145;It roared like 50 trucks 038; then there was no village146;

Ten-Year-old Fareed was writing on his slate, brother Irshad was memorising tables, their sister Noor Jehan was helping with the homework.Th...

Ten-Year-old Fareed was writing on his slate, brother Irshad was memorising tables, their sister Noor Jehan was helping with the homework.

The family had just had their lunch, mother Hajira was still in the kitchen and father Bashir Ahmad was walking towards the cowshed.

Then, there was a loud roar. The house was gone, the family too. The entire village of Waltengo Nar, nestling in the Pir Panjal foothills, had been buried by the massive wall of snow that had come crashing down.

8216;8216;There was a loud crash. It was like 40-50 trucks. I looked towards the mountain. It was streaming down at us,8217;8217; said Bashir Ahmad, who lost 22 members of his extended family in the avalanche, including 16 children.

8216;8216;I jumped into the kotha underground shack and when I came out, there was silence. My three-storey house was no longer there, the village was not there. I could see nothing but snow.8217;8217;

Till last Saturday afternoon, Waltengo Nar was home to 740 people. Today, when The Indian Express reached this village after a two-hour trek, 160 of them were dead8212;so far.

The village is now a wide blanket of snow pockmarked by mounds of rubble8212;where the survivors had dug for relatives.

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The two-room kotha at the entrance, home to 60-year-old Abdullah Tenda, is now a temporary mortuary with 18 bodies dumped inside.

Tenda8217;s son-in-law, Mir Hussain 35 is lying in a corner, his seven-year-old son Nazir holding his frozen hand. Next to them is Shariefa, Hussain8217;s two-year-old daughter, her clenched fists and contorted face telling the story. There8217;s a mother, too, who tried to save her infant by holding her close to her chest8212;an embrace frozen by death.

In a corner ahead, Malie Gojer 25 sits alone. He has lost everything8212;15 of his family, including six children. 8216;8216;I had gone to a neighbour8217;s house and escaped. I wish I too was dead,8217;8217; he says. Nearby, Bashir Ahmad, a teacher, has recovered his 8216;8216;belongings8217;8217;8212;22 bodies wrapped in white. Ahmad is now waiting for volunteers from neighbouring villages to help him dig a hole in the compound of his home. 8216;8216;This will be the mass grave of my family,8217;8217; says Ahmad. 8216;8216;My life has changed for ever.8217;8217;

In fact, the entire path towards the village mosque looks like one, long grave. According to survivors, 16 villagers were clearing the snow here when the avalanche struck. And they lay buried under 20 feet of snow till the bodies were dug out today.

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The search for survivors and bodies goes on. And the rescue operation is conducted by groups from neighbouring villages.

The state government8217;s presence: 12 policemen pacing around, a few health workers who had spread strips of tablets and bandages on two red blankets, some doctors and the odd revenue official, who didn8217;t even know how many had survived. As the revenue official admits: 8216;8216;There is no one in charge here. We don8217;t know whom to report to. Everybody is trying to do things on his own8230; There is no control room to coordinate rescue efforts and the deputy commissioner or the SSP is yet to visit.8217;8217;

The villagers are furious. 8216;8216;We want to know whether anyone among those missing is still alive. We want to dig the snow, but there are no shovels,8217;8217; says Shabir Chehchi.

Muzamil Jaleel

Muzamil Jaleel is a Deputy Editor at The Indian Express and is widely recognized as one of India’s most authoritative voices on Jammu & Kashmir, national security, and internal affairs. With a career spanning over 30 years, he has provided definitive on-the-ground reportage from the heart of the Kashmir conflict, bearing witness to historic political transitions and constitutional shifts. Expertise and Investigative Depth Muzamil’s work is characterized by a rare combination of ground-level immersion and high-level constitutional analysis. His expertise includes: Conflict & Geopolitics: Decades of reporting on the evolution of the Kashmir conflict, the Indo-Pak peace process, and the socio-political dynamics of the Himalayan region. Constitutional Law: Deep-dive analysis of Article 370 and Article 35A, providing clarity on the legal and demographic implications of their abrogation in 2019. Human Rights & Accountability: A relentless investigator of state and non-state actors, uncovering systemic abuses including fake encounters and the custodial death of political workers. International War Reporting: Beyond South Asia, he provided on-the-spot coverage of the final, decisive phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009. Landmark Exposés & Impact Muzamil’s reporting has repeatedly forced institutional accountability and shaped national discourse: The Kashmir Sex Scandal (2006): His investigative series exposed a high-profile exploitation nexus involving top politicians, bureaucrats, and police officers, leading to the sacking and arrest of several senior officials. Fake Encounters: His reports blew the lid off cases where innocent civilians were passed off as "foreign terrorists" by security forces for gallantry awards. SIMI Investigations: He conducted a massive deep-dive into the arrests of SIMI members, using public records to show how innocuous religious gatherings were often labeled as incriminating activities by investigative agencies. The Amarnath Land Row: Provided critical context to the 2008 agitation that polarized the region and altered its political trajectory. Over the years, Muzamil has also covered 2002 Gujarat riots, Bhuj earthquake, assembly elections in Bihar for Indian Express. He has also reported the peace process in Northern Ireland, war in Sri Lanka and national elections in Pakistan for the paper. Awards and Fellowships His "Journalism of Courage" has been honored with the industry's most prestigious accolades: Four Ramnath Goenka Awards: Recognized for J&K Reportage (2007), On-the-Spot Reporting (2009), and Reporting on Politics and Government (2012, 2017). Kurt Schork Award: From Columbia University for international journalism. Sanskriti Award: For excellence in Indian journalism and literature. IFJ Tolerance Prize: For his empathetic and nuanced reporting in South Asia. International Fellowships: Served as a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley and worked with The Guardian, The Observer, and The Times in London. He has also received Chevening fellowship and a fellowship at the Institute of Social Studies, Hague, Netherlands. Professional Presence Current Location: New Delhi (formerly Bureau Chief, Srinagar). Education: Master’s in Journalism from Kashmir University. Social Media: Follow him for field insights and rigorous analysis on X (Twitter) @MuzamilJALEEL. ... Read More