PAHALGAM: A buzzing hill station turned into a ghost town overnight as forlorn business owners and their staff huddled in silence outside shuttered shops on Wednesday, bracing for worse.
Umar Majid stood in front of his Dana Rasoli restaurant at Yanner rafting point, the entry point to Pahalgam, and spoke of how Tuesday’s carnage may have changed everything for the worse.
“We are devastated by what happened,” said Umar, an arts graduate who opened his restaurant last year.
“I was used to serving hundreds of customers every day. Business was so hectic that I would often miss lunch,” he said.
Tuesday saw a rush of a different kind. Terrified faces filled Umar’s restaurant and other eateries nearby as soon as news arrived of the terrorist attack in Baisaran meadow. “We were as shocked as they were. We tried to console them and served free food,” he recalled.
By evening, as the scale of the tragedy became clear, hotels in Pahalgam had almost emptied out.
The hill station had witnessed a construction boom in recent years, with rows of hotels and inns coming up in the vicinity of the Lidder river.
A police officer said around 200 private vehicles ferried tourists out of Pahalgam early Wednesday, with most heading towards Jammu through Mughal Road, which connects Shopian district of the valley with Poonch. The Srinagar-Jammu highway was temporarily closed after landslides over the weekend.
A group of 15 friends braved the gloom to stay put in their resort along the Lidder. “While we mourn the deaths in the terrorist attack, we also feel sorry for the Kashmiri people,” said Sandana Silvam (42), an engineer based in the UAE.
“We make a trip together every year, and we chose Kashmir this time. Our arrival here coincided with the terrorist attack. So many Kashmiri people came forward to assure us of protection after hearing of what happened,” Silvam said.
His friend Tilak, a lawyer, said the group intended to spend a week in the valley.
Local MLA Altaf Kaloo said he received calls from many panic-stricken tourists, most of whom decided to sit in their hotel lobbies till they were assured of safety.
Umar Majid stood in front of his Dana Rasoli restaurant at Yanner rafting point, the entry point to Pahalgam, and spoke of how Tuesday’s carnage may have changed everything for the worse.
“We are devastated by what happened,” said Umar, an arts graduate who opened his restaurant last year.
“I was used to serving hundreds of customers every day. Business was so hectic that I would often miss lunch,” he said.
Tuesday saw a rush of a different kind. Terrified faces filled Umar’s restaurant and other eateries nearby as soon as news arrived of the terrorist attack in Baisaran meadow. “We were as shocked as they were. We tried to console them and served free food,” he recalled.
By evening, as the scale of the tragedy became clear, hotels in Pahalgam had almost emptied out.
The hill station had witnessed a construction boom in recent years, with rows of hotels and inns coming up in the vicinity of the Lidder river.
A police officer said around 200 private vehicles ferried tourists out of Pahalgam early Wednesday, with most heading towards Jammu through Mughal Road, which connects Shopian district of the valley with Poonch. The Srinagar-Jammu highway was temporarily closed after landslides over the weekend.
A group of 15 friends braved the gloom to stay put in their resort along the Lidder. “While we mourn the deaths in the terrorist attack, we also feel sorry for the Kashmiri people,” said Sandana Silvam (42), an engineer based in the UAE.
“We make a trip together every year, and we chose Kashmir this time. Our arrival here coincided with the terrorist attack. So many Kashmiri people came forward to assure us of protection after hearing of what happened,” Silvam said.
His friend Tilak, a lawyer, said the group intended to spend a week in the valley.
Local MLA Altaf Kaloo said he received calls from many panic-stricken tourists, most of whom decided to sit in their hotel lobbies till they were assured of safety.
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