Questions are being raised on targeting the Basaron Valley, known as “Mini Switzerland” in the resort city of Pahalgam in Kashmir for a deadly attack on Tuesday by Pakistan -backed militants. The answer is hidden in the ziography of the area. Let’s understand.
There is a large ground in Basaron, Pahalgam, which is located in the south-east of the city of Pahalgam and can be reached via Serpee Trek route passing through rivers, dense forests and mud filled areas. The large part of the trek is not suitable for the motor vehicle. Some parts of the route are very slippery and a small mistake can be dropped by tourists in a deep ditch.
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Tourists from Pahalgam reach on foot and horses, apart from these, ATV (all terrain vehicle) can also be used, which is not yet in commercial use.
A healthy youth can take about an hour to reach on foot from Pahalgam to Basaron – no or small brake on the way. The meadow is surrounded by deep valleys from all sides, which makes it difficult to reach there besides the scheduled trek route.
However, locals running stalls in Basaron often use bikes to cover some early parts of the road. Such a difficult terrain means that emergency reactions or security forces will take at least 30-40 minutes to reach the popular tourist destination.
Despite the arrival of a large number of tourists, there was no security deployment on the Pahalgam-Basaran route. A reporter of India Today, who visited the spot after Tuesday’s attack, said that not a single police picket was present on the 5.5 km route.
Despite the difficulties, hundreds of tourists come to Basaron spread over 30 acres every day. Sources told India Today that the attackers associated with Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba organization The Resistance Front (TRF) had raked the area with the help of their overground workers.
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Sources said that the terrorists had built hideouts in dense forests and were wearing a body camera while carrying out a deadly attack. Tourists would rarely be targeted since the arrival of terrorists in Kashmir in the early 90s.