: A family trip turned tragic for a Pune-based family when terrorists opened fire on tourists in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. Santosh Jagdale (47) and his brother-in-law Kaustubh Ganbote, both businessmen from Maharashtra, were killed in the attack. The horror started when they heard gunshots coming from people dressed like the local police, said his daughter Asavari. She, her mother Pragati, and her father Santosh ran to a nearby tent with other tourists. They thought the shooting outside was a fight between the attackers and the security forces. But the gunfire kept getting closer, and the attackers even fired at a nearby tent.
“We were a group of five people, including my parents. We were in Baisaran Valley near Pahalgam and were at a spot called Mini Switzerland when the firing began,” Asavari Jagdale told PTI in a telephonic interview five hours after the shooting.pahalgam
“We immediately rushed to a nearby tent for protection. So did six to seven others (tourists). We all lay down on the ground as protection against the firing which we then assumed was between the terrorists and security personnel,” Asavari said.
She said the group of terrorists first came to a nearby tent and opened fire. “Then they came to our tent and asked my father to come out,” she said. “They said ‘Chaudhari tu bahar aa ja'” Asavari said. Then the terrorists accused them of supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Asavari said. After that, they made some statements claiming that Kashmiri militants do not harm innocent people, women, or children.
Asavari said there were many tourists around, but the attackers targeted men after asking if they were Hindu or Muslim. “They asked my father to recite an Islamic verse, probably the Kalma. When he couldn’t, they shot him three times — in the head, behind the ear, and in the back,” said the 26-year-old. She added that the attackers then shot her uncle multiple times. Police and security forces arrived about 20 minutes later, she said.
My uncle was right next to me when the terrorists shot him four to five times. They also shot several other men who were there. No one was there to help us. The police and army came about 20 minutes later. Even the local people nearby were reciting Islamic prayers,” she said.
“The people who took us to the spot on ponies helped us — three women, including myself and my mother — make the return journey. Later we underwent medical examination to check for injuries and were then shifted to Pahalgam Club.
The attack at the popular tourist site on Tuesday resulted in at least 26 deaths, including two foreigners from the UAE and Nepal, as well as two locals, officials confirmed.
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