Massive Manhunt Launched to Trace Pahalgam Attackers, Pakistan as Usual in Denial Mode

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Apr 23: Indian forces have launched a massive manhunt for the perpetrators of one of the deadliest terror attacks in the Baisaran meadows in upper reaches of Pahalgam in the restive Himalayan region in which at least 26 people were shot dead from point blank range and several others injured even as Pakistan continued to be in the denial mode adopting a posture of innocence.

Tens of thousands of armed police and soldiers fanned out across the region and erected additional checkpoints and also pressed helicopters in service to detect if any terrorist was hiding in the thick forests. The security forces searched cars and in some areas summoned former militants to police stations for questioning. As investigators began probing the attack, many shops and businesses in Jammu and Kashmir closed to protest the killings following a call from the region’s religious and political parties.

Even as The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow group of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terror outfit, claimed responsibility for the dastardly attack on Tuesday afternoon and the security forces released sketches of suspected terrorists, said to be hailing from Pakistan, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khwaja Asif claimed on Wednesday that they have nothing to do with the incident and maintained that it was an internal matter of India.

“We have absolutely nothing to do with it. We reject terrorism in all its forms and everywhere,” Asif told a Pakistan TV channel on the Pahalgam attack. Indian officials, however, are not convinced by Pakistan’s denial since the initial probe has suggested the presence of foreigners as part of the group of militants who opened fire at the civilians. This was the first big terror attack targeted against civilians in the Valley since 2019.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, “We are concerned at the loss of tourists’ lives in an attack in Anantnag district… We extend our condolences to the near ones of the deceased and wish the injured a speedy recovery.”

India was sceptical about Islamabad’s remarks after the TRF’s claim for responsibility for the attack. An official in the security establishment has said the initial probe after recording the statement of victims and eyewitnesses revealed that four terrorists, including two believed to be “foreign nationals,” came in camouflage attire.

Security agencies on Wednesday released the sketches of three men suspected to be involved in the terror attack. The men, all three Pakistanis, are Asif Fauji, Suleman Shah and Abu Talha, officials said. They had code names — Moosa, Yunus and Asif — and were involved in terror related incidents in Poonch. The sketches were prepared with the help of survivors, they said. The sketches believed to have matched with photographs of some terrorists who the security agencies believe had crossed over to India from Pakistan earlier this month.

The Pahalgam attack comes a week after Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir’s statement that Kashmir is Islamabad’s “jugular vein” which was met with a sharp riposte from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Addressing the Overseas Pakistani Convention in Islamabad last week, General Munir said: “Our stance is absolutely clear, it was our jugular vein, it will be our jugular vein, we will not forget it. We will not leave our Kashmiri brothers in their heroic struggle.”

He had also spit venom against the Hindus. “Our religions are different, our customs are different, our traditions are different, our thoughts are different, our ambitions are different. That was the foundation of the two-nation theory that was laid there. We are two nations, we are not one nation,” Munir had said in one of his strongest statements in the recent past. At Pahalgam, the terrorist have selectively killed only the Hindus after asking each of the victim their names and ordering each of them to recite “kalam.”

Sources said the Indian government was looking at all strategic and security options, as was evident from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s quick meeting, just after touchdown in Delhi airport after he cut short his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia. He met with Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who had not travelled to Saudi Arabia, who briefed the Prime Minister and NSA Ajit Doval and External Affairs minister S Jaishankar about the situation in Kashmir.

The Union Home Minister Amit Shah who was telephonically told by the prime minister to immediately leave for Pahalgam, on Wednesday re-asserted that the country would not bend to terror and that those responsible for the killing of tourists at Pahalgam would not be spared. After laying wreaths on the bodies of those killed in the terror attack, he said on X, “With a heavy heart, paid last respects to the deceased of the Pahalgam terror attack. “Bharat will not bend to terror. The culprits of this dastardly terror attack will not be spared,” he said. The Home Minister later interacted with families of the slain persons and other survivors of the attack.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh cancels his upcoming visit to Ladakh which was scheduled on April 25-26, in view of the Pahalgam terror attack, say defence sources. After a meeting with three chiefs of staff of the armed forces reviewing the situation Mr Singh said, “The people involved in the dastardly terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam will get a strong response in the “near future” and that India cannot be “intimidated” by any such terrorist activities.

“From this platform, I assure the countrymen that in view of the incident, the government of India will take every step that is necessary and appropriate,” Mr Singh said. “And we will not only trace those who perpetrated this incident. We will also reach out to those who, sitting behind the scenes, have conspired to carry out the nefarious act on the soil of India,” he said.

It is learnt that the defence minister directed the armed forces to enhance their combat readiness and increase intensity of anti-terror operations. Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi presented a detailed overview of the security situation in J&K, including deployment of his forces, at the meeting.

According to sources, the nearly two-and-a-half-hour meeting was attended by NSA Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan, Army Chief Gen Dwivedi, Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi and Air Chief Marshal AK Singh.

Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh and Director General of Military Operations Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai too joined the meeting, where all possible aspects of the situation that emerged following the attack were discussed, the sources said.