NEW DELHI: As the first responder to reach Navy officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal after terrorists opened fire on tourists in Pahalgam on Tuesday, ATV operator, Irshad Ahmad, made a split-second decision.
He ferried Vinay Narwal and his wife Himanshi to an ambulance, knowing the officer had died, but choose to shield the young bride from the truth.
“I checked his pulse and realised he was dead. But I told his wife he was alive… I didn’t want her to panic,” Irshad said, recalling the rescue that turned into a moment of unbearable sorrow.
The 26-year-old naval officer from Karnal had married Himanshi, a Gurgaon-based professor, just six days before. The couple was on their honeymoon in Kashmir after a visa delay stalled their plans for a European trip. They were eating bhel puri on a lush meadow when gunmen struck.
Narwal was shot in the chest, neck and arm. Himanshi, dazed and slumped beside his body, became the haunting face of the terror attack that left one tourist dead and several others injured.
Also See: Pahalgam Terror Attack
‘We cried four times that day’
Irshad, who leads the team of ATV operators in the area, said they had initially returned home after hearing that the situation had stabilised. “Then we got a call — rescue was needed. Since Baisaran is a non-motorable area, we took all our ATVs up to the valley,” he said.
“For two days now, we’ve been helping police and the Army. I was the one who brought the Navy officer and his wife down. His pulse was gone, but his wife kept asking, ‘He’s okay, right?’ I couldn’t tell her the truth. Later, when I saw the full scene, I cried not once, but four times. We don’t want such incidents ever to happen again in our Kashmir.”
‘From wedding sweets to funeral pyre’
Narwal, an engineering graduate from Sonipat, had long aspired to serve in the armed forces and was posted at the Southern Naval Command in Kochi. He took leave on March 28 for his wedding, which was held in Mussoorie on April 16. A grand reception followed in Karnal on April 19.
On the day of the attack—April 21—his family and neighbours were still distributing wedding sweets when news of his death surfaced. A photo of Himanshi beside her husband’s body quickly went viral. “We were planning a Mata ka Jagran in May,” said a neighbour. “Now we are preparing for his funeral.”
Narwal’s body, wrapped in the Tricolour, was flown to Delhi and then taken to Karnal by road. His family, including his parents and sister, rushed to Srinagar to bring him back. “We were planning a celebration on his return,” said a relative. “Now, we’ve planned his cremation.”
‘He would’ve taken down three men barehanded’
Narwal’s grandfather, Hawa Singh, a retired Haryana Police officer, said: “Had the terrorists not had guns, Vinay would’ve taken on at least three of them.” His uncle, Surjeet Narwal, appealed to the PM: “Find the attackers. Kill them the way they killed our people.”
The Indian Navy paid tribute to the young officer, calling his death a tragic loss. His colleagues remembered him as a soft-spoken and committed officer. “He was always cheerful, proud to wear the uniform,” said a senior Navy official.
