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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\nPAHALGAM: A motorable road from Pahalgam town runs through the mountains to a place known locally as CM\u2019s Hut. From there, a roughly 6km trek leads to Baisaran valley, the site of last year\u2019s massacre, when 26 tourists were killed and 17 wounded in a terrorist attack.At the junction near CM\u2019s Hut, the journey stops. Anyone trying to go further along the muddy track is turned back. Police and CRPF personnel appear quickly, mildly reminding visitors the valley is out of bounds. Ponywallahs (local horse guides) do not go beyond this point. Instead, they pause, while tourists take photographs of the Pahalgam bowl from this vantage point and then head back towards Pahalgam town.There are no coils of concertina wire, no visible barricade. Police say they want to avoid alarming visitors. But the closure is felt in quieter ways.Down in the Pahalgam market, pony owners are trying to motivate visitors to at least go up to the junction viewpoint. Abdul Waheed Wani, 39, known locally as \u201cMoulvi Sahab\u201d leads the ponywallahs\u2019 union. Standing on the banks of Lidder, the river that cuts Pahalgam into two, he says Basiran\u2019s closure has changed the town\u2019s rhythm. \u201cPeople come here to see Baisaran and the four valleys around it. When they are closed, they spend a few hours in Pahalgam town and leave,\u201d he says.Around 5,500 ponywallahs depend on tourism, he says. After last year\u2019s attack, work stopped for almost seven months. \u201cThere was nothing to do. Tourists have now started returning, but it is not like before.\u201dHe says visitors still ask about whether they can go to Baisaran. \u201cIt feels awkward to tell them it is closed,\u201d he says. A year on, he says, the change is visible. \u201cIt is not the same Pahalgam after April 22. Earlier, we could move freely and go anywhere. Now there are redlines and accountability. You are accountable if even your horse crosses a redline.\u201dOutside the main taxi stand in Pahalgam, a signboard reads: \u201cDifficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations.\u201d The stand was full of taxis and drivers were standing in groups chatting, but only a handful of tourists were around.Inside the office, Ghulam Nabi Lone, who has headed it for decades, loves to talk about his life and Pahalgam. Wearing a pheran, the long Kashmiri cloak and sipping tea, he speaks about how he began his career four decades ago driving a military jeep, then an ambassador car. Now he owns three vehicles and has remained president of the taxi stand for nearly 40 years.But, he says, he has never seen a situation like this in Pahalgam. For seven months after the attack, everything came to a halt. \u201cSadakun par ghaas ug aayee thi (grass had grown on the roads),\u201d he says, describing how there was no movement at all. \u201cEverything was shut. Only Chandanwari was open for some time. Now that too is closed,\u201d he says.Lone says he has raised the issue with officials, including in the recent meeting of senior Army, civil and police officers. \u201cWe told them these places, particularly Baisaran, need to open. Without them, tourists will not stay in Pahalgam,\u201d he warns. \u201cIf Baisaran opens, tourists will come,\u201d he repeated many times.Lone wants to talk about a security point. He says Baisaran had never been closed before. \u201cI had a ticketing contract there. Many people told me to say that I should tell the media it would remain closed, but I refused. I told them it was never shut before the attack. I even said this in a security meeting,\u201d he says, thus dispelling the rumours that Baisaran was opened by J&K\u2019s elected govt some months before the attack.At Pahalgam police station, officers say there is no clear timeline for reopening of Baisaran. They say Chandanwari has been closed for road construction. Some roads lead nowhere.<\/div>\n