Pakistan has denied its involvement in the Pahalgam terror attack, stating it rejects terrorism in all forms. It said it has got nothing to do with the attack.
Hours after the attack, Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif issued a statement that marked Pakistan’s first reaction to the attack and denied any involvement.
“Pakistan has no link with the Pagalgam terror attack,” Asif said, adding, “We do not support terrorism in any form, and locals should not be a target for terrorists, and we have no doubt about it.”
At least 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed and several injured when militants dressed in army fatigues opened fire on them on Tuesday.
The attackers, armed with weapons, reportedly questioned their targets about their religious identity before opening fire.
Twenty-five of the victims were men. Several more were injured in what is being described as one of the deadliest strikes on civilians in Kashmir in recent memory.
Per eyewitness accounts and local media, the terrorists taunted their victims in chilling terms. A woman was told, “go tell Modi” what they had done after her husband was shot dead. Another was informed that her father and uncle were being executed as “retribution for supporting Modi.”
Doubling down on the denial, Asif positioned the attack as a symptom of India’s internal strife.
“The Central government in India is facing protests in many states, including Nagaland, Manipur, Kashmir, and Chhattisgarh. This is home-grown as the government is exploiting many,” he said. “However, if local forces are targeting the Indian government, it becomes easy to target Pakistan,” he asserted per media reports.
The Indian establishment, however, remains unconvinced.
Intelligence officials are linking the brutal Pahalgam attack to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) proxy outfit, The Resistance Front (TRF), which has claimed responsibility.
The focus of inquiry is now on a provocative speech by Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir delivered days before the attack where he described Kashmir as Pakistan’s “jugular vein” and reasserted the ideological basis for the two-nation theory.
"You have to narrate Pakistan's story to your children so that they don't forget it when our forefathers thought we were different from Hindus in every possible aspect of life,” Munir had said during an Overseas Pakistanis Convention in Islamabad.
“Our religion is different, our customs are different, our traditions are different, our thoughts are different, our ambitions are different, that's where the foundation of the two-nation theory was laid. We are two nations, we are not one nation."
According to multiple intelligence officials familiar with the ongoing assessment, Munir's rhetoric and his focus on the “differential treatment” of Muslims and Hindus may have emboldened militant groups. “It seems the attackers arrived a few days prior to the attack, conducted reconnaissance, and then struck when they saw an opportunity,” said one source in a TOI report.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister was present at the event. Munir continued, "Our forefathers, they have sacrificed immensely, and we have sacrificed a lot for the creation of this country, and we know how to defend it.”
Indian intelligence agencies believe this rhetoric invoking identity and ideological divides — may have emboldened militant groups. “It seems the attackers arrived a few days prior to the attack, conducted reconnaissance, and then struck when they saw an opportunity,” an official told TOI.
“In early April (1–7), there were inputs that terrorists had conducted reconnaissance of some hotels. So, there wasn’t an intelligence failure,” the source said.
Among the suspects being tracked is LeT commander Saifullah Kasuri, also known as Khalid. Intelligence inputs also point to two handlers based in Rawalkot, including a man identified as Abu Musa.
On 18 April, Musa hosted a rally in Rawalkot where he made chilling declarations. “Jihad will continue, guns will rage and beheading will continue in Kashmir. India wants to change the demography of Kashmir by giving domicile certificates to non-locals,” he had said.
The last time militants attacked pilgrims was in July 2017, when eight of them were killed and over a dozen injured in south Kashmir.