‘Go Tell Modi’: Survivors Recount Horror as Gunmen Spare Women, Kill Men in Kashmir Attack

The assault, which claimed the lives of 26 men, has sparked national outrage, with New Delhi blaming neighbouring Pakistan for backing what it called “cross-border terrorism.” Pakistan has denied any involvement.

Eyewitnesses and Indian media described the attack as a calculated and targeted ambush meant to deliver a chilling message to India’s leadership.

The victims had travelled to the scenic Baisaran Valley near Pahalgam to escape the scorching heat of India’s lowland plains. Surrounded by pine forests and snow-capped peaks, the tranquil setting turned deadly when armed men stormed out of the woods and began shooting with automatic weapons.

According to Indian media, the assailants were equipped with body cameras, apparently to document the massacre.

The attackers, identified by police as two Pakistanis and one Indian, reportedly separated men from women and children before opening fire on the men.

“They very clearly spared the women and kept shooting at the men,” one witness told AFP.

Go tell Modi’

One woman, Pallavi, described in The Economic Times how she begged to be killed after witnessing her husband’s execution. The gunmen refused, telling her she had to deliver a message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “Go tell Modi,” they said.

Other survivors reported that the gunmen questioned people about their religion and ordered them to recite the Islamic declaration of faith. A relative of victim Shubham Dwivedi told India Today that the attackers asked if he was Muslim before shooting him in the head and sparing his wife.

“They pointed the gun... and said, ‘tell your government what we have done,’” the cousin recalled.

Some survivors told NDTV that a faster emergency response might have saved those who were critically wounded but still alive when help eventually arrived.

Shital Kalathiya, whose husband was killed in the attack, told the Hindustan Times she was devastated and shocked by the lack of security at the site.

“What broke us the most was the complete absence of security,” she said. “If they knew the risks, no one should have been allowed up there.” — AFP