The Bloodstained Meadow: Here’s What News18 Found At The Site Of The Pahalgam Attack

SOURCE ; NEW18

Last Updated:April 26, 2025, 09:50 IST

What strikes you is the absolute absence of any security post all through the 45-minute trek

The gurgling stream, the lush green meadow, the wildflowers—everything would lull you into believing that this indeed is a “mini Switzerland”. But soon the whirring of the helicopter jolts you out of your reverie. The air sorties are a constant reminder of the horror that Baisaran near Pahalgam witnessed on April 22.

The usually soft and slippery mule track is now hard rock. No pony has traversed this path for the last three days. The ponies are seen grazing near the meadow. A Bakarwal boy on muleback peeps from a height, curious if it was yet another security patrol or a media team that had arrived. A couple of huts at the start of the track are the only civilian dwellings in this valley now.

CRPF and Jammu and Kashmir policemen stand guard at the base while a joint combing operation by Rashtriya Rifles, police, and CRPF is underway. The National Investigation Agency is assisting the state SIT in picking up evidence from the ground. Some belongings of the tourists, empty snack carts, and fluttering tarpaulin sheets take you back to the screams and gunshots recorded in videos that have gone viral.

What also strikes you is the absolute absence of any security post all through the 45-minute trek. CRPF has a camp at the base, but clearly it wasn’t enough to respond when terror struck.

Pallavi Manjunath, who lost her husband in the terror attack, told CNN-News18, “For one hour, we had no help. Even the locals who were up there were scared initially. Our mobile phones had no signal. We didn’t know what to do till the locals finally started helping.”

Rauf Wani, a pony owner, also said that a police post and security throughout the route are a must now. “Before 2019 also tourists came. But my estimate is that 50,000 came in a year. However, in the last two or three years, the footfall is 10,000 a day,” he says.

Locals also share that the zip lines, the zorbing, and the play area for kids were all recent additions, bringing in more families to the meadow. Was this soft target properly recced, surveyed, and then chosen? The blood clots at the gate of Baisaran Meadow scream out loud—that this was a well-thought-out, well-planned conspiracy to kill.

Location :

Pahalgam, India, India