Rayees Ahmad Bhatt, Pony Owners Association president, is being hailed as the ‘Hero of Pahalgam’ for saving the lives of as many as five tourists. He helped injured tourists, who remained vulnerable, at the attack site in Baisaran Valley, without caring for his own life.
“If the attackers are still here, and we get killed too, so be it,” Bhat thought as he ventured out of his office alone to help the tourists stranded at the violence-affected site.
As soon as Bhatt received information about a mishap, he gathered six local working-class Kashmiris with him and rushed to the spot, where the attack on tourists had occurred.
“When this incident happened, I was sitting in my office. At around 2:35 PM, I received a message from the General President of our union. As soon as I saw the message, I called him, but there was a network problem, so the voice wasn’t clear. So, I left alone. On the way, I met two or three people, and I asked them to come along with me. In total, we became five or six people,” Bhatt told ANI in an exclusive interview.
He narrated that as he got closer to the spot of the terror attack, people were running barefoot while covered in mud, shouting for help. Bhatt said that his focus remained on getting these people to safety as he helped the “terrified” and exhausted tourists quench their thirst by providing them with water.
“As we moved one to two kilometres uphill, we saw terrified people running down barefoot, covered in mud, in a horrible condition. They were only shouting, ‘Water! Water!’ So we tried to help. We broke a pipe from the water supply coming through the forest and gave them water, comforted them, and told them, ‘You are in a safe zone now. Don’t worry.’ I handed them over to my team of four or five people and sent them back down calmly. Our first effort was to get the scared people to safety,” he added.
Bhatt said that he convinced more local pony riders to visit the violence-hit site to provide assistance to the tourists, despite them being fearful.
“Then we continued moving ahead. Many horsemen were coming down in fear. I convinced 5-10 of them to come back with me. On the way, people were lying in the mud. We helped them up and sent them back on horses,” he said.
As he reached the site of the incident, Bhatt was shocked to see a body and said that an incident had never happened in Pahalgam in 35 years of his life. He said that bodies were all around, a total of 26 dead.
“The first thing I saw was a dead body right at the main gate, the entrance where tourists enter. I was shocked. I’m 35 years old, and something like this has never happened in Pahalgam before,” he said, adding, “Then, when I went inside, I saw dead bodies everywhere. There were only three or four women, clinging to us, pleading to save their husbands. With a heavy heart, we forced ourselves to go in. It was around 3:20 PM by then.”
Two other people were already present, including General President (of Unions) Abdul Wahid and Sajad Ahmad Bhat, a shawl hawker from Pahalgam, whose video went viral on the internet, where he is carrying a boy on his shoulder.
“About 10 minutes later, SHO Riaz Sahib arrived. He had been in contact with us over the phone,” Bhat informed, saying that the Baisaran meadows are usually full, but the tourist flow was less due to landslides and road closures.
When asked about the presence of police or security personnel, Bhatt said that they arrived 10 minutes after they reached the spot.
“There is no motorable road up to that point. They had to run there on foot. We locals know the shortcuts through the jungle, so we arrived quickly using the shortest path. Others don’t know the shortcut, so they took the longer route and got there 10 minutes later,” he added.
