Terror strikes Kashmir: 26 people, mostly tourists, killed in Pahalgam's 'mini Switzerland'
Pahalgam (J-K), Apr 22 (PTI): Terrorists opened fire at a famed meadow near Kashmir’s Pahalgam town on Tuesday afternoon, killing 26 people, mostly tourists, in what is the deadliest attack in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019.
The 26 dead included two foreigners and two locals, a high ranking official said without getting into details. The toll is still being ascertained, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said while describing the terror attack as “much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years".
The attack, which comes as US Vice President J D Vance is visiting India and just as the tourist and trekking season is picking up momentum, took place around 3 pm, officials said.
Baisaran, about six kilometres from the resort town of Pahalgam, is an expansive meadow ringed by dense pine forests and mountains and a favourite with visitors from across the country and the world.
Armed terrorists came into the grassland, dubbed ‘mini Switzerland’, and started firing at tourists milling around eateries, taking pony rides or just picnicking, officials and eyewitnesses said. At least 20 people were injured in the strike in the volatile Kashmir Valley where tourists have so far mostly been spared.
As news of the terror attack targeting tourists in Kashmir spread, The Resistance Front (TRF), shadow group of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group, claimed responsibility.
Officials said it was possible the terror group could have crossed over from Kishtwar in Jammu and reached Baisaran through Kokernag in south Kashmir.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a visit to Saudi Arabia, and left for Srinagar soon after to hold an urgent security review meeting with all agencies.
"I strongly condemn the terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. Condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. I pray that the injured recover at the earliest. All possible assistance is being provided to those affected,” the prime minister said on X.
"Those behind this heinous act will be brought to justice... they will not be spared! Their evil agenda will never succeed. Our resolve to fight terrorism is unshakable and it will get even stronger," he added.
Eyewitnesses painted a chilling picture of gunfire breaking the calm of a regular Tuesday afternoon with scores of people enjoying their day out. Cries for help were heard as lifeless bodies lay motionless in pools of blood.
Some put the number of attackers at five.
"My husband was shot in the head while seven others were also injured in the attack," a woman survivor told.
I strongly condemn the terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. Condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. I pray that the injured recover at the earliest. All possible assistance is being provided to those affected.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 22, 2025
Those behind this heinous act will be brought…
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Civic authorities raze 36 illegal bungalows on bank of Indrayani river near Pune
Pune, May 17 (PTI): Civic authorities in Pimpri Chinchwad near Pune on Saturday demolished 36 bungalows built illegally along the Indrayani River, an official said.
Acting on the orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), officials and personnel from the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), along with a heavy police cover, reached the River Villa project in Chikhali village in the morning, he said.
Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Singh said the civic body razed the bungalows as demolition drives cannot be carried out during the monsoon.
Activist Tanaji Gambhire, who had moved the NGT against the project, said the villas were constructed along the Indrayani river’s blue flood line, where development activities are banned. A blue line represents the level of flood likely to occur in a river once in 25 years.
In July 2024, NGT had asked the civic body to demolish all these 36 structures within six months. The green court had also ordered that Rs 5 crore be collected collectively from the bungalow owners as environmental damage compensation.
The PCMC subsequently started the process and began hearings of the bungalow owners.
Meanwhile, 29 bungalow owners approached the Supreme Court, but the apex court rejected their appeal. The land and bungalow owners then approached the NGT to review its order. However, the NGT also rejected their review petition, said an official.
After getting no relief from the NGT, the property owners again moved the SC.
The apex court on May 4 disposed of the appeal and ruled that PCMC should implement the NGT’s order to pull down the bungalows and collect Rs 5 crore towards damage to the environment.
PCMC Commissioner Shekhar Singh told PTI that someone tried to create confusion that the SC on May 4 had given six months to the corporation to take action.
“The Supreme Court just reproduced the NGT’s order in its May 4 ruling. It was NGT that had given 6 months (to PCMC) when it ordered the demolition in 2024. Today (on May 17), complying with the orders, we demolished all 36 illegal structures,” he said.
Singh said they will now implement the second part of the NGT order concerning the recovery of Rs 5 crore from the bungalow owners.
“I appeal to all the people in the city to check the zone, where a housing project is located, the layout, approval, and do due diligence before going for any purchase,” he said.
One of the bungalow owners said he and others bought the plots from M/s Jare World and M/s V Square in 2018. “We got the plots transferred in our names by completing the registration process of the government,” he said.
The bungalow owner claimed that although there was no permission, some PCMC officials asked them to go ahead with the construction.
“I spent more than Rs 1 crore to construct my bungalow, and I’m paying an EMI of Rs 68,000 even today. Had the PCMC taken action against the first bungalow after its construction, today’s situation would not have arisen,” he added.
