India Charges 8 Terrorists, Including Pakistan Handler, in Pahalgam Attack Probe

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a chargesheet against eight individuals, including a Pakistani handler, in connection with the Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 civilians dead in Jammu and Kashmir. The 1,597-page chargesheet, filed within the statutory 180-day deadline, details Pakistan's involvement in the conspiracy and accuses banned terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and The Resistance Front (TRF) of planning, facilitating, and executing the attack. According to the NIA, the accused include four terrorists who were killed by security personnel during Operation Mahadev in July: Sajid Jatt, Faisal Jatt alias Suleman Shah, Habeeb Tahir alias Jibran, and Hamza Afghani. Two other individuals, Bashir Ahmad Jothar and Parvez Ahmad Jothar, were arrested in June for harbouring terrorists and disclosing the identities of the three terrorists who carried out the attack. The NIA has charged the accused under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, the Arms Act, 1959, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The agency has also invoked the penal section against the accused for waging war against India. The Pahalgam attack sparked a series of retaliatory strikes between India and Pakistan, including Operation Sindoor, which aimed to neutralize terror camps across the border. The incident brought the two nations to the brink of war, with India launching pre-dawn strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on May 7. The NIA's probe involved interrogating over 1,000 individuals and collecting technical and forensic evidence to link Pakistan-based terrorists to the attack. The agency has also decoded end-to-end encrypted communications between the terrorists and their handler in Pakistan, which will form part of the evidence in the chargesheet.