Pahalgam terror attack: ‘Kashmiri driver, ponywallah acted like guardians’

KOLKATA: The image of her husband, Samir Guha (56), being gunned down in front of her eyes at Baisaran Valley has been haunting his wife, Sabari. Their daughter, Subhangi (17), has hardly spoken ever since.
Yet, sitting beside the photo of her husband, who used to be a senior statistical official, during his shraddha ceremony at their Behala Sakherbazar home on Friday, Sabari did not forget to mention how their Kashmiri driver, Iqbal, and the pony operator, guided the two to safety after the shooting.

"But for them we could not have survived," Sabari told a neighbour, Swapan Kumar Das.
The two Kashmiris stayed put with the mother-daughter duo. "It was Iqbal, who like a doting guardian, offered to take Sabari and Subhangi to his home. It was from Iqbal's phone that we received the call about the tragedy that had struck. Though my sister did speak to us, all she could manage to say was ‘everything was finished'. It was Iqbal who filled in with the necessary details as we tried to find out more from Subhangi," Samir's brother-in-law Subrata Ghosh had said earlier.
The neighbour, Das, said Sabari had received an injury in her legs in Pahalgam, before the attack took place.
"She told me that it was the pony operator who ensured she and her daughter reached back to safety, guiding them from Baisaran Valley, even as Iqbal volunteered to stay with them, trying their best to soothe them down," said Das.
Subhangi had earlier said she and her parents were out on a walk on the meadow on Tuesday afternoon, when they suddenly heard gunshots in the distance. Initially, they were told the shots were to scare off monkeys.
"Samir's wife said that suddenly, a few people, all wearing masks and in Army-like fatigues, appeared around them and surrounded them. Each of them carried a gun," said Das. "Sabari said the men ordered everyone to lie down on the ground. Scared, everyone complied. Soon after, the terrorists selectively shot down her husband and a few others. The terrorists had insisted on sparing none of the men."