SRINAGAR: What should have been a serene vacation in the breathtaking valleys of Pahalgam turned into a living nightmare for Arvind Agarwal, a youth member of the BJP from Chhattisgarh, and his family — but they owe their lives to one man’s courage: their guide, Nazakat Ahmad Shah.
As bullets shattered the calm of a picturesque morning, Nazakat’s bravery stood tall amid chaos. Recounting the horrifying ordeal, Agarwal said he had been taking photos with his wife Pooja and their four-year-old daughter just moments before hell broke loose. His wife and child had wandered a little ahead with Nazakat and another couple with their young son, when gunshots suddenly rang out near the zipline, a mere 20 meters away.
“It was calm and peaceful… then everything changed in seconds,” said Agarwal. While other tourists dragged him away to safety, he could only watch helplessly, not knowing what had become of his wife Pooja and a 4 year old daughter.
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But Nazakat didn’t flinch. As bullets flew, he instinctively told everyone around him to drop to the ground. Wrapping his arms around the two children — Agarwal’s daughter and his friend’s son — he shielded them with his own body and then quickly led them through a break in the fence to escape. “I saw a gap, I pushed the kids toward it and rushed them out,” Nazakat told The New Indian, his voice heavy with emotion.
And he didn’t stop there. After ensuring the children were safe, he ran back — not knowing what lay ahead — to search for Agarwal’s wife, who had fled in another direction. He found her nearly a mile and a half away, visibly shaken, and brought her back in his car. With quiet resolve, he drove the entire family to Srinagar, away from the bloodshed.
But for Nazakat, the tragedy struck far deeper.
As he ensured someone else’s family was safe, his own world crumbled. A phone call shattered him — his cousin, Adil Shah, a local horseman and the sole Kashmiri casualty, had died in the attack. Adil had bravely tried to snatch a weapon from one of the attackers in a desperate attempt to protect the tourists he was guiding.
“I don’t know what would have happened if Nazakat hadn’t been there,” Agarwal said, holding back tears. “My wife’s clothes were torn as she ran for her life. But the locals — in the middle of this horror — gave her clothes to wear. That kindness… it saved us.”
Nazakat, too, couldn’t hide his anguish. “Tourism is everything for us. It feeds our children, it puts books in their hands. This terror — it didn’t just kill people — it struck at our very livelihood, our soul,” he said, while joining the protests that have gripped the region. Shops and businesses have shuttered. Locals are in mourning.
“We have always welcomed tourists like family,” Nazakat said. “And we always will. But the security forces must be more alert. We can’t afford another heartbreak.”
In the face of hatred, it was humanity that stood tall — in the selfless act of a guide who became a protector, in the sacrifice of a horseman who fought back, and in the warmth of villagers who offered help even amidst fear.
They are the true face of Kashmir.
