Missed death by whisker: Bengal families still in terror trauma

Kolkata: Monirul Islam and his wife Hamida Begum from Salt Lake had got late on Tuesday morning before setting off for their drive to Baisaran Valley, apparently because she took some time to get ready. Monirul was initially annoyed with his wife but later, they thanked their luck and this very delay for escaping the terror attack. Had they been on time, the couple would have been at the meadow when the terrorists shot 25 tourists and a local pony operator.

"My wife took time to get ready on Tuesday morning, and hence, our schedule was pushed back. We visited Aru Valley, Chandanwari and Betaab Valley and were a short distance from Baisaran Valley, when we heard gunshots. We stopped in our tracks. There was a strange calm in the air. Then we heard screams and saw some people running downhill. We, too, ran for cover," recounted Islam, a retired state govt employee.

Though armed, uniformed men were stationed at Gulmarg and Sonmarg every 50m even in the snow, Islam said, he was struck by the absence of security in Pahalgam. There was not a single policeman or CRPF personnel in crowded tourist spots in Pahalgam. "My wife had even remarked that it was possibly because Pahalgam was the safest place in Kashmir. All that changed with the attack," he said. The couple returned to their hotel, where they remained holed up the rest of the day as a curfew was imposed. They returned to Srinagar on Wednesday and will take a flight back home on Thursday.

School teacher Nabaneeta Bhattacharya Bagchi and her CA husband Santanu Bagchi were on a trip in Kashmir with Nabaneeta's colleague Arpita Bhattacharya and her husband, Satyabrata Bhattacharya, a senior official at an MNC. The residents of Nabapalli's Gupta Colony in Barasat enjoyed the beauty of Baisaran Valley with its pine forests and quaint cottages and were on their way back to their hotel in Pahalgam when the terrorists struck. "Around 1 pm, we were having bhelpuri at a stall in Baisaran. Everything seemed so peaceful. We left and returned to Pahalgam market, 6km away, on horseback, when a driver told us about the attack," said Nabaneeta. "Everything changed in a minute. We were relieved we were not at the spot but fear and anxiety gripped us." The next 10km journey back to their hotel was tense. "The roads were choked with tourists trying to return. Police and Army convoys and ambulances rushed by," she recounted.

The couples stayed in their hotels the rest of the time. Residents and hotel staff staged a candlelight march, chanting, "We want tourists, not terrorism."

Calls poured in from Barasat, as families and friends urged them to return home.

A businessman from Bolpur, Sanjib Kumar Ghosh (40), had reached Pahalgam on Tuesday morning and was about to leave for Baisaran Valley in the afternoon, when the news broke. "We were so relieved we had not reached the place," said Ghosh, who is travelling with his wife Somashri and two sons, five and 10 years old. Ghosh, who runs a lottery agency, recently sold three lottery tickets, each fetching Rs 1 crore. While some call Ghosh lucky, he said Lady Luck really smiled on him on Tuesday. "It was a close shave. We spent a sleepless night, glued to the news on our mobiles," said Somashri.