Pahalgam massacre Rahul meets Shubham Dwivedi's family demands special Parliament session to ensure victims gets justice

     Kanpur (UP), Apr 30 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited the family members of Shubham Dwivedi, who was among the 26 people killed in the Pahalgam terror attack, and said the opposition is demanding a special session of Parliament to ensure the victims get justice.
     Stressing that strict and concrete action should be taken against the terrorists, he said the united opposition has given full support to the government.
     The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha reached here from Amethi and spent around 20 minutes with the Dwivedi residence. Gandhi interacted with Shubham’s family members including his wife Ashanya and father Sanjay Dwivedi who said they wanted the status of martyr for Shubham.
     The Congress leader said that he had written a letter to the prime minister for a special session in the parliament to raise issues related to the Pahalgam attack and that he would write to him again on their demand.
     Consoling the family, Gandhi said that he had to bear such pain in life twice, first when his grandmother was killed and then when his father was assassinated.
     As Ashanya broke down in tears, Gandhi embraced her, assuring the family that the Congress party, he and his sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, were there to support them during this difficult time.
     "Met the family members of Shubham Dwivedi who was martyred in the cowardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam today and consoled them," Gandhi said.
     "The entire nation stands with the bereaved families in this sad moment. Strict and concrete action should be taken against the terrorists and the victim families should get justice," the Congress leader said on X.
     "For this purpose, the united opposition has given full support to the government and has demanded a special session of Parliament," he said.
     Speaking to the family members, Gandhi said there had been a security lapse somewhere, and that had his government been in power, a decision would have been taken by now.
     Ashanya, who recounted the events of April 22, told Gandhi that around 2:25 pm they were having lunch when a terrorist in normal clothes arrived there and asked them about their religion (if we were Hindus or Muslims).
     She thought the men were playing a prank but when they replied they were Hindus, the terrorist opened fire.
     "A shot was fired and everything was over," she said.
     The terrorists were asking people their name and religion and eliminating them, she told Gandhi.
     Ashanya said that there were security personnel everywhere in Kashmir except the meadow where terrorists shot dead 26 people mostly tourists on April 22.
     Gandhi asked Ashanya how the victims who sustained injuries were taken to safer places. She replied that she was taken down the meadow by her sister.
     Gandhi asked her if she had seen the entire episode. Ashanya said that she had spent 15 to 20 minutes there and witnessed the terror attack.
     She said she begged the terrorists to shoot her too but they refused, saying they were letting her live so that she could go and tell the government what they did.
     Shubham Dwivedi, a businessman from Kanpur, got married only on February 12. On April 22, the Dwivedi household was devastated as news came in that the 31-year-old was gunned down by terrorists right in front of his wife in Pahalgam.
     He had gone to Kashmir on a week-long vacation on April 16 with his wife and nine other family members.
     The bereaved father, Sanjay Dwivedi, told reporters that he has demanded that the Shubham should be given the "status of martyr".
     "You (Rahul) do something for us because you are a big leader of the country," he said.
     Gandhi assured them that he had written a letter to the prime minister for a special session in the parliament and added that he would raise the issue and would also write to the PM on it.
     Later, Rahul Gandhi dialled Priyanka on his mobile and she also talked to Shubham's family members including Ashanya and Sanjay.
     Priyanka too assured them that she would mount pressure on the government to ensure the status of martyr to Shubham.
     Earlier, Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding a special session of Parliament in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack.
     Twenty-six people, mostly tourists, were killed and several injured when terrorists opened fire at a meadow near the popular tourist town of Pahalgam in south Kashmir's Anantnag district on April 22.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)