Pain and tears overwhelm Pahalgam victim kins as mortal remains reach homes for final goodbyes

Twenty-six tourists, mostly Hindus, were killed at Baisaran Valley in Pahalgam of South Kashmir in the peak tourism season sending a chilling message to the visitors who have been flocking in the union territory for trips over the last few years. Before killing them some were asked to recite the Islamic verses (kalma) and were asked to pull down their pants to check if they were circumcised or not.

In one of the heartbreaking moments, Navy officer Vinay Narwal's mortal remains were brought to the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi from Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday.

From there, the mortal remains were taken to his native village Haryana. His last rites were conducted with military honours. Vinay went to Kashmir with his wife Himanshi on honeymoon and they were married only six days ago.

Himanshi broke down bidding a farewell to Vinay's tricolour-draped coffin.

The mortal remains of Indian Air Force corporal Tage Hailyang, who was from Arunachal Pradesh, was also brought back to his place in Guwahati.

In Kolkata, Sohini Adhikari, wife of the slain 40-year-old Bitan Adhikari, returned to the city with his three-year-old son. Bitan, who was based in Florida for work as a TCS techie, went to Kashmir with family when he was shot dead mercilessly for being a Hindu.

His wife broke down before senior state BJP leaders like Suvendu Adhikari at the airport. The West Bengal Leader of Opposition took Bitan’s son into his arms and vowed revenge.

"I will take his full responsibility. Bitan was killed because he was a Hindu. We are Modi’s sons. We will do a Gaza to them as well," he said as Sohini broke down and narrated how her husband was killed for being a Hindu.

According to The New Indian Express, the mortal remains of Manish Ranjan, a section officer with the Intelligence Bureau (IB) in Hyderabad, reached Ranchi on Thursday morning. Ranjan, who was in Kashmir on a vacation with family, was killed by the terrorists. 

His body was then taken to Jhalda in West Bengal’s Purulia district, his native place, where his family awaited him for his final rites, the report said.

Shubham Dwivedi, 31, from Kanpur, was married only two months ago and he was shot dead in front of his wife.

Dwivedi had gone for a week-long vacation with his family to Kashmir. His mortal remains were brought back to Kanpur on Wednesday and was later cremated the same day.

The mortal remains of Manjunath Rao and Bharath Bhushan were brought to Bengaluru early Thursday.

The mortal remains of native of Andhra Pradesh, S Madhusudhan, were also brought to Tamil Nadu's Chennai. 

India's strong response to Pakistan

The Indian Government on Wednesday evening suspended the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan indefinitely as a part of some strict measures taken against Islamabad over the "cross-border linkages" that emerged during the investigation into the dastardly Pahalgam terror attack, which saw the death of 26 civilians including a foreign national.

The decisions were taken at the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The CCS is the country's highest decision-making body on national security.

Key decisions by Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS)

1. The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 will be held in abeyance with immediate effect until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.

2. The Integrated Check Post at the Attari-Wagah border will be closed with immediate effect. "Those who have crossed over with valid endorsements may return through that route before 01 May 2025," Misri said.

3. Pakistani nationals, henceforth, will not be permitted to travel to India under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) visas.Any SVES visas issued in the past to Pakistani nationals are deemed cancelled. Any Pakistani national currently in India under an SVES visa has 48 hours to leave India, he said.

4. The Defence/Military, Naval and Air Advisors in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi are declared Persona Non Grata. They have a week to leave India. India will also be withdrawing its own Defence/Navy/Air Advisors from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

These posts in the respective High Commissions are deemed annulled. Five support staff of the Service Advisors will also be withdrawn from both High Commissions.

5. The overall strength of the High Commissions will be brought down to 30 from the present 55 through further reductions, to be effected by 1 May 2025.

Misri also announced that, "The CCS reviewed the overall security situation and directed all forces to maintain high vigil. It resolved that the perpetrators of the attack will be brought to justice and their sponsors held to account. As with the recent extradition of Tahawwur Rana, India will be unrelenting in the pursuit of those who have committed acts of terror, or conspired to make them possible."

India will identify and punish every terrorist from the end of earth: Modi on Pahalgam attack

The terrorists and their backers will pay unimaginable costs for the attack on innocent tourists in Kashmir's Pahalgam, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.

Addressing a rally in Bihar's Madhubani, Modi said: "From the soil of Bihar I tell the whole world that India will identify them and punish every terrorist and their backers. We will pursue them to the end of the earth. India's spirit will never be broken by terrorism. Terrorism will not go unpunished."

"Every effort will be made to ensure justice is done," he said, adding that the entire country is grieving the merciless killings.

"Some of the victims speak Bengali, some Kannada, some Marathi, some Gujarati, some  Oriya or some from the land of Bihar. Some lost their brother, some son, some life partner. But the attack is not just on the innocent tourists, but on the soul of India," he said, adding that India stands together in the face of terrorism.

"From Kargil to Kanyakumari we have the same anger, some grief," he said, adding that the terrorists dared to attack the soul of India.

He said whoever orchestrated and conspired this attack will be punished beyond their imagination and it is now time that the few remaining centres of terrorism are dismantled.

"Anyone who believes in humanity is with us," the PM said, thanking the world leaders for their support in the time of crisis.