Bharat Bhushan (35), begged for his life… not for himself, but for his three-year-old child.
But, amid the bloodshed in Pahalgam, appeals to the terrorist with an automatic weapon were ignored and Bharat Bhushan was shot in the head, one of 26 killed in Tuesday’s attack.
He was shot dead just as his wife, child, and he had seen at least two other men killed, disbelieving and terrified, and crouching behind a cluster of tents in the middle of the picturesque green Baisaran Valley, too far from the perimeter to risk making a run to safety.
Dr Sujatha Bhushan, his wife, spoke to NDTV and described those horrifying minutes.
“We went for the vacation on April 18. Pahalgam was our last stop… we went up to Baisaran that day on pony rides and, when we reached, we took photographs and played with our child. We tried out Kashmiri costumes… then suddenly we heard lots of shots…”
Eyewitnesses said the attack began sometime after 2.30 pm. A single shot announced the carnage. Then the terrorists swarmed the meadow and began executing people with a ruthless precision, a defence expert suggested to NDTV, that comes with years of military training.
As realisation dawned on the Bhushan family and the other tourists and locals, they broke and ran for cover. Except, there was none. Most were caught in the middle of the large green space.
“Initially we thought they were just driving away birds or wild animals… but the noise kept continuing and getting closer. Then we realised this is not typical… this is an attack.”
But there was nowhere to hide, no hole to crawl into and escape.
“You know how Baisaran is… it is a large field and we were right in the middle. Anywhere we tried to run, it is quite a far distance to the perimeter. So we started hiding behind tents, the Kashmiri tents, set up in the middle of field,” Dr Bhushan said, her voice and expression stoic.
All three – father, mother, and child – were crouching behind one tent, but they could still see what has happening. And it was horrifying. People were being pulled up, questioned, and shot.
“One terrorist went to a tent about 100 feet away… he took a man out, seemed to talk to him, and shot him in the head. He did it twice more… I couldn’t hear what he was saying. But then, near our tent, I could hear, ‘How can you enjoy vacation when our children are suffering?’”
“He said, ‘Haven’t you seen the news? How could you just enjoy yourselves like this…’ to an elderly man and then shot him in the head also, then another.”
And then the terrorist reached the tent sheltering the Bhushan family.
“He came to my husband… and he didn’t even speak. He just shot him. My husband was requesting him, ‘I have a child… please spare me’. But he just shot him and left…”
The Pahalgam attack was the worst Jammu and Kashmir has seen in over six years, the worst since 40 soldiers were slaughtered in Pulwama district in February 2019.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi – who was on a State trip to Saudi Arabia when the attack took place, an absence that underlines the precision with which the attack was timed – has said such an evil agenda will not be allowed to succeed, and that India stands united against terrorism.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh thundered out a warning to the terrorists who carried out the murders – sources have told NDTV there were five of them – and their handlers.
“We won’t punish only the monsters who carried out this act of brutality and barbarianism. We will also reach those who hid behind a curtain to carry out this conspiracy,” he said.
Since then India has announced a handful of diplomatic and non-military responses to the attack, including suspending the Indus Treaty and revoking visas for Pak nationals.
However, based on the Prime Minister and Defence Minister’s strong words, a military response – like the air strikes that followed the Pulwama attack – cannot be ruled out.