A screengrab from the video recorded by the man while ziplining
Credit: X/@kathiyawadiii
A tourist from Ahmedabad who was on a zipline ride at Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam inadvertently captured on video the terror attack in which 26 people lost their lives last week.
In the video, which has gone viral on social media, Rishi Bhatt is seen enjoying the ride as the attack unfolded on the ground below at Baisaran Valley on April 22.
The 53-second video, shot using a selfie stick, showed people running for their lives, with one of them falling, apparently after being gunned down by a terrorist.
The video since then has gone viral on social media. As seen in the video and also mentioned by Bhatt in his interview, the zipline operator said "Allahu Akbar" thrice while the gun shots were heard in the background.
"The operator kept looking down while uttering the words. When we saw the video the next day, I realised that the firing started after he said 'Allah hu Akbar,'" Bhat claimed.
He added that the firing started just as his ride began, while his wife and child took the ride safely before him and reached the other side.
"When my son and wife reached down safely, and I started my zipline ride, the first shots were fired. As soon as I landed, I saw that someone was asked about his religion and then shot," he recalled.
Bhatt said he detached himself, jumped off the zipline and ran with his family. They hid in a blind spot where three to four others had taken refuge.
After around eight to 10 minutes, when the shots subsided, they started running again and managed to escape, he said.
Bhat said, "Two terrorists were on the ground asking people about their religion and shooting them. The rest were hiding in the bushes and firing. There may have been four to five terrorists, from the way the bullets were being fired. Two people were on the ground, but we have no idea how many were firing from the bushes." He said the zipline operator sent nine people for the ride before him.
Bhatt also recalled that there was no presence of the Indian Army, and the place was under the local police's security.
"Within 20 minutes of the incident, the Army had covered all tourists and brought them to the parking lot," he said.
Reacting to the video, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said that this is a matter of investigation. "There should be an investigation into it. The truth should come out. No security force was deployed there. Everyone except the Indian Government knew that tourists in large numbers are coming in Pahalgam," he told ANI.