Located about six km away from Pahalgam, the meadow is accessible only by foot or a pony ride. It takes about 40 minutes on foot or pony to travel to the meadow that is ringed by forests on all sides. A narrow ‘kutcha’ track from the road is the only access to it.
The terrorists segregated Hindu men from among the tourists. The attack was over in 15 minutes. The terrorists returned to the forest fully knowing that the security forces would take time to reach the meadow.
An internal assessment is that there are some 125-130 terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. Of these, around 115 have infiltrated from Pakistan. The terrorists get help from overground workers who are locals. They provide logistical support like food and shelter and even keep an eye on the movement of the security forces.
The sources said several such tourist locations had been opened up for tourists visiting J&K. Last year, almost 5 crore tourists visited the UT. Another 5 lakh people travelled to the Amarnath shrine that has two access routes — one via Pahalgam and the other via Baltal near Sonamarg.
