The bloody history of ‘innocent birds’ butchered by ‘wild cats’ in the Valley

Potbellied sub-inspector Ali Mohammad has seen many ups and downs in Pahalgam. He is dusting old files in his police station’s record room. Orders have come from the Union Home Ministry in Delhi to send details of all past attacks on pilgrims. Monday’s strike is not the only one. There have been six terrorist attacks in the past. Why is the security setup not learning lessons? That’s the big question.

The earliest-known attack was reported on July 7, 1994, when an unknown sadhu was found hanging from a tree. Pakistan-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Ansar (then led by Masood Azhar) first claimed responsibility, but later retracted after public outcry. A poet of Anantnag, a devout Muslim, wrote a poem on the sadhu to express anguish — he likened the hapless pilgrim to a frail innocent bird attacked by wild cats.

In August 2000, 30 yatris were killed — the biggest terror attack in the history of Amarnath pilgrimage. The police blamed Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Policeman Ali Mohammad recalls that the attack was carried out at the base camp, which killed pilgrims, shopkeepers and porters. Around 60 people were injured during the two-hour shootout. 

A leaked report of a committee headed by Lt General JR Mukherjee suggested that many deaths were because of panic firing by the CRPF and the state police. The report was never made public. But the state government led by Farooq Abdullah leaked some of its portions, giving rise to suspicions that the attack was manufactured to foil a ceasefire announcement by the Hizbul Mujahideen. The report indicted the SP in charge of Pahalgam town and CRPF camp commander Hari Singh for failing to ensure that “notwithstanding the large number of yatris, the checking was foolproof”. DIG Javed Makhdoomi and SP Munir Khan, currently IG, were just a few hundred metres from the site of the killings. Forensic examiners Abdul Ghaffar and Karan Vir Singh told the Mukherjee Committee that they “could not identify” the type of firearms that caused the deaths. Like in the present case, in 2000 as well, intelligence agencies had forewarned the attack. Pointing to the movement of large groups of terrorists through areas above Pahalgam, the Intelligence Bureau had noted the existence of wireless intercepts on the LeT that an Iqbal should “collect small arms and ammunitions” for a “pre-fixed task”. Two earlier intercepts noted made clear that that task was an attack on the Amarnath Yatra. Truly disturbing, however, was the observation in the letter that the “deployment of SFs along the ridge line separating Lidder and Wadwan Valleys was deficient in at least two places until July 09, 2000”.

A year after, on July 2001, the camp in the higher reaches at Sheshnag, highest stop before the cave,  came under attack, killing 13 people, including eight yatris. One militant was also killed. He remains unidentified till now.

In 2006, five pilgrims from Rajasthan were killed and another was njured  when a grenade was thrown on their bus, returning form Baltal, another base camp.

At the end of all these records of dastardly killings, a sentence in longhand Urdu reads that for the sake of evidence and witnesses the case could not be put on trial before the judicial authorities. The cases remain buried in the files. Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti in an interview assures dna that — unlike past such cases — the investigation into the latest attack will be taken to its logical conclusion. Actions and a proper investigation will only judge her words.