Amarnath Yatra Tragedy: The Tale of Seven Yatris

Seven pilgrims fell to bullets on the tragic night. Seven people who did not live to tell their tale.

Family members of a slain Amarnath Yatra pilgrim in Dahanu, Maharashtra. 

(Photo: PTI)

Seven lives were lost as terrorists attacked a bus carrying Amarnath pilgrims on Monday, in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district.

A mother who was reluctant to go on the yatra, another who forced her son to send her to Amarnath, a cook with the pilgrimage tour operator, and a family that revisited the tragic history.

Seven pilgrims of the 50-odd people fell to bullets on the tragic night. Seven people who did not live to tell their tales.

Also Read: Amarnath Yatra Attack: What We Know and The Unanswered Questions

The Last Sweater

A vegetable vendor in Maharashtra's Dahanu, Usha Sonkar's Amarnath yatra was a last-minute plan. Usha's husband Mohan booked her bus ticket just one day before the scheduled departure and urged her to go on the yatra.

Although Sonkars are known to be religious, Usha was reportedly not keen on undertaking the yatra.

Why was she killed? She only went for a pilgrimage. Who will look after our father now?

Seema, Usha’s daughter to <i><a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/india/amarnath-yatra-attack-families-of-victims-gujarat-maharashtra-jammu-and-kashmir-even-at-the-bus-stop-i-told-her-not-to-go-4746464/">The Indian Express</a></i>

Usha last spoke to her daughter Pinky to inform her that she had bought her a sweater during her trip.

Security personnel keeping a vigil as pilgrims head towards the Amarnath cave shrine, days after militant attack on pilgrims in Anantnag.(Photo: PTI)

Also Read: Alert or Not: Could Amarnath Terror Attack Have Been Prevented?

‘Did Not Want Mother to Leave’

For 2017, Nirmaladevi had zeroed in on Amarnath yatra. As someone who loved travelling, she made it a point to go on a pilgrimage every year.

But Nirmaladevi’s yatra this year turned out to be a nightmare for her family, as they sat through Monday night hoping that she survived the attack. 

Her son Pradip, a taxi driver in Dahanu, saved Rs 16,000 to send his mother on the yatra.

Even when I left my mother at the bus stop, I urged her to stay. I did not want her to leave because there is so much tension in Kashmir.

Pradip Thakur to <i><a href="http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/amarnath-yatra-i-have-lost-everything-says-victims-husband-1723223?fb">NDTV</a></i>

When History Repeated Itself

For Champa Prajapati's family residing in Gujarat's Navsari district, it was history repeating itself on Monday night.

In 1996, Champa's grandfather was shot dead by terrorists who attacked the Amarnath Yatra. With her father's dead body, Champa's mother was locked in an army jeep for the next four days, reported Times of India.

On returning home, her mother died of cardiac arrest.

After a four-year tussle, Raman Prajapati, Champa’s husband agreed to let her go on the yatra. Champa reportedly packed her bags along with nine other family members and left to Amarnath.

I was refusing to send her... But this year, she insisted and paid the tour fee of Rs 12,000 from her savings and went.

Raman Prajapati, Husband, to <i><a href="http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&amp;articlexml=Terror-tragedy-revisits-family-20-years-later-12072017014037">Times of India</a></i>

Also Read: What We Know About Ismail, the Man Behind Amarnath Terror Attack

The path taken to reach Amarnath temple. Image used for representation.(Photo: Muneeb-Ul-Islam)

No Stranger to Amarnath

Unlike some other pilgrims, Laxiben was no stranger to Amarnath. A cook for the travel operator, she had been on the Amarnath yatra trail 15 times earlier. Little did her family expect her 16th visit to be her last.

She lives in a two-room house in Valsad, with her two sons and their family.

Her grandson was the last person to speak to her from the family. He called her on his birthday to get her blessings when Laxmiben informed him that she was on a yatra to Amarnath and not Vaishnao Devi, reported The Indian Express.

One of the Amarnath pilgrims, injured in the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, after being brought to the Surat airport.(Photo: PTI)

‘Prayed That My Parents Were Safe’

When Santosh Patel saw on television the news of Amarnath Yatris bus being attacked, he did not sleep a wink and stayed awake the entire night praying that his parents were safe.

While his mother Hansuati survived, his father Ratilal Patel lost his life to the bullets.

Ratilal, a building contractor from Valsad is survived by his daughter, son and wife.

Jammu Kashmir CM Mehbooba Mufti paying tributes to the Amarnath Yatris.(Photo: PTI)

The Toy Train That Never Made It Home

Neil Patel, the four-year-old grandson of Surekha had demanded that she bring home a toy car when she returned from the yatra. Neil spoke to his grandmother over phone just minutes before the Amarnath yatra bus was attacked by the terrorists.

Just last year, Surekha had gone on a pilgrimage to Kashmir and Kanyakumari. She shelled out Rs 11,000 for the 21-day bus yatra to Amarnath, along with her friends.

While her friends survived, Surekha Patel did not.

Also Read: ‘Don’t Compare Deaths’: Voices From Amarnath #NotInMyName Vigil

(With inputs from The Indian Express, Hindustan Times and NDTV)

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