Special Correspondent
Pahalgam/Srinagar: The serene beauty of Kashmir turned into a nightmare for the Jagdale family from Pune, as their holiday ended in bloodshed and heartbreak. In a horrifying account that exposes the brutality of terrorism, Asavari Jagdale, the daughter of slain tourist Santosh Jagdale, revealed that her father was shot dead by terrorists simply because he couldn’t recite the Kalima—an Islamic declaration of faith.
Asavari, still in shock, narrated the gut-wrenching details of the incident during a phone call with a news agency. “We were a group of five, including my parents, myself, and a woman relative. We were exploring the beautiful Baisaran Valley near Pahalgam when we suddenly heard gunshots. We initially thought it was an encounter between terrorists and security forces,” she said.
In panic, they took shelter in a nearby tent along with a few other tourists—six to seven people in total. The gunshots grew louder. What followed shattered their lives forever.
“A man dressed in police uniform entered our tent. But he wasn’t a policeman—he was a terrorist. He asked my father to step outside. Then he said some terrible things about Prime Minister Modi and asked my father to recite the Kalima. When he couldn’t, the man shot him point-blank—in the head, behind the ear, and in the back,” she recounted, her voice breaking.
Next to her was her uncle, Kaustubh Ganbote, who was also mercilessly gunned down with four to five bullets. Both men died in front of their families. “They had guns in their hands, and they were searching every tent, looking for people to kill,” she said.
Asavari and the other women were spared—perhaps due to their gender—but the trauma they witnessed is unimaginable. “I watched my father fall. I saw them kill my uncle. I couldn’t do anything. They spared the three women, but what they took from us, no one can give back,” she sobbed.
The Jagdale and Ganbote families, originally from Baramati, were living in Pune’s Karvenagar area. They had gone on a family trip to Kashmir, hoping to enjoy nature’s tranquility. Instead, they faced unimaginable terror and returned home with the bodies of their loved ones.
Union Minister Murlidhar Mohol, who is in direct contact with the bereaved families, expressed deep sorrow. “When Asavari told me she saw her father being shot before her eyes, it shook me to the core,” he said.
This incident is part of a larger terrorist attack in Pahalgam that claimed at least 27 lives, including six from Maharashtra. The targeted killing based on religion has sparked outrage across the country, raising serious concerns about the safety of tourists in the Valley and the sinister motives of the perpetrators.
As the nation mourns, one daughter’s words remain etched in memory—“They asked my father to say something he didn’t know… and killed him for it.”
