Pahalgam Attack Aftermath: Demolitions, Mass Arrests, Uncertainty

The razing of the homes of suspected accomplices in the Pahalgam attack has also become the government’s way of showcasing that it is determined to decimate the militant support-structure in Kashmir.

(Photo: PTI/Altered by Vibhushita Singh/The Quint)

Days after the devastating attack on tourists in South Kashmir's Pahalgam, security establishment in Jammu & Kashmir said that they see the events of 22 April, Tuesday, as a “security lapse and intelligence failure," as per media reports.

They said that there were already intelligence inputs regarding the attack "over the past few weeks", but all of them were generic in nature.

“And no one really expected an assault on the tourists,” they said, talking about the attack that left 26 dead at the remote meadow of Baisaran near Pahalgam.

“The intel (intelligence) on FTs (foreign terrorists) is not always precise.”

Security establishment officials to the media

On Wednesday, 23 April, the J&K police released sketches of the terrorists allegedly responsible for the carnage wherein the attackers swooped down the forest trail and fired at the tourists, singling out Hindus.

Sketches released by the police of the three men suspected to be involved in the terror attack that killed 26 people near Pahalgam on Tuesday.

(Photo: PTI)

The communal element of the killings have incited passions across the country. As per the J&K police’s notices, the attackers have been identified as Hashim Musa and Ali Bhai, both of whom are said to be Pakistanis, and one Adil Hussain Thoker, who hails from the Bijbehara. 

In the wee hours of Friday morning, the Indian Army and J&K police blew up the houses of Thoker in Bijbehara, and of Asif Sheikh, another suspect in the gruesome Pahalgam attack.

A viral video of the attack shows a powerful explosion, with the fireball billowing several feet across. Another video, shot in the morning, shows the heap of bricks, rafters, and dust amongst the blown-up debris as residents mill around the site of devastation.

The Action That Followed

The army said in a statement that during the searches at the house of Asif in Monghama village Tral, a suspicious contraption with protruding wires was discovered.

“After confirmation by the team of engineers of India’s Army Rashtriya Rifles (RR), the box was destroyed in situ resulting in the explosion in which the house was partially damaged,” the statement read.

The razing of the homes of suspected accomplices in the Pahalgam attack has also become the government’s way of showcasing that it is determined to decimate the militant support-structure in Kashmir. 

Debris of the house of Adil Thoker, linked to the Pahalgam terror attack that was demolished in Bijbhera.

(Photo: PTI)

In the last two days, the Indian government has rolled out a raft of retaliatory measures directed at Pakistan which include the temporary suspension of the Indus Water Treaty, negotiated by India and Pakistan in the 1960s after a hectic round of talks, closure of Attari-Wagah crossing in Punjab, revoking SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme and retrenchment of staff at Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi.

More actions on the military front are expected to follow, but it might take a few days before the government announces them. 

Terrorists Identified, Reward Announced

In Kashmir, authorities are scrambling to piece together more information on the attackers involved in the 22 April killings. So far, they have officially identified three, and even announced a reward of Rs 20 lakh for anyone who will provide information about them. 

At the wider level, police have also arrested over 1,500 suspected or indexed militant associates called ‘overground workers’ OGWs. Police sources said that such arrests are crucial to generate more intelligence that could help trace out all those involved in the attack. 

On 24 April, The Quint received reports of several arrests from Anantnag and Kulgam in South Kashmir, and Sopore in the North. Additionally, police sources also said they are keeping an eye on social media users in Kashmir to prevent the dissemination of “anti-national” and “pro-terrorist” propaganda material.

A source confirmed that they have detained people for uploading such posts on social media, but didn’t specify how many.

Was the Meadow Open Without Police Permission?

On Wednesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is reported to have told an all-party meeting, convened in the backdrop of the Pahalgam attack, that the Baisaran meadow was opened to tourists without police permission.

People associated with tourism, meanwhile, lament that the attack is going to adversely affect their earning opportunities for the current season. Abdul Wahid Wani, the 38-year-old head of ponywalla association in Pahalgam, who has been routinely ferrying tourists to Baisaran for the past 20 years, said that he has had very few customers since the attack.

Wahid was among the first people to reach the meadow just 20 minutes after the massacre happened. He took the videos of the scene and shared it with his colleagues on WhatsApp who, too, arrived at the scene, making the immediate rescue of the survivors possible. His videos went viral all over India and first brought to light the severity of the terrorist attack in the area.

Generally, the footfall to this place dwindles ahead of Amarnath yatra. Otherwise, we make good business.

Abdul Wahid Wani

In main Pahalgam, too, hoteliers, who are now grappling with the zero occupancies amid the mass exodus of tourists, are asking how the attack happened when the security around the region has always been so tight.

“It has happened at a place in Pahalgam where no one even thought it would happen,” said a 31-year-old owner of Volga Hotel at Pahalgam. “We have a sub-divisional magistrate’s office just 4 km away, Pahalgam Police Station at 6 kms, the camp of CRPF’s 116 battalion at 5 kms. We are shaken because our future is dark.”

The Union Home Minister has also reportedly stated that militants also did not use any communication device for at least 5 days prior to the attack within the 5km radius around Baisaran, which has further made tracking them difficult.

Security in Overdrive

On Friday, parts of Kashmir returned to normalcy but tensions were apparent in parts of South Kashmir, where the deployment of security forces continued to remain strong.

The authorities would not want to relent on the widespread security patrolling and area domination, given that the Amarnath yatra is also around the corner and is scheduled to start on 3 July.

Security forces also appear to have doubled down on the anti-militancy operations in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack. On Thursday, Jhantu Ali Sheikh, an army paratrooper, died while battling militants during an encounter in Jammu’s Udhampur area. Separately, two security forces personnel were injured during a gunfight in Ajas area of North Kashmir’s Bandipora district. 

The Chief of the Indian Army, General Upendra Dwivedi also visited Kashmir Valley on Friday and is expected to chair a meeting with top army commanders. 

But the question remains if all these measures are enough to avert the threat of any such attacks in the future.

The simultaneous gunfights in Udhampur and Bandipora show how deeply entrenched militants continue to remain in the isolated pockets of the UT, cutting across the regional lines. 

However, terrorism experts say that the 22 April attack in Pahalgam represents no element of novelty, except for the fact that militants chose to attack tourists.

For 35 years, there was a tacit compact that tourists won't be targeted. But when terrorists realised that the smaller incidents which they used to commit weren’t doing anything significant, they changed their tactic.

Ajai Sahni, Executive Director of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi.

Sahni cited the example of the attack on Hindu pilgrims in Reasi in Jammu in June last year, where two people had died in actual firing, while the rest of the eight pilgrims had died by falling into a gorge. “Had the driver not lost control of the vehicle, would the terrorists have not killed all of them?,” he asked. “It is a peculiar constellation of events that determines how deadly an attack can be.”

Sahni said that the Indian government had already significantly eroded militancy in Kashmir. “In overall terms, we are not the victims, but the victors in this war,” he said. “The counter-terrorism operations will go on as usual and will continue to yield results for us. But we also have to bear in mind that there will be continuous adaptation on both sides.”

(Shakir Mir is an independent journalist whose work delves into the intersection of conflict, politics, history and memory in J&K. He tweets at @shakirmir.)