Islamic terrorists checked IDs, pulled down pants to verify religion, before executing 26 Hindu civilians
26 innocent Hindu men was killed in a deadliest Islamic terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22, 2025. The day will be recorded as one of the worst days in the history of India since the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A on August 5, 2019. Those killed included two Indian-origin foreign nationals. This is the worst attack in the Valley since Pulwama in 2019 which killed 40 Indian Army jawans. Eyewitnesses and survivors have revealed that the Pakistani terrorists targeted tourists based on their religion and identity.
On April 26, the Times of India (TOI) confirmed the horrifying truth that those killed were first verified to be Hindus.
“The trousers of around 20 victims of the dastardly Pahalgam attack – all males – were found unzipped or pulled down by the team of officials that carried out the first examination of the 26 lifeless, bullet-riddled bodies, in what is being seen as a confirmation that terrorists had established the faith of the tourists before killing them.”
According to Opindia website, Debasish Bhattacharyya, an Associate Professor at Assam University, who was among the fortunate few who survived the terrorist attack, revealed that he was spared by the terrorists because he was able to recite the Kalima.
Santosh Jagdale, a 54-year-old businessman from Pune, was murdered by the assailants when he could not recite the Kalima. Asavari Jagdale, his daughter told the media that her family were hiding inside a tent as cries for help and shots of gunfire rang through. They saw “people who wore clothes similar to those of local police” descending from a hill. The sound of the attackers got closer as they fired at a nearby tent.
Her father was pulled out of the tent by attackers and asked “to recite an Islamic verse (probably the Kalma). When he failed to do so, they pumped three bullets into him, one on the head, one behind the ear and another in the back,” the 26-year-old said Asavari Jagdale.
Next was her uncle and many other adding up to 26 innocent civilians losing their lives, doing no harm to others.
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC America), covering the news online narrated the story of Aishanya and Shubham Dwivedi from Karnal.
“As the couple paused for a snack in its lush Pahalgam meadow surrounded by snow-capped Himalayan peaks, a man approached them from behind. He didn’t look threatening at first, Aishanya told The Associated Press. She thought he might be a local guide.
She said the man looked at the couple with piercing eyes and asked one question: “Are you a Hindu or a Muslim?” If they were Muslim, he said, they should recite the Islamic declaration of faith.
The couple froze. Aishanya thought it was perhaps some local performance. “We are Hindus,” her husband said.
Without hesitation, the man pulled out a gun and shot him “point blank in the head,” Aishanya, 29, said, and sobbed. Her husband collapsed on her, soaking her in blood.
The man turned the gun on her, then changed his mind. She said the intent was clear: “He wanted to kill men and leave women behind to mourn, cry and narrate the dastardly ordeal.”
She heard the man, joined by other attackers, tell tourists: “Tell your government. Tell Modi what we did.”
A woman tourist, who survived the carnage, told police in a distress call that the gunmen approached her husband after spotting wedding bangles (choora) on her wrists, suspecting them to be Hindu. “He asked my husband’s name and religion. Then he shot him,” she said, sobbing.
Two foreigners and two locals were among the 26 people killed in the attack.
The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist organisation claimed responsibility for the terror attack. The TRF was reportedly set up by the Pakistani Army chief Asim Muneer who was the ISI chief when it was set up as a shadow group of the well-known terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday, calling the Pahalgam terror attack “an act of senseless violence which has shocked the world.”
Albanese also spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and offered his condolences on behalf of Australia following the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.
This afternoon I have spoken to my friend Prime Minister @narendramodi to offer my condolences on behalf of Australia following the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir.
The horrific loss of life of innocent civilians is an act of senseless violence which has shocked the world.…— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) April 23, 2025
“This afternoon I have spoken to my friend Prime Minister @narendramodi to offer my condolences on behalf of Australia following the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir. The horrific loss of life of innocent civilians is an act of senseless violence which has shocked the world. Those responsible must be held to account. Australia and India are great friends and we stand with India at this difficult time,” Albanese said a post on X.
The Ministry of External Affairs India confirmed the news of the PM calling Narendra Modi.
In a post on X it wrote:
“Prime Minister of Australia @AlboMP called Prime Minister @narendramodi and strongly condemned the dastardly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. He offered condolences on the loss of innocent lives and expressed solidarity with the people of India in this hour of grief. He extended all support in the fight against terrorism.”
Also read: Modi-Albo perfect chemistry: ‘Modi is the Boss’
The attack occurred in the picturesque Baisaran Valley, near Pahalgam—a region often dubbed the “mini-Switzerland of India” and accessible only by trek or horseback.
According to Al Jazeera, the Islamic terrorists expressed discontent that more than 85,000 “outsiders” had been settled in the region, spurring what it called a “demographic change”.
Sadly, the ABC Australia, maintaining its deliberate anti-Hindu stance it brazenly exhibited last year in its coverage of Ram Temple, in huge let down of the Australian Hindus, described the killings as “indiscriminate”.
Maybe it is time for Australian Hindus to lobby their local MPs to get the ABC to present the news “as it happens”. There should be penalties, including dismissal, if someone is found guilt of a deliberate breach of its code of conduct.