Handler in Lahore, shooters from Pakistan: Indian probe unmasks Pahalgam terror plot with nailing evidence

Following the ‘Operation Mahadev’ last week, Indian security agencies have identified the handler of terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack and traced the route that those terrorists took, according to a report.

On July 28, the Indian Army said it killed three terrorists in the Dachigam area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar. Those were later said to be involved in attack in J&K’s Pahalgam’s Baisaran meadow in which they killed 26 people.

The CNN-News 18 has reported that Indian agencies have now identified Sajid Saifullah Jatt, the south Kashmir operations chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), as the key handler based in Lahore, Pakistan. The report said that the agencies have also confirmed the terrorists’ link to Pakistan and LeT through funeral prayers of those killed in Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK), which were coordinated by Rizwan Anees of LeT.

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The agencies believe that the evidence leaves no doubt that the three persons killed in Dachigam, who they have identified as Suleman Shah (alias Faizal Jatt), Abu Hamza (alias “Afghan"), and Yasir (alias “Jibran") were Pakistani nationals and part of the LeT.

How agencies confirmed link to Pakistan

The evidence found from three terrorists in Dachigam contains voter ID cards and a NADRA card, which are the Pakistani equivalent of Aadhaar card, according to CNN-News 18.

The agencies have found that these cards have been tied to electoral rolls in Lahore and Gujranwala, confirming the Pakistani identities of those killed in Dachigam, according to the report.

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The agencies have flagged the presence of Pakistan-made chocolate as further proof of Pakistani roots of terrorists.

As for the route they took, the agencies have assessed that they crossed into India near Gurez and were later sheltered in a seasonal hut near Pahalgam by two Kashmiri men —Parvaiz and Bashir Ahmad Jothar— who later confessed to aiding them, the report said.

GPS data from a Garmin device recovered from one of them and call logs from a Huawei satellite phone established their movements and linkages to operational control in Pakistan, the report said.