Baisaran Valley, Pahalgam (ANI file picture)
NEW DELHI: The April 22 terrorist assault in J&Ok’s Pahalgam, which claimed the lives of 26 civilians, was a intently guarded conspiracy hatched by Pakistan spy company ISI and terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) on the instructions of the nation’s political and navy brass, and executed solely by Pakistani terrorists, in line with sources within the safety institution.In what sources described as an LeT-ISI joint mission akin to the 26/11 Mumbai assaults, the Inter-Providers Intelligence (ISI) gave particular instructions to Pakistan-based Lashkar commander Sajid Jutt to deploy solely overseas terrorists for the ugly focused killings in Pahalgam’s Baisaran valley. To make sure full secrecy, no Kashmiri terrorists had been taken on board, and as an alternative, LeT overseas terrorists working in J&Ok for someday had been informed to execute the killings whereas making certain minimal native involvement on a “need-to-know” foundation.The Pahalgam assault squad was led by Sulaiman, a suspected former Pakistani particular forces commando, who had educated on the LeT Muridke hub in Pakistan’s Punjab province earlier than crossing the LoC in 2022 along with his M-4 weapon to enter the Jammu area. Two different Pakistani terrorists had been members of the squad.Satellite tv for pc telephone evaluation has revealed that Sulaiman’s location on April 15 was in Tral forest, indicating he was within the neighborhood of the assault website at Baisaran for nearly per week earlier than the incident.Sulaiman was additionally concerned within the April 2023 assault on an Military truck in Poonch, during which 5 troopers had been killed. Nevertheless, he laid low for the subsequent two years, earlier than finishing up the ISI-LeT mission. Sources didn’t reveal the identities of the 2 different Pakistani terrorists who selectively gunned down the 26 civilians — all males and 25 of them being Hindus.Regardless that the J&Ok Police had earlier suspected the position of Pakistani terrorists Hashim Musa and Ali Bhai, probe has solely confirmed Sulaiman’s position until now. There isn’t any corroboration of the position of native Kashmiri terrorist Adil Hussain Thoker as a facilitator, both.“No native terrorist had participated within the ugly killing or was within the loop on precise particulars of the fear plot,” a senior official informed TOI. Even the 2 locals arrested by the NIA within the case final month — Parvaiz Ahmad Jothar from Batkote, Pahalgam, and Bashir Ahmad Jothar from Hill Park, Pahalgam — are believed to have had a restricted position, having offered the armed Pakistani terrorists meals, shelter and different logistics in return for a couple of thousand rupees. They’ve additionally denied any data of the terrorists’ plan to hit vacationers in Baisaran.The assault in Baisaran was surprising as terrorists are usually not identified to focus on vacationers within the Kashmir Valley. The realm the place the assault occurred is an open meadow. There was no facility or room for safety forces to be current there. Vacationers had began visiting Baisaran solely three days earlier than the incident after rains stopped. The J&Ok Tourism Growth Company had leased the positioning for 3 years to a personal operator, however full fee had not been acquired. Therefore, all crucial permissions had not been given to open up the positioning to vacationers.There are at present about 68 overseas terrorists and three native terrorists lively within the Valley. Just one native terror recruitment has been reported up to now this yr.
