss will not just be in crores but in billions,” he said.
The ripple effect of this tragedy is already in the show, with many fearing that the damage could take years to recover from.
Terrorists attacked tourists at Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam on Tuesday, killing 25 Indian nationals and one from Nepal while leaving several others injured, in one of the deadliest attacks in the valley since the 2019 Pulwama strike in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed. (ANI)
