Gunfire occurred at Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22, in a ghastly terror attack by The Resistance Force (TRF), a subsidiary of Lashkar-e-Taiba. One of the victims was Syed Adil Hussain Shah, an operator of pony rides who proved to be unusually brave.
Where others ran for cover, Shah showed great courage to charge towards one of the gunman, struggling to grab the rifle from his hands. Tragically, he was killed while doing this act of rebellion. Shah’s show of bravery since then is emblematic of rebellion in the middle of the carnage when a total of 28 to possibly more were killed, majority being tourists.
Attack survivors described how the assailants identified their victims by requesting them to state their religion, asking them to recite the Kalma, and even looking for circumcision scars. This attack followed similar communal violence in the area before.
Shah, aged 34, was the only local victim of the attack and has a grieving family left behind. His father, Syed Haider Shah, also had their share of sorrow, “My son left for Pahalgam yesterday to work, and at about 3 pm, we received news of the attack. We tried calling him, but his phone was turned off. Later, at 4.40 pm, his phone was switched on, but nobody picked up. We hurried to the police station, and that’s when we heard he had been wounded in the attack. Whosoever is held accountable will have to answer for it.”
Shah had two children and was the sole breadwinner of his family. The gruesome attack, attributed to The Resistance Front, has reignited concerns of escalating violence in the Valley but also brought attention to Shah’s fearless last moments.
