‘It still haunts me’: First responder at Pahalgam meadow after attack

On Tuesday afternoon, when Abdul Waheed, the 38-year-old head of the Ponywala Association, received calls from the police asking if he knew what had happened at Baisaran meadow, he had little idea of the tragedy unfolding.

He immediately contacted some of the ponywalas, and when he realised that something terrible had occurred, he decided to rush to the scene along with his brother-in-law, Sajad Ahmad.

“I was just three kilometres away from the spot. When I got multiple calls, I sensed something terrible had happened, so I decided to rush there and see if I could help. Police officials told me they were also on their way, but I reached before them,” Waheed said.

In the terror attack at Baisaran meadow, 25 tourists and a local ponywala lost their lives.

Waheed said when he arrived at the scene, more than half an hour after the firing, it was a “massacre” — dead bodies were lying on the ground, and women and children were crying inconsolably.

He offered water to the injured at the scene. “We were the first ones to reach after the incident. The situation was so frightening that I became scared and started calling more people so we could help lift the injured and recover the bodies,” Waheed recalled.

Shortly after, tourist police and the local station house officer (SHO) also reached the spot.

A viral video captured Waheed’s arrival, showing a man telling some of the distressed women that “the President has come and he will help.”

Waheed described the horror he witnessed. “The scene was terrible. A woman kept pleading with me to save her husband. When I went near him, I found him already dead. I had no courage to tell her the truth. I only tried to console her and offered water,” he said.

Soon after, police, CRPF, and Army personnel arrived and took control of the situation.

In the days since the attack, Waheed has been questioned by multiple security agencies. “The local police know that I reached there only after they called me. Many agencies are coming and questioning me about the incident,” he said.

As the nation mourns the victims, Waheed says he hopes never to witness such horror again. “It would have been better to die than to see that scene in the meadow. It still haunts me,” he said.

Now, Waheed and the rest of the town are praying for the return of tourists. “We are nothing without them. We are waiting and hoping that our guests come back soon,” he said.

J & K