"Not A Complete Closure": Pahalgam Victim's Father On Operation Mahadev

This is a closure, but not a complete closure, Rajesh Narwal, the father of Jammu and Kashmir terror attack victim naval officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal, told NDTV, a day after the Army eliminated three terrorists in an encounter near Srinagar, two of them involved in the Pahalgam attack.

Twenty-six people were killed when terrorists opened fire at a meadow near the popular tourist town of Pahalgam in south Kashmir's Anantnag district on April 22.

A picture of Himanshi Narwal sitting beside her dead husband became the defining image of the attack, which shook the nation.

"Sir, I cannot say this is a closure. You can say this is a closure, but it is not a complete closure. Because the terrorist attack that took place that day, where my son, Lieutenant Vinay Narwal, was martyred, it is not just the work of these three men," the father told NDTV.

The Army's elite para commandos on Monday gunned down the alleged mastermind of the Pahalgam terror attack along with two of his associates in an encounter in a forest area on the outskirts of Srinagar in Kashmir.

"There will be a chain behind them, a lead...So in that chain, the people who planned this, I will not quote anyone's name. Every person who is being investigated by the NIA, all of them are culprits in it. All of them deserve the same punishment. And we will get it," he said.  

"This is not the work of three": Rajesh Narwal, father of Lieutenant Vinay Narwal who was killed in Pahalgam speaks to NDTV on Operation Mahadev pic.twitter.com/bZRHZGaDJ1

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Asked about his thoughts on Operation Sindoor, India's counterstrike against terror attack in Pahalgam, Mr Narwal said: "I consider it a successful operation. And I want to thank the soldiers of my army, the soldiers of the paramilitary forces, the officers of the police, who have taken part in Operation Mahadev. They have been working with dedication day and night. I salute their bravery and courage."

Married just a few days before the Pahalgam attack, 26-year-old Navy officer Vinay Narwal, accompanied by his wife Himanshi, was on a honeymoon in Pahalgam town when terrorists shot him at point-blank range.

Recounting the young officer's childhood, the father said, "Since childhood he liked the army uniform, the army vehicles. He liked it since then...And he was very dedicated to his work. And he had a leadership quality since childhood."

"He was the leader of everyone. And ultimately, I would say that he was made for defense," his father said.