Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 3: Terrorists had originally planned to attack on the hotels in Srinagar and Dachigham to target the security staff deployed there before the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit but shifted the attention to the tourists after his visit was cancelled due to inclement weather, intelligence sources said on Saturday.
To keep the tourists together to make the easy target, some of the terror helpers mingled with the tourists to herd them towards the armed men when they attempted to run helter-skelter after sound of the first gunshot. Two terrorists who had earlier mingled with the tourists, herded the startled crowd towards two other armed terrorists, who then segregated and killed the people based on religion, sources said.
The attack happened at two to three points within 50 metres of the entry-cum-exit point at Baisaran and so far, it appears that four men were involved. The meadow is fenced from all sides. “The two terrorists knew the crowd would scatter after hearing the gunshots, and they deliberately herded the people towards the armed terrorists,” sources said.
The intelligent officials had received specific intelligence input of a possible attack at “hotels” in Srinagar and Dachigham on April 19, the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to inaugurate the Katra-Sangaldan stretch of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link. After the Prime Minister’s visit was cancelled due to inclement weather, the tourists were targeted at Baisaran.
“A lot of chatter was picked up by security agencies for a month before the terror attack on April 22. This is why senior police officers were stationed in Srinagar four to five days prior to the attack and they were also trying to build on the information,” said an official. He said the input was generic and suggested that the target could be “security personnel deployed at hotels.”
The official added that it took more than one and a half hours for the Army to reach the site as they waited for mobilisation of adequate personnel. But it was later explained that this was a tactical move to avoid collateral damage to the security forces. By the time reinforcement reached Baisaran, accessible only by foot or ponies, the terrorists had fled into the forests.
On April 24, at an all-party meeting, Home Minister Amit Shah informed the MPs that the tourists were sent to Baisaran valley by nearby hotels without informing the police. He had said there was no security presence at the place on the day of the incident, and the tourist site was usually provided with security before the Amarnath Yatra begins. This year, the site was expected to open for tourists on June 15, with the yatra commencing on July 3, the MPs were informed.
Mr Shah, however, was contradicted by a senior government official who claimed that Baisaran meadow remain open throughout the year except during the Amarnath pilgrimage. The tender to maintain the tourist site was awarded to a Bijbehara resident in August 2024 for ₹3 crore and there was no government order suggesting that it was a regulated area under security watch.
The official added that two locals from South Kashmir who were said to be involved in the attacks went to Pakistan in 2017-18 through the Attari-Wagah integrated check-point in Punjab. “We mined the data of people who went to Pakistan but did not return, and the names of the two Kashmiri men was flagged by the system, which makes us believe that they could be involved in the terror attack,” the official added.
The official said that post the attack, the homes of nine people with terror records were blown up in south and north Kashmir and the demolitions had since stopped. “It was reasoned with the Home Ministry that bombing the homes of terrorists who left years ago does not serve any purpose. It only leads to alienation and outpouring of emotions and the spontaneous support that we witnessed after the killings would have been wasted had the demolitions not been stopped,” the official said.
Explaining the possibility of local support to terrorists, the official said the terrorists who infiltrated from Pakistan were depending less on local people for food and supplies. “We have noticed that they barge into locked shops, pick up whatever items they want and leave behind double the cash and a note of apology for the inconvenience they could have caused.
The Baisaran attack would not have happened without the help of a local guide though,” said the official. He said the Gujjar-Bakkarwal community were the ones who operate ponies in the area and it was being investigated if they noticed any outsiders days before the attack.
Meanwhile, a Muslim minister in the Karnataka Congress government made a bizarre statement offering himself to become a “suicide bomber” and go to Pakistan to cause damages if the country so wanted. The Karnataka Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan said he was willing to go to Pakistan “wearing a suicide bomb.”
Addressing a press conference, he said he was “ready to fight” if India needed to go to war against Pakistan. “We are Indians, we are Hindustani, there’s no connection between us and Pakistan. If we need to go to war against them, I’m ready to fight,” Mr Khan, the Minister for Housing, Waqf and Minority Affairs, said.
“As a minister, if they send me, I will go to the front lines. If needed, I will wear a suicide bomb. I’m not joking or speaking impulsively. If the country needs me, let (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi and (Union Home Minister) Amit Shah give me a suicide bomb, I will wear and go to Pakistan,” he said with his fists clenched.
His remarks came days after his chief minister SiddaramAiah picked up a controversy over his statement that he did not favour a war with Pakistan. Questioning the security arrangements in Jammu and Kashmir after the Pahalgam attack, Mr Siddaramiah had said, “There is no necessity to wage a war against Pakistan. Strict security measures must be initiated. We are not in favour of waging war. There should be peace, people must feel secure, and the Central government should ensure effective security arrangements.”
He later issued a clarification and said war should always be a nation’s last resort. “Only when every other means to defeat the enemy has failed, should a country be compelled to go to war… The central government has already initiated certain diplomatic steps, including revisiting the Indus Waters Treaty – a move we wholeheartedly welcome. We trust that even sterner actions are on the horizon. Not every move needs to be broadcast to the world; rest assured, the nation stands fully united behind every strong and decisive step taken,” he said.
Mr Siddaramaiah’s remarks were covered by Pakistani media, prompting the BJP to launch a scathing attack on the Congress veteran.
