Pahalgam terror attack: The meadow cries out in fear and grief Premium

Terror attack in Baisaran, Pahalgam leaves 25 dead, 16 injured, sparking security concerns and impacting tourism in Kashmir.

Trigger warning: The following story has references to violence. Please avoid reading if you may be disturbed by the details.

Nestled at an altitude of 8,000 feet in the midst of lush pine forests, only the jungle crows break the eerie silence around the Baisaran meadow, 5 kilometres from Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. The chain-linked fencing stands witness to what happened here, between 2:40 p.m. and 3 p.m. on April 22. When the meadow thronged with about 250 people, most tourists, a group of at least four terrorists selectively killed 25 tourists and injured 16 others on the basis of their religion. A ponywala, one of about 150 who ferries people up to Baisaran, was also killed when he tried to protect the tourists.

Outside the meadow, on the pony trek path, mud and boulders bear the marks of the horror of flying bullets. Slippers and shoes of varying sizes, including that of children, are half stuck in mud. Broken sunglasses, purses, shattered phones still lie scattered. Inside the fenced meadow park, the orange and blue chairs, which served as an open food court serving noodles, tea, and paani puri, remain tilted and scattered with marks of blood. The zipline attached to a pine tree has fallen silent. The zorbing balls are still. Even the fragrance of pine is mixed with a stench.

“I am not able to sleep after what I saw. I stood there scanning one body after another lying lifeless on the ground. Women and children were wailing, calling for help. It keeps playing in my mind when I try to sleep,” says Abdul Waheed Wani, 38, a pony owner who is also president of the Baisaran Pony Operators Association. Wani and his younger brother Sajad Wani were the first to reach the spot after the terrorists’ guns fell silent. Abdul froze for a minute, then gathered himself and then almost choking, sent a voice note to a WhatsApp group of pony operators. “There are bodies on the ground and injured. We need help. Rush all horsemen and pony operators to Baisaran for rescue,” he had said, in Urdu. 

Abdul also shot a video of the scene to share on the group, to give them the scale of the tragedy. The video has been shared many times now. Then, he moved from person to person saying, “Sab theek ho jagya” (Everything will be fine). Looking back at his video, Abdul recalls that this assurance came to him when a child whose father was dead, and two women, whose husbands were killed, sought his help. “I couldn’t tell the child his father was dead. I decided to focus on shifting people to Pahalgam hospital. Many were shifted on horsebacks. My brother Sajad carried one injured tourist on his shoulders,” says Abdul. 

He emptied a vendor’s charpoy full of sunglasses and converted it into a stretcher to shift the injured. He remembers how many tourists who climbed the 10-foot high fencing were chased and killed outside the boundary wall.

Syed Adil Hussain Shah, 28, a ponywala from Anantnag district’s Hapatnar, was shot dead for resisting the attackers.