Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Jammu and Kashmir on April 19, intelligence agencies, including the Intelligence Bureau (IB), had issued alerts warning of a possible terror strike targeting tourists, officials familiar with the matter said. These inputs prompted heightened security measures across Srinagar, especially around tourist-frequented areas such as popular hotels and Dachigam National Park, which is located 22 km from the city.
However, the PM’s visit was eventually called off due to forecasts of severe weather conditions. “Four days before the PM’s scheduled visit, taking note of the meteorological department’s warning of bad weather around April 18-19, the Prime Minister’s Office cancelled the trip. The PM would have had to take the chopper to about three sectors and bad weather would have completely upset his plans,” said a senior official.
Despite the cancellation, security remained tightened. But on April 22, the terrorists struck—not near Srinagar as anticipated, but in Pahalgam, about 90 km away. The brutal attack left 26 dead, including 25 tourists, 24 of whom were Hindus. All the victims were men, making it one of the deadliest targeted attacks in recent times.
A senior police officer acknowledged the challenge of accurately interpreting intelligence inputs. “Nine out of ten times they don’t come to anything but this one proved correct about tourists. The interpretation, which is the trickiest part, got the location wrong,’’ the officer said, confirming that both the Army and civilian security forces had been alerted to be on high alert around the PM’s visit at tourist spots near Srinagar.
Despite their vigilance, the attack unfolded far from the area under heightened security, highlighting the persistent unpredictability and complexity of terror threats in the region.
