Pahalgam victims’ kin say Op Sindoor ‘correct response’. Kill them like insects, says Narwal’s father

Rajesh Narwal, father of Navy officer Lt. Vinay Narwal killed in Pahalgam, says he's proud of security forces. Victims' families, however, say they also want terrorists who did this dead.

Lieutenant Vinay Narwal’s wife Himanshi mourns his death | Photo: ANI

New Delhi: “We were expecting this and we understand these things take time. Operation Sindoor is the correct answer to terrorism. We hit them where it hurts,” said Rajesh Narwal, father of 26-year-old Navy officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal who was among the 26 tourists shot dead by terrorists in Kashmir’s Pahalgam on 22 April.

Speaking to ThePrint Wednesday from Karnal in Haryana, Vinay’s father, who is an excise department official in Panipat, said that terrorism is like cancer and has to be dealt with how “insects” are dealt with.

“We have to spray and kill them like farmers do to save their crops. If we don’t kill these weeds, they will continue to harm us. Else, there will never be peace in India and in the world. We appreciate this first step taken by the Indian government and are proud of the security forces,” he said.

Operation Sindoor was launched in the early hours of Wednesday, with the Indian armed forces launching missile attacks on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), including sites linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, in retaliation to the Pahalgam massacre.

Narwal and his wife Himanshi were on their honeymoon in Kashmir’s Pahalgam just a week after getting married when the terrorist attack took place. A photograph of Himanshi sitting motionless beside her husband’s body had gone viral across social media, capturing a moment of unspeakable grief.

‘This is the first step’

The other deceased in the Pahalgam attack included a local, a Nepal national and residents from various states of India.

Speaking to ThePrint, Ruku Buker, uncle of 28-year-old Tage Halyang, a Corporal in the Indian Air Force, who too fell to the terrorists’ bullets, said: “This is the first step to avenge the Pahalgam attacks but we want this to continue. The chiefs of the JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammad) and LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) must be killed, else the terrorism will continue.”

Prashant Singh, a close friend of another victim, Shubham Dwivedi, had a similar reaction.

“We are waiting to know the exact figures of how many terrorists were killed. It is time the Indian government started reacting to the cold-blooded killings. But we want more. We want the terrorists who did this to be killed. The entire family is hoping for this,” he said.

Shubham, a cement trader from Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur, got married in February this year.

Dinesh Udhwani, uncle of victim Neeraj Udhwani told ThePrint that “whatever India has done is very good. They should know we aren’t going to sit still. This must continue”.

Neeraj, who had been working in Dubai for the past two years, had come to India for a friend’s wedding in Shimla and then visited Kashmir.

Among the Pahalgam victims was a local ponywalla, Syed Adil Hussain Shah, who was shot dead by the terrorists after he confronted them while trying to help a woman during the attack.

“They killed innocents. We appreciate this retaliation by the Indian security forces. Ghus ke maara unhe (entered and killed them). This is a good response to Pakistan and their inbred terrorists,” said Naushad, brother of Shah.

Speaking to local media outside their home, Narwal’s parents expressed solidarity with the Modi government. “I trusted that the government is doing its job. And I’ve been proven right,” Rajesh said. Vinay’s mother, a homemaker, too, said the entire family is with “Modi saab”.

“The family has to live with the pain of losing their son,” Rajesh added, explaining that “we see revenge from a different perspective”. “For the family, it’s just this: my government has given an answer.”

As questions were fired at him, a local mediaperson asked Rajesh whether his son was at peace now. He paused before replying. “All of you are intelligent people. This is not how a soul rests. Pray for our sons,” he said. “Pray for them in temples, in gurdwaras, whatever your religion is.”

Days earlier, Himanshi faced vicious trolling for saying that she doesn’t want blameless Kashmiris and Muslims to pay the price of his death.

With inputs from Antara Baruah

(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)