In the shadow of the Himalayas, where the meadows of Pahalgam are often called “Mini Switzerland,” the massacre that happened on the quiet afternoon of April 22 has set two nuclear nations on the threshold of war.
The killing by armed assailants of 26 people, most of them tourists, has brought Indian accusations of involvement from Pakistan, which denies backing them or other Islamists fighting India in Kashmir: a territory both countries claim.
The armed men, who initially said they had come from a group with links to Islamist radicals in Pakistan, announced that they intended to stop Hindus settling in majority-Muslim Kashmir.
As tensions worsen between India and Pakistan, the families of the victims are grieving their losses. Newsweek spoke to three of them, both Hindu and Muslim, on the attack that shattered their worlds and now threatens a global cataclysm.
Danish Manzoor Bhat
“Papa… I’ll Be Back in 15 Minutes”: The Last Promise of Shubham Dwivedi.
Sanjay Dwivedi’s voice trembles as he recounts his son’s final moments. Shubham, a 27-year-old newlywed who had just taken over his father’s business, was celebrating life.
“He was very happy when he left,” Sanjay told Newsweek. “Papa, I’ll just go see the place and I’ll be back in 15 minutes. You wait here.”
Those words now haunt him. Shubham called once more from the mountaintop: “I’ve reached safely. I’ll be back in five or ten minutes. Just wait for us.”
But moments later, the assailants confronted Shubham and asked if he was Hindu, according to multiple witness accounts.
“When he said ‘yes,’ they shot him point-blank. My son had nothing on him. No weapon. Just himself. Innocent.”
Sanjay’s grief is compounded by a feeling of betrayal at the local police, who he says dismissed his initial appeals for help and accused him of spreading rumors.
His family is shattered.
“My wife doesn’t talk. She just sits in her room and cries.”
Shubham’s widow, Aishanya Dwivedi, will not stay silent. Sanjay recounts that she says no money can bring her husband back, but she wants him remembered as a martyr.
And for Sanjay, it has now become a war.
“The only thing we want to spend on terrorists is bullets. That’s all,” he says. “We are already at war. People just don’t realise it… I don’t want anyone else to lose their son, brother, or husband.”
“All Dreams Are Lost”: Tage Hailyang, the Soldier Who Never Returned to Duty
Tage Hailyang, an Indian Air Force corporal, had just received his posting to Dibrugarh in Northeast India.
“He was very excited,” his brother Tage Mali recalls, with his voice breaking while speaking to Newsweek.
“He had recently returned from Srinagar and gone to the temple. That made him really happy.”
Then he was killed by the assailants’ bullets.
“Memories are coming back in flashes. We’re still processing it all,” he whispers, but his grief spirals into rage: “The Indian government should not leave those terrorists. They must be shown to the world… Just as they killed my brother, they should meet the same fate. They don’t deserve an easy death.”
For this military family, the attack is a call to arms.
“The government must ensure Pakistani infiltrators are stopped. We have not come to terms with everything. All dreams are lost. Everything is over,” he said.
Syed Adil Hussain Shah: A Muslim Victim Who Helped Save Others
The attackers said they had come to kill Hindus, but they also took the life of Syed Adil Hussain Shah, a Muslim daily wage laborer, who died trying to save others.
His father, Syed Hyder Shah, speaks not of vengeance but of pride. “
“Adil helped save many lives. That brings me some comfort,” he said.
Adil tried to help tourists take cover and even attempted to wrest a gun from an attacker. He was shot multiple times, with bullets piercing his chest and throat, according to Indian news channel NDTV.
“He was a poor man who worked tirelessly,” his father says, in a conversation with Newsweek.
“He brought home shoes and clothes for the family, always thinking of others first,” his father said. “This was not an attack on one community. It was an attack on humanity.”
“Whether you are a leader, a minister, or a citizen, we all need to understand what humanity truly means. If more people lived with the values Adil showed—compassion, courage, sacrifice—this world would be better.”