'Soorue Makleo': Nowgam Blast Happened Minutes From My Home. Here Is What I Witnessed That Night
The blast has left behind deaths, destruction, and unanswered questions across the country, while families of the victims struggle with deep, lasting wounds.
By ETV Bharat Jammu & Kashmir Team
Published : November 16, 2025 at 7:26 PM IST
By Manzoor-ul-Hassan
A massive bang at around 11.20 pm on Friday jolted me out of my bed. The house shook like it was about to crash down on us. A giant red flash, shattering of glass, and smaller explosions followed. It took me a few seconds to gather my senses. First, I mistook it for an air blast. I rushed out to understand what was going on. I tried opening our main door, but couldn’t. It was broken by the impact, though a steel latch had kept it from collapsing.
In panic, I kicked the door to make my way out and ran towards the road. My father and brother followed me. We saw a smoke cloud and vermilion red fire splashes rising from the National Highway side. I thought something had exploded on the road and tried to return to safety, but suddenly, many people came rushing out from the police station, which is less than 200 metres away from my house. An elderly man had his eye completely shattered. He was in utter shock, unable to speak or hear anything. Others who rushed out were also severely injured. Even in the dark, I could see trails of blood behind them.
The scene horrified me beyond what words can convey. Human tendency is to help those in need, even if that means putting yourself in danger. In Kashmir, this feeling compounds, considering what the region has witnessed in the last four decades. As my neighbours and I tried to assist, more people living in the vicinity rushed towards the survivors and those who lived closer to the police station. I immediately used my phone to spread the word and appealed for help. I posted a message in a journalist group on WhatsApp asking if anyone could help send ambulances. I got dozens of calls and messages from friends and colleagues asking for details, but I only sought help for the injured.
One of my journalist friends, an editor of a local English newspaper who also lives nearby, sought help on the phone as well. Thankfully, ambulances from nearby hospitals arrived within 10-15 minutes, followed by fire brigades and then more ambulances. Locals cleared the narrow colony roads for them. One of my relatives, who lives right next to the police station, was also among the injured; splinters or broken window panes had ripped through his right leg. I saw a deep cut with blood oozing out and immediately pushed him into a vehicle heading towards SMHS Hospital.
Moments later, screams grew louder as relatives of policemen and a local tailor appeared, searching desperately for their loved ones. The wife of tailor Muhammad Shafi Parray was shell-shocked, not speaking, just murmuring his name, “Shafi oos atte…” (Shafi was there).
Shafi’s relatives later told the media that he was called by the police to make some pouches for the explosive material recently recovered from Faridabad. “His daughter tried to stop him from going to the police station so late, but he insisted as he had some urgent work the next day,” one of his relatives said.
As we were helping the injured, a huge deployment of forces, from police to CRPF, rushed towards the blast site, but even they found it difficult to reach as ambulances and the fire brigade were already parked in the narrow lanes of the residential colony. They disembarked from their vehicles and ran on foot towards the police station. Top officials, including Deputy Commissioner Budgam, also arrived. At that moment, I decided to return home to check on my family. My 4-year-old son was terrified by the blast and was unable to sleep. When I reached home, I saw my wife consoling my aunt and her teenage daughter. Her son was one of the injured persons, while her home, located just next to the police station, had been completely damaged in the explosion. The entire family was in shock, unable to speak. All she could whisper was, “sourue makleo” (everything is lost). My father had brought her to our home, while my mother, who is paraplegic and has barely been able to walk since a spine injury in 2013, crawled toward our room to comfort her.
By then, it was around 12.30 am, and there were still sketchy details about casualties. Officials had yet to confirm any deaths, and we were hoping against hope for survivors. But a neighbour broke the tragic news of Shafi’s death. We asked a few policemen in uniform about the well-being of those inside the station; one of them told us, “Atte chunné kiheen bachomut, aes oos rizhik” (nothing left there, we are lucky to survive). They had been on duty at the checkpost when the incident happened.
As I compile my account of the tragedy, I feel short of words to express the grief that struck our locality in Nowgam, Srinagar. It becomes even harder to see a close neighbour taken away in such a tragic manner. We could not see him one last time or offer ‘Ghusl’ (the obligatory religious bath) before burying him. Police and officials said they couldn’t gather all his remains, a fact that pushed the entire locality and nearby areas into deep mourning.
Shafi was not just the head of a humble family, comprising his wife and three children, but also their lone breadwinner, a social worker and a member of a Masjid welfare committee in Wanabal. May Allah grant him the highest place in Jannah. My heart also goes out to the other deceased, including policemen and officials, who were inside the police station at the time of the blast, unaware of the tragedy awaiting them.
On Saturday, Jammu Kashmir Police DGP Nalin Prabhat informed the media that nine people were killed and over two dozen were wounded in the massive explosion at Nowgam Police Station on Friday night. In his first reaction to the incident, the DGP called the explosion ‘accidental’ and said that “any other speculation about the cause of the accident is unnecessary.” “During investigations into the terror module case (FIR 162/2025) at Police Station Nowgam, a huge quantity of explosive substances, chemicals, and reagents were recovered from Faridabad on November 9-10,” the DGP said.
He further said that samples were to be readied following the prescribed procedure for further forensic and chemical examination.
Besides the casualties, the blast damaged almost every house in our locality, some of them completely. Many government officials visited our area and assured us that they would assess the damage and compensate everyone. But the incident has left us with a horrific experience, a deep wound, unexplained grief, and many unanswered questions. One of the many questions which people ask is: ‘Was it necessary to carry such huge explosive material inside a police station, which is located inside a residential area?’
(The author is a journalist based out of Srinagar. He works with ETV Bharat as Senior Content Editor)
