Pahalgam probe: Terrorists were trained in Pakistan, claim officials

INITIAL investigations into the terror attack in Pahalgam that claimed the lives of 26 people indicate that the number of terrorists involved could range from five to seven, aided by at least two local militants who received training in Pakistan, officials said on Wednesday (23).

According to the officials piecing together the available evidence, the role of Aadil Thokar alias Aadil Guree, a resident of Bijbehara, has emerged based on identification by the wife of one of the deceased tourists.

Officials believe that Aadil Thokar crossed over to Pakistan in 2018 where he underwent armed training with the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit before infiltrating back into India to carry out attacks.

The probe suggests that while four terrorists lined up the tourists at the Baisaran meadows on Tuesday before firing at them from a point-blank range, at least one to three terrorists were strategically positioned to maintain watch for any approaching security forces.

The terrorists were carrying body cameras to record their barbaric act, the officials said quoting eyewitnesses.

At least six to seven pictures were shown to eyewitnesses out of which one identified Aadil as the terrorist who was pulling the trigger, the officials said, adding after the incident the terrorists vanished into the thick pine tree jungles of Pir Panjal.

The officials said that while dozens of people had been rounded for questioning, efforts had been scaled up to nab the actual perpetrators of the heinous crime.

Security agencies also released the sketches of three men suspected to be involved in the terror attack. The men, all three Pakistanis, are Asif Fauji, Suleman Shah and Abu Talha, officials said.

They had code names - Moosa, Yunus and Asif - and were involved in terror-related incidents in Poonch.

The Resistance Front, a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest since Pulwama.

All-party meeting

The government will be calling an all-party meeting on Thursday (24) in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, official sources said.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh is likely to chair it, they said.

Home minister Amit Shah and Singh are speaking to leaders of various parties on the issue, the sources said.

Several opposition parties, including the Congress, had demanded that the government should convene a meeting of all parties over the issue.

Singh is expected to brief leaders of different parties on the brutal terror attack targeting tourists that left at least 26 persons dead.

Indus Water Treaty suspended

On Wednesday (23) evening, prime minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security.

India has decided to suspend the Indus Water Treaty and announced downgrading diplomatic ties with Pakistan, including the expulsion of its military attachés.

The committee also decided to close the Integrated Check Post at Attari with immediate effect, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said at a late evening press briefing.

Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) and any such visas issued in the past to Pakistani nationals are deemed cancelled, Misri said.

The CCS decided that the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 will be held in abeyance with immediate effect, until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism, he said.

On closing of the Integrated Check Post at Attari, Misri said those who have crossed over with valid endorsements may return through that route before May 1.

Misri said, "The defence, military, naval and air Advisors in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi are declared Persona Non Grata."

They have a week to leave India, he said. (PTI)