The courage shown by Associate Professor Debashish Bhattacharya of Assam University Silchar’s Bengali Department during the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir is spine-chilling. This 58-year-old professor belongs to a Brahmin family but in this difficult time, he saved his and his family’s life with his knowledge of Islamic texts. When a terrorist pointed a gun at his temple and asked him to recite the first Kalma, he started reciting Kalma loudly out of fear. After some time, he saw that the terrorist retreated and then he, along with his family, crossed the fence at the back and fled towards the forest.
He had gone to Pahalgam for a holiday with his family
Debasish Bhattacharya had gone to Kashmir on 21 April with his wife Madhumita Bhattacharya and son Drohdeep. Madhumita is a famous dancer and son Drohdeep is a doctor in Silchar Medical College. When the attack started, Madhumita immediately took off her Shankha-Pola (Hindu wedding bangles) and wiped off the sindoor so that no one would mistake them for Hindus. This information was given by Debashish’s sister Indrani Das. She told that during all this the family was in a state of extreme fear but with their wisdom they managed themselves and each other.
The horrific scene of the terrorist attack
Debashish told that it is difficult to describe in words how brutally the attack happened. A person standing near him became a victim of the terrorists’ bullet and his blood and flesh came on his jacket. The terrorists asked everyone to recite Kalma and when they moved towards them, they immediately started reciting Kalma in a loud voice. The terrorist asked them to recite it loudly again and again in Hindi and Urdu. His voice trembles while remembering that horrific moment. If he had failed to recite Kalma at that time, perhaps he would have also ended up there.
Saved life by taking the jungle route
The attack started so suddenly that no one could understand anything. Till a minute before, the whole family was lost in the beauty of the valleys of Baisaran and the next moment the sound of bullets started echoing. A photographer first said that it was probably a blank bullet fired by the forest department to drive away monkeys. But when son Drohdeep saw that two tourists had been shot about 20 meters away, the family panicked. They immediately ran and hid in the bushes. After hiding for some time behind a tree, they covered a difficult path of about 2.5 kilometers through the jungle. When they got mobile signal, with the help of a local woman, they called the horseman whom they had booked earlier. He brought them back to the hotel. Debashish told that he and his son had seen at least five terrorists.
