A daughter recollects traumatic gunning down of her father

The body of N. Ramachandran, 65, a native of Edappally in Ernakulam district of Kerala, who was killed in the terrorist attack at a tourist spot at Pahalgam in South Kashmir, kept for public seeing
| Photo Credit: Thulasi Kakkat

Arathy Sarath spotted a strange, traumatic numbness as she recalled how she felt the coldness of a gun, which a militant put to her head moments after shooting her father dead point blank right before her eyes at Baisaran Valley, Pahalgam, in South Kashmir on Tuesday (April 22, 2025) afternoon.

“I don’t know whether he intended to shoot me or did it merely to scare me. He was not in military uniform. He probably spared me after hearing the screaming of my twin boys,” Ms. Sarath, daughter of N. Ramachandran, 65, a native of Edappally who was among those gunned down in the terrorist attack, told the media in Kochi on Thursday (April 24, 2025).

She was screaming out, holding on to her father’s lifeless body, when it happened. Then she heard her children crying out, ‘Amma let’s move. “That probably awakened the mother in me. After all, there was nothing I could do to save my father. He was already dead.”

Ms. Sarath, her children and Ramachandran had just entered the large open valley after taking a ticket around 2.10 p.m. Hardly 10 minutes later, she heard a loud noise. “It sounded more like a firecracker, and I wondered who was bursting crackers on this hilltop. Then I heard another noise, and at a distance I could see a man firing a gun. I told my father that it was a terror attack and cried out to lie low,” Ms. Sarath said.

It was while they were fleeing the fenced area of the valley along with many others that a militant approached them. He commanded them to lie on the ground.

Later, after being spared by the militant, she joined others fleeing down the hilltop along the horse route to the town. As his mobile regained signal, she rang her local cab driver, Musafir, who drove them away to safety.

Ms. Sarath’s next challenge was not to let her mother know about the death of her husband, who she said was only injured and was being treated. “In the hotel room where we were put up, I ensured the cable television network remained disconnected. Even when I spoke to the cops, I asked them that my mother should not know about the tragedy,” she said. Later, even at the lounge of the Srinagar airport while flying back to Kochi, Ms. Sarath ensured that her mother was not in the midst among those mourning their dear ones.

What Ms. Sarath, however, recollected with a lot of gratitude was the support of the local Kashmiris. “Musafir and another local driver Sameer were with me all through, including when I stood outside the morgue till 3 a.m. They treated me like a younger sister. Kashmir has now given me two brothers. When I bid them farewell at the airport, I told them as much,” she says,

“Let Allah keep you safe,” was her parting words to them.