"Want to return home soon": tourists in Pahalgam hope for speedy return

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], April 23 (ANI): Following the terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which killed multiple people and injured many others, tourists are hoping to return soon to their homes.
One of the tourists from Jharkhand, while being on a bus, highlighted the fear he has of staying in the region following the attack.
"Our ticket was for tomorrow, but we are leaving today. We are scared, I am with family, I just want us to return home soon," the Jharkhand tourist said.
Another tourist from Delhi, Sameer Bhardwaj, told ANI that he had been travelling in Kashmir for the last three days and had plans to tour Pahalgam, but now he is going to leave the area and return to Delhi.
"We have been in Kashmir for the last three days. We had plans for Pahalgam, but since the situation here is not good, we are leaving for Delhi... What happened here is very wrong. Such a thing has happened in Pahalgam for the first time," the tourist said.
A tourist couple from Maharashtra's Nagpur recounted the harrowing experience of hearing gunshots and people trying to escape from the area.
"This incident happened when we had just left the place of the incident. We could hear the sound of firing for a long time. Everyone was trying to escape from the place. We never looked back as we just wanted to escape from there," the woman told ANI.
Abhijit Patil, Chairman of Raja Rani Travels, expressed hope, saying that the whole valley stood behind the tourists, while noting that the assessment of the impact on tourism would be clear after a few days.
"Firstly, this has been quite an unfortunate incident. Raja Rani Travels has been in operation for 72 years, and we have never witnessed such an attack on tourists. The immediate reaction I have seen is that the entire valley has stood untied with tourists. Hoteliers have also given assurance that one should not worry if any tourist is stranded. The impact of this attack, whether it is big or not, we will know in a few days," Patil told ANI.
Earlier today, Union Home Minister Amit Shah met the grieving families affected by the terror attack. Their faces etched with profound sorrow, pleading with the Home Minister, filled with grief, expressing the depth of their pain following the tragic loss of their loved ones in the attack.
Following the family visit, Shah also arrived at the Baisaran meadow, the site of the attack that claimed the lives of innocent tourists, sending shockwaves across the nation.
The attack, which unfolded on Tuesday in the picturesque Pahalgam area of Anantnag district, turned a place once known for its tranquillity into a site of mourning. The attack was one of the biggest terror attacks in the region after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
Political parties as well as traders' unions in the region today collectively called for a complete shutdown in the Kashmir valley in solidarity with the victims' families and condemnation of the attack. (ANI)