NIA chief visits Baisaran; significant clues emerge in terror attack investigation

SRINAGAR: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Director General Sadanand Date on Thursday visited Baisaran meadow near Kashmir's premier resort Pahalgam to oversee the investigation into the April 22 deadly terror attack which killed 25 Hindu tourists and a local Muslim horse-handler.

The official sources here said that Mr. Date was accompanied by senior NIA officials, including Inspector General Vijay Sakhare and Deputy Inspector General Santosh Kumar Meena, and they spent about three hours surveying the attack site. His visit to Baisaran and Pahalgam focused on reviewing the ongoing probe, examining forensic evidence, and reconstructing the sequence of events with eyewitness accounts, the sources said, adding that he met senior officials of the J&K police and other security forces at Pahalgam and Srinagar.

The NIA formally took over the probe into the carnage on April 27 following orders from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The NIA teams had reached Baisaran on April 23 and have since been camping at the terror attack site, the sources said.

On April 27, the NIA had said in a statement in New Delhi that its teams camping at Baisaran and overseen by an IG, a DIG and a SP are examining the eyewitnesses “who had seen the horrifying attack unfold before their eyes at the peaceful and picturesque Baisaran valley.” It added, “The eyewitnesses are being questioned in minute detail to piece together the sequence of events that led to one of the worst terror attacks in Kashmir.”

The NIA had further stated that the entry and exit points to Baisaran were being closely scrutinised by the agency teams for clues to the modus operandi of the terrorists. “The teams, aided by forensic and other experts, are checking the entire area thoroughly for evidence to expose the terror conspiracy that led to the horrendous attack that has shocked the nation,” it said.

The sources said that the NIA teams have recorded statements of scores of witnesses including the tourists who survived the attack and local tour operators, pony wallas, Zip Line operators, and others and that significant clues have emerged in their investigation, so far. Though the officials refuse to divulge the details for obvious reasons, they have said that it appears that the perpetrators are highly self-reliant and reportedly carrying food supplies and other essential provisions with them, allowing them to operate in remote terrain for extended periods without external logistical support.

A high-tech operation is underway, with aerial and ground surveillance working in tandem in the meadow and surrounding woods. The Army, J&K police and other security forces are with various surveillance systems such as drones and helicopters searching the entire hilly region from Pahalgam to Kokernag in the Kashmir Valley and to Kishtwar in Jammu region to track down the perpetrators, the official sources said.

Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, while presiding over a security review meeting in Jammu on Wednesday asked for “strong and coordinated measures to completely wipe out terrorism and its entire ecosystem from J&K.”

He directed the J&K police and other agencies to act tough against the Over Ground Workers (OGWs) who are providing logistics to terrorists, identifying targets for them and helping them to escape. “Infrastructure and support systems of terrorism in every nook and corner of Union Territory have to be dismantled permanently,” he said, adding, “It should be our priority to ensure a sense of security to the common man.”

He also asked the concerned authorities to further strengthen the security grid and stressed upon the need for better coordination and synergy among the security agencies. He informed the participants that the MHA has directed that all possible force must be used to take the strongest possible action against the perpetrators of the Pahalgam terror attack, and that the entire ecosystem of terrorism must be dismantled.