 "Home Minister Amit Shah has vowed not to spare those behind the attack. PTI")
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday hit out at Congress leader P Chidambaram over his recent remarks questioning the identity of the Pahalgam attackers, asserting that India has irrefutable proof that the terrorists killed in the operation were from Pakistan.
Speaking in Parliament during Operation Sindoor debate , Shah said the government had concrete evidence, including Pakistani voter ID numbers, rifles, cartridges, and even Pakistan-made chocolates, linking the April 22 Pahalgam terror attackers to Pakistan.
“NIA had already arrested those who gave them shelter. Those who fed them were detained. When the terrorists’ dead bodies reached Srinagar , they were identified as the three people who carried out the terror attack in Pahalgam. The FSL report of the cartridges from the terror attack was already ready. Yesterday, the rifles of the three terrorists were seized and matched with the FSL reports. Further tests were carried out in Chandigarh yesterday, after that it was confirmed that these three were those who carried out the terror attack,” Shah told the House.
Hitting out at Chidambaram directly, Shah said, “Yesterday, Chidambaram ji raised the question, what proof is there that the terrorists came from Pakistan? This question was raised just before the discussion was to take place in Parliament. I ask, what will you gain by protecting Pakistan?”
We have their voter IDs..: Amit Shah
He further accused the former Home Minister of giving a “clean chit” to Pakistan, “I want to tell Chidambaram ji that we have proof , those involved in this attack were from Pakistan. We have their voter ID numbers, and the rifles and cartridges used were made in Pakistan. The former Home Minister of this country is giving Pakistan a clean chit in front of the entire world.”
Pahalgam attackers could be ‘homegrown terrorists’: Chidambaram
The controversy was sparked by an interview Congress leader P Chidambaram gave to The Quint, where he questioned the government’s claims linking Pakistan to the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which claimed 26 lives, mostly civilians.
“Have they identified the terrorists? Where they came from? I mean, for all we know, they could be homegrown terrorists. Why do you assume that they came from Pakistan? There’s no evidence of that,” Chidambaram had said in the interview.