As the nation continues to reel from the chilling Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 dead, heartbreaking testimonies from survivors are now emerging exposing the targeted hate behind the massacre in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baisaran valley on April 22. Among the victims was 27-year-old Shubham Dwivedi from Kanpur, who was shot in cold blood in front of his wife, Eshanaay, after being asked about his religion.
The young couple, accompanied by Shubham’s sister-in-law, had taken a break from their sightseeing at a local eatery in the picturesque ‘Mini Switzerland’ of Pahalgam when the horror unfolded.
“We gave an order for Maggi, then Shubham and I sat down. Dad was also in the bathroom. At that time, one person came from behind and he asked, ‘Are you a Hindu or Muslim?’ If you are a Muslim, then you first read the Kalma’. We didn’t even know, we looked back to see what was happening,” Eshanaay recounted in a quivering voice.
What followed was unimaginable.
“They asked me whether he is Hindu or Muslim, I told them Hindu, they killed him. The first shot was on him,” she said.
Shubham’s body was returned to his native village in Kanpur on the morning of April 24, casting a pall of grief over the locality. His father, Sanjay Dwivedi, struggling to comprehend the tragedy, shared how the family had excitedly planned the vacation, never imagining it would end in such horror.
“My son, his wife, and sister-in-law went to a place called ‘Mini Switzerland’, which is at a high altitude, and we stopped at a restaurant, 7 km before that place. They were having some snacks when the terrorists came. They asked about whether you are Hindu or Muslim, and after that, they shot my son in the head,” said Sanjay Dwivedi in a statement to ANI.
In a moment of immense courage, Eshanaay pleaded with the attackers to kill her too but the terrorists refused. “They told her, ‘We are leaving you alive so that you can tell Modi about all this,’” Sanjay revealed.
The bereaved family has since met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Srinagar, where they conveyed their demands for justice. Sanjay, overcome with emotion, urged the government to act decisively.
“Strict action should be taken against the terrorists. They said to my daughter-in-law that we are not killing you so that you can tell it to Modi. Action should be so severe that their seven generations would never dare to kill anyone again,” he said.
The tragedy has once again raised pressing questions about the security of civilians and tourists in Kashmir, as well as the religiously targeted nature of such attacks.
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