New Delhi: A quick action team (QAT) of CRPF commandos was the first responder to the ghastly terror attack in Pahalgam. The team reached the Baisaran meadow only to find droves of holidayers rushing down and three men who were shot at, officials said on Saturday.
The Delta company location of the CRPF’s 116 battalion is the nearest security base, about four to five kilometres, from the scenic tourist spot where terrorists killed 26 people, mostly tourists, on April 22.
The paramilitary force says that Rajesh Kumar, the commanding officer of the CRPF battalion, was moving out of the camp when he saw a number of “ponywallahs” and some tourists pacing down hurriedly from the heights, prompting him to stop them and ask questions.
The ponywallahs said, “sahab, kuch hua hai upar Baisaran mein … shayad goliyan chali hain (sir, something has happened at Baisaran … bullets have probably been fired)”, the officials said.
“The CO immediately asked his QAT, stationed nearby, to report and a team of about 25 commandos soon began the 40-45 minute trek on the slushy and rocky track to reach the meadow.”
The troops, the officials said, were mindful while climbing up as there was a huge possibility of pin-pointed fire coming from the top or a grenade being lobbed by the terrorists.
In the meantime, the local CRPF unit erected checkposts around Pahalgam town and “secured” vantage points near the incident spot, they added.
The company commander of the Delta unit, Assistant Commandant Raashi Sikarwar, also joined in and was “tasked by the CO to take care of women and children as many of them were injured, screaming and scared”.
The CRPF unit was “astonished” to find three men with bullet injuries lying on the ground and some women, children and men hiding at different places when they reached the meadow around 2:30 pm on the fateful day, the paramilitary force says.
It claims that the injured were evacuated by the Central Reserve Police Force’s (CRPF) QAT personnel even as they did a brief combing of the area to look for the assailants as it was “clear in their minds that it was a terrorist attack”.
The local station house officer (SHO) of the Jammu and Kashmir Police had arrived at the scene by then and the two forces joined efforts to take control of the situation.
Bodies were scattered, one was found near the gate of the meadow while at one spot, three of four were piled up, the officials said.
One of the injured men died, while the other two survived and were admitted to a nearby government hospital. About 30 to 40 tourists were housed in the Delta company’s mess and provided with food and water, the officials said.
A senior security officer said the CRPF Delta company has all its units deployed across the area, including with the local police, and only a platoon strength (about 22 to 24 personnel) is usually available at the base.
There is a unit of the 3rd battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles (RR) a little far from the incident spot, he said.
These forces are not deployed for the security of the Baisaran meadow like many other tourist spots in the Kashmir valley. The upper reaches and dense forest areas in the valley are secured by routine patrols and by way of deployment when additional troops arrive ahead of the annual Amarnath Yatra in late May or June, the officer said.
The security forces, including the police, paramilitary and Army, have been asked to intensify operations and keep a “heightened vigil” in the wake of the attack, the biggest after the 2019 Pulwama strike, in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed when their convoy was bombed by terrorists.
