New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Sunday arrested two Kashmiri men who allegedly provided at least three Pakistani terrorists involved in the Pahalgam terror attack with food, shelter and logistical support in the days leading up to the massacre.
The two men arrested by the agency have been identified as Parvaiz Ahmad Jothar and Bashir Ahmad Jothar. NIA suspects the duo sheltered the terrorists from Pakistan at a seasonal hut in Pahalgam. An agency spokesperson said Sunday that Parvaiz and Bashir have revealed the identity of at least three terrorists, while confirming that they were Pakistani nationals and associated with Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
“Parvaiz and Bashir had knowingly harboured the three armed terrorists at a seasonal dhok (hut) at Hill Park before the attack, as per NIA investigations. The two men had provided food, shelter and logistical support to the terrorists, who had, on the fateful afternoon, selectively killed the tourists on the basis of their religious identity, making it one of the most gruesome terrorist attacks ever,” the NIA spokesperson said.
Sources privy to the probe told ThePrint that Parvaiz and Bashir are pony wallahs and live in a tent in the area where attack took place.
The development comes exactly two months after a group of terrorists shot tourists at Baisaran meadows, a tourist spot in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam. Twenty-four Indian tourists, a Kashmiri local and a Nepalese tourist were killed in the attack. Eyewitness accounts indicate that the terrorists, armed with assault rifles, singled out victims on the basis of religious identity and shot them at close range in front of their families.
A case into the matter was first registered by Jammu and Kashmir Police which then released a sketch of three suspected terrorists involved in the attack. The case was later handed over to NIA at the direction of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) days.
The NIA, which was at the site of the incident barely hours after the 22 April attack, was part of the probe since the beginning and has deployed a three-member team of senior officials led by an Inspector General of Police (IG) rank officer to probe the matter.
Investigators, it is learnt, have so far recorded the statements of more than a thousand people, including local Kashmiris, to gather information about the attackers.
India responded to the Pahalgam attack by carrying out precision strikes against terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir on 7 May in what it codenamed ‘Operation Sindoor’. Among sites targeted were the headquarters of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Islamabad retaliated by attempting to target military and civilian infrastructure in India, to which New Delhi responded by hitting air defence infrastructure and air force bases in Pakistan. The two countries climbed up the escalation ladder before agreeing to a cessation of hostilities understanding on 10 May.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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Pakistan can never indulge in mischief in the Kashmir Valley unless the local Kashmiris support them. Without support from the local communities, it is simply impossible for Pak backed terrorists to operate in the region.