Pakistan expresses concern at tourists' killing in India-occupied Kashmir
Pakistan
Pakistan is “saddened by the incident and expressed sympathy with the families of the deceased”
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Pakistan has expressed concern over an attack in the Pahalgam area of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) which claimed the lives of 26 people and injured 17 others.
Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said in a statement on Wednesday that Pakistan was “saddened by the incident and expressed sympathy with the families of the deceased.”
He said: “We extend our condolences to the near ones of the deceased and wish the injured a speedy recovery.”
The spokesperson added that “We are concerned at the loss of tourists’ lives in an attack in Anantnag district of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.”
Twenty-six people were killed and 17 were injured when suspected militants opened fire at tourists in India's Jammu and Kashmir territory, police said on Wednesday, the worst such attack in the country in nearly two decades.
The attack took place on Tuesday in the popular destination of Pahalgam in the scenic Muslim-majority territory, that has seen a resurgence in mass tourism as insurgent violence waned in recent years.
The attack occurred in an off-the-road meadow and the dead included 25 Indians and one Nepalese national, police said.
It was the worst attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai shootings in which more than 160 people were killed.
On Wednesday, over a dozen local organisations called for a shutdown in the federal territory to protest against the attack on tourists, whose rising numbers have helped the local economy.
Many schools also suspended classes for the day in protest.
Airlines were operating extra flights from Srinagar, the summer capital of the territory, as visitors were rushing out of the region, officials said.
