India's home minister and region's chief minister pay tribute to the deceased
A strike was called in Indian-administered Kashmir on Wednesday by travel, tourism and trade organizations and an organization representing private schools over the killing of 25 tourists and a local resident at a tourist spot the previous day.
Kashmir's grand Mufti, Mufti Nasir, has supported the call, which saw many spots frequented by tourists wear a deserted look, especially the iconic Lal Chowk, where taking photos against the backdrop of a clock tower is the most-witnessed tourism activity in the Kashmir Valley.
An unspecified number of gunmen killed the tourists, including an Italian and an Israeli, in Pahalgam, one of the most-visited tourist spots in the valley on Tuesday.
A local resident was also killed and 12 other people injured in the attack, which is probably the first attack on tourists in the past two decades. It was also the biggest militant attack since the killing of nearly 40 paramilitary soldiers in a suicide car bombing in 2018 in Kashmir.
Tens of thousands of Indian tourists have been visiting the scenic valley, especially after 2019 when the Indian government scrapped its autonomous status.
Besides the strike, thousands of Kashmiris expressed their grief and anger over the killings on social media. The disputed region's top religious and pro-freedom leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq quoted the Quran – killing of one innocent is the murder of entire humanity – against the killing.
India's home minister, Amit Shah, flew to Kashmir immediately after the attack and held a meeting with the region's chief minister, Lieutenant governor and top police and army officials and also met those injured in the attack.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short his Saudi Arabia visit. Both have said that those behind the attack will not be spared.
Shah, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha paid tributes to the deceased whose bodies were brought to the police control room in the capital Srinagar.
Meanwhile, two suspected militants were killed during an ongoing operation in the northern district of Baramulla on Wednesday, an Indian army statement on X said. The statement said an "infiltration bid was foiled by the security forces."
India and Pakistan each administer parts of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety.
