Pahalgam attack: Indian families cope with unending grief

One year after a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, the families of the victims are still learning how to live with their losses. In the room she once shared with her husband, Aishanya Dwivedi points to a mirror on the wall. "I once asked him why there was no mirror there," she said. "The next day, he got one." Aishanya's husband, Shubham Dwivedi, was among 26 people killed on 22 April 2025, when militants opened fire on tourists near the town of Pahalgam - one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in Kashmir in decades. The region is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan but administered in parts by each, and has been the cause of wars between them. Delhi blamed Pakistan for the attack in Pahalgam, alleging the killings were carried out by a group based in the country - a charge Islamabad denied. Two weeks later, India launched air strikes at what it said were bases used by militant groups. What followed were four days of intense shelling and aerial attacks between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, until a surprise ceasefire was announced. In India, outrage spread also over the nature of the Pahalgam attack, which targeted mostly Hindu men. Several of t