Pahalgam terror attack: NIA chargesheet names LeT-TRF, six accused

THe subject investigating authority (NIA) on mon filed a chargesheet against terrorist organisation lashkar-e-toiba (LeT), its proxy The Resistance Front (TRF), and others in connection with the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives, detailing conspiracy by Pakistan and roles of the accused nearly eight months after the incident that had brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a full-scale war.The 1,597-page chargesheet, filed before a special NIA court in Jammu, named seven accused, including Sajid Jatt, a Pakistan-based commander of TRF and a close aide of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed. An NIA spokesperson said Jatt supervised the Pahalgam terror attack — which involved religion-based targeted killings of 25 tourists and one local civilian — and was also behind a majority of targeted attacks carried out by TRF on non-Kashmiri civilians in Jammu and Kashmir since 2021.“The chargesheet, which details Pakistan’s conspiracy, roles of the accused, and supporting evidence in the case, has charged the banned LeT/TRF as a legal entity for its role in planning, facilitating, and executing the Pahalgam attack,” the spokesperson said.The chargesheet also names three terrorists — Faisal Jatt alias Suleman Shah, Habeeb Tahir alias Jibran, and Hamza Afghani — who had executed the attack and were killed by the security forces in an encounter in Dachigam forest in Srinagar on July 28. Two local residents Parvaiz Ahmad and Bashir Ahmad Jothatd, who were arrested by NIA for harbouring and assisting the three Pakistani terrorists have also been named in the charge sheet.The agency has invoked various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Arms Act, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA, and a section pertaining to waging war against India.“NIA, through a meticulous scientific probe spanning the past almost eight months, had traced the conspiracy in the case to Pakistan, which has been unabatedly sponsoring terrorism against India,” the spokesperson said.The chargesheet details how the three Pakistani attackers “stormed a village, asked people their religion, and killed them, which was a clear attempt to incite communal violence”, the spokesperson said.The federal anti-terror probe agency had interrogated over 1,000 people during its probe and collected various technical and forensic evidence linking Pakistan-based terrorists to the Pahalgam attack. It also found Aadhaar cards, photographs and Facebook IDs of certain individuals from the mobile phones of the three Pakistani terrorists, who were neutralised by the security forces during Operation Mahadev on July 28.Several end-to-end encrypted communications between the three terrorists and Sajid Jatt, who planned and organised the Pahalgam attack, have also been decoded and formed part of NIA evidence in the charge sheet, the spokesperson said.NIA said the two local men —Ahmad and Jothatd — had disclosed the identities of the three terrorists involved in the attack, and had also confirmed that they were Pakistani nationals affiliated to proscribed LeT terror outfit.On December 13, HT had reported that NIA would file its charge sheet in the Pahalgam terror attack this week.The April 22 terror attack at the picturesque Baisaran meadow had brought India and Pakistan at the brink of a full-scale war. India launched Operation Sindoor in the early hours of May 7 and struck terror and military installations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) before the May 10 ceasefire.