Assam Hindu prof recites ‘kalima' to escape Pahalgam massacre

Time of India

23-04-2025

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Silchar: Being familiar with Islamic verses saved the day in Pahalgam for Debasish Bhattacharya, an associate professor of Bengali in Silchar's Assam University.
With a gun held against his head by one of the terrorists, the 58-year-old Bengali Brahmin was asked to recite the first Kalima 'La ilaha ill Allah Muhammadur-Rasul Allah' (Nothing worshipped is worthy of worship except Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah) if he wanted to live.
"First, one of the gunmen shot dead a man standing next to me and was simultaneously asking people to recite the kalima. The victim's blood and flesh splattered onto my jacket," recalled a distraught Bhattacharya.
"As the gunman approached us, I started to recite the kalima and the gunman asked me in Hindi and Urdu, what I was chanting and asked me to recite loudly," said Bhattacharya, whose face was directed towards the ground, but he sensed that the barrel of the gun was pointed at the back of my head.
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"Overwhelmed by fear, I began to chant the first kalima loudly. After some time, I realized that the gunman had retreated, and we scrambled to a fence mere 10 meters behind us. We climbed over it and fled into the jungle," Bhattacharya, who is also articulate in Islamic studies, said.
Bhattacharya, his wife Madhumita Das Bhattacharya, a well-known danseuse and their son, Drohadeep, a medic at Silchar Medical College and Hospital, had travelled to Jammu and Kashmir for a vacation on April 21.
"A minute ago, we were enjoying the beauty of the scenic Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam when I suddenly heard the ominous sound of a gunshot nearby. I inquired with a local photographer standing close by, who suggested it might have been a blank shot fired by forest officials to scare away monkeys," Bhattacharya said.
But soon his son witnessed one of the two tourists standing merely 20 meters from the family being shot dead by a gunman.
The panic-stricken family fled and found refuge among the bushes, taking cover under a tree. There, they discovered about 15 to 20 individuals fervently reciting the kalima out of fear, recounted Bhattacharya.
The family later trekked for approximately two-and-half hours through the rugged terrain before they regained mobile signal. With the assistance of a local Kashmiri woman, they were able to contact the horseman they had hired who safely brought them back to their hotel.
"My son and I saw at least five terrorists poised to massacre people, and firing upon a group of tourists in that expansive meadow," Bhattacharya said. The family is currently staying at a hotel in Srinagar, safe and are likely to depart from Srinagar to Silchar on Saturday.
Indrani Saha Das, his sister in Silchar shared on Wednesday that the family is still grappling with the psychological aftermath of the ordeal. "We spoke to them after hearing the news. My sister-in-law (Madhumita) informed me over the phone that when the terrorists began their assault, she swiftly removed her shakha-pola (traditional Hindu bangles) and wiped away her sindur (vermilion) in a desperate attempt to prove they were not Hindus," Indrani, a schoolteacher, said.
Indrani also mentioned that Debasish, who is a native of Sashinagar, Bazaricherra in Sribhumi district, was remarkably articulate in Islamic scripture as well as Hinduism, since his student days. "Perhaps this eloquence helped him survive," she added.