SC to hear plea seeking special probe into Pahalgam attack tomorrow

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court, seeking directions to constitute a judicial commission headed by a retired judge to investigate the Pahalgam attack, in which 26 people were killed. The top court has listed the matter for tomorrow.

A total of 25 tourists and one local were killed when four to five terrorists opened fire on them in the Baisaran valley on April 22. The Resistance Force (TRF), an affiliate of the banned Pakistani terrorist group, Lashkar-eTaiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the attack.

The plea also demands from the court to direct the Centre, Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to prepare an action plan to ensure the safety of citizens in the tourist areas of Jammu & Kashmir.

The government should mandate enhanced security measures for tourist destinations in the Union Territory, including real-time surveillance, intelligence coordination, and rapid response teams, and establish an



institutionalised security infrastructure to prevent such incidents in the future, it added.

Following the deadly incident, locals and tourists alleged that there was no security in place at the famous tourist site at the time of the attack.

The litigants, local resident Junaid Mohd Junaid, and two lawyers, Fatesh Kumar Sahu and Vicky Kumar, have also sought directions for the government to ensure minimum security standards for pilgrimage and tourist sites in conflict-prone areas such as Jammu & Kashmir.

The applicants also sought that directions be issued to the government to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the attack and fix accountability.

The PIL also called on the top court to direct the Press Council of India to ensure that only "fair and true" reporting is allowed, keeping in view the harmony and peace of society.

The NIA has already begun its investigation into the April 22 attack that laid the ground for tensions to rise between India and Pakistan.