The Kashmir Valley observed a hartal on Wednesday, 23 April, protesting the terror attack and in solidarity with the victims. This was the first total shutdown in the valley ever since the revocation of Article 370 in 2019.
Published Apr 23, 2025 | 3:47 PM ⚊ Updated Apr 23, 2025 | 4:19 PM
The suspects in the Pahalgam terror attack.
Synopsis: Opposition leaders called for a united fight against terrorism and urged the Union government not to delay hunting the terrorists responsible for the most brazen and outrageous attack, a direct assault on the integrity and unity of India.
Grief has turned to anger as the country came to terms with a terror attack that left 26 people dead, and 17 others injured, at the Baisaran meadow, some 5 km from Pahalgam in the Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Officials released the sketches of three armed terrorists, who emerged from the shadows of the dense deodar forest around the meadows, and gunned down unarmed tourists around 2.40 pm on Tuesday, 22 April.
The Resistance Front (TRF), a rebranded Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest in recent years. The Ministry of Home Affairs had designated TRF as a terrorist organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in 2023.
Social media is flooded with the poignant image of a young woman sitting beside the body of her husband amidst the greenery of the meadow, bordered by verdant deodars beneath the towering Himalayas. The image embodied the country’s collective grief, horror, and anger — a picture India will not forget.
The official list of people killed in the attack.
Among those killed were an Indian Navy officer, Lieutenant Vinay Narwal of Karnal in Haryana, and posted in Kochi, Kerala. He was killed six days after his wedding.
A Kolkata resident working in the US, an Air Force staffer from Ziro, Arunachal Pradesh, and two foreigners — from Nepal and the UAE — were also killed. A Pahalgam resident, Syed Ali Hussain Shah, too, fell to the terrorists’ bullets.
Six people from Maharashtra, three each from Gujarat and Karnataka, two from West Bengal, and one each from Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Kerala, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh were killed in the incident.
Among those killed was a father-son duo, Yatesh Parmar and Sumit Parmar, from Bhavnagar in Gujarat. An Excise Inspector, Manish Ranjan, from Bihar, too, lost his life.
IAF official Tage Hailyang, Intelligence Bureau officer Manish Ranjan, and a TCS employee, US-based Bitan Adhikari, too, did not survive the attack. Ranjan was posted at the IB’s Hyderabad office.
Front page of ‘Greater Kashmir’ printed in reverse on 23 April.
A retired SBI employee, JS Chandramouli of Visakhapatnam, who was on a tour with his wife and others, also lost his life in the attack.
The Kashmir Valley observed a hartal on Wednesday, 23 April, protesting the terror attack and in solidarity with the victims. This was the first total shutdown in the valley ever since the revocation of Article 370 in 2019.
Shops, commercial establishments, and educational institutions remained closed, while vehicles stayed off the road, leaving streets deserted.
Several newspapers published from Kashmir printed their front page in reverse — white or red letters on black background — condemning the attack on humanity. GRUESOME: Kashmir Gutted, Kashmiris Grieving, the newspaper Greater Kashmir screamed from its page one.
Leaders in India and abroad condemned the killing of innocent, unarmed people at the ill-fated meadow.
AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge urged the Union government to hunt down the terrorists. “It’s been 22 hours and the Union Government must not delay hunting the terrorists,” he said in Bengaluru.
He termed the most brazen and outrageous attack, a direct assault on the integrity and unity of India.
“This is not a time for partisan politics. It is time for collective efforts — to console those who have lost their loved ones and to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice,” he said, adding that the Congress Working Committee would meet at 11 am at the AICC office in New Delhi to discuss the tragic incident.
“We must stand united in our fight against terrorism. This is a direct attack on the Indian state, and the entire nation is in shock. We must give a fitting response. In this response, we are all one — there must be no premature claims or mismanagement,” Kharge said while offering the Congress’s support to the government.
He also urged the government to hold discussions with all political parties to address the threat of terrorism. “We do not wish to politicise this tragedy. We must find solutions collectively, through unity and resolve,” he said.
