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“We even see troop presence at places where we weren’t used to seeing them earlier,” Waseem Bhat, a local grocer in Srinagar, tells The Quint in the days leading up to the somber first anniversary of the deadly Pahalgam massacre.
On 22 April last year, the Baisaran Valley in Pahalgam echoed with the sounds of gunfire. What should have been an ordinary afternoon for tourists trying to relax and unwind in Kashmir turned into a day of carnage—one that the Valley, by its own grim records, hadn’t witnessed in at least 25 years.
The terror attack triggered a three-day aerial dogfight between Indian and Pakistani air defences, with both sides launching mortars. Shelling from across the Line of Control (LoC) killed dozens of civilians in border villages, including at least five documented cases involving children.
In the aftermath, the government heightened security measures and carried out a widespread crackdown, including at least a dozen demolition drives at the homes of local militant recruits, and the closure of popular tourist spots. The enforcement of some of these steps continues to this day.
“Even Mughal Gardens are heavily patrolled. A monastery in Harwan area of Srinagar, which is a popular tourist attraction, has continued to remain out of bounds for people.”Waseem Bhat