NEW DELHI, Dec 15: Exposing Pakistan’s involvement in the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 in which 26 innocent tourists were done to death, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) named Sajid Saifullah Jutt, a Pakistani national, as the main conspirator behind the carnage in the charge-sheet.
Jutt, a resident of Pakistan’s Kasoor, heads Lashkar-e-Taiba’s (LeT) offshoot, The Resistance Front (TRF). The NIA announced a Rs 10 lakh reward for information leading to his capture and has designated him a proscribed terrorist under the UAPA. A charge sheet was filed after eight months of proper investigation.
The other names in the charge sheet are three Pakistani terrorists – Suleimani Shah, Hamza Afghani and Jibran – who carried out the attack in Pahalgam and were killed during operation Mahadev in Dachigam area on July 28. The charge sheet, filed in an NIA court in Jammu region, names six others, including local accomplices Bashir Ahmed Jothar, Parvez Ahmed Jothar, and Mohammad Yusuf Katari, who provided food and logistical support to the terrorists. The charge sheet includes names of three more.
Investigators found that Bashir and Parvez hosted Pahalgam killers in a hut in the Hill Park area on April 21 night. Mohammad Yousuf helped the terrorists behind the Pahalgam terror attack by navigating the forest belt in South Kashmir and guiding them to the attack site.
The NIA questioned over 1,000 people during its seven-month investigation, uncovering the LeT and TRF network involved in the attack. According to the NIA, the LeT/TRF and the four aforementioned terrorists have been charged under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, the Arms Act, 1959, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967. “In its charge sheet, the NIA has also invoked penal provisions relating to waging war against the Government of India,” a statement said.
Meanwhile, on the occasion of the “Vijay Diwas” on Monday, a weaponised drone – one of hundreds Pakistan fired at Indian military installations and civilian settlements during Operation Sindoor in May in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, was deconstructed and put on display at Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi’s Delhi home. The display, which included other Indian Army’s memorabilia, was to mark Vijay Diwas.
Starting May 8, 24 hours after India destroyed terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pak-occupied Kashmir as retaliation for the Pahalgam attack, Pak responded with a barrage of hundreds of armed drones targeting 36 towns or cities across Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, and Punjab.
One of those drones was a YIHA-III, a type of ‘kamikaze’ or ‘suicide drone’ developed jointly by Turkey and Pakistan, and used extensively by the latter during Operation Sindoor. These are called ‘kamikaze’ because they are weapon systems that can hover over, or circle a designated area, searching for a suitable target before launching its suicide attack. However, almost all the drones were shot down by India and the Indian armed forces’ nearly-impenetrable multi-layered, missile defence system.
The drone on display at the Army Chief’s home was a YIHA-III that was flying at an altitude of 2,000 metres when it was shot down on May 10. It had been launched from Lahore International Airport with an estimated 10kg of munitions, and the intended target was the Indian Air Force base in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur, officials said. But it was never allowed to reach that target; it was shot down over Amritsar.
Cyber experts from the Indian Army have since taken the drone apart and analysed its components, including the flight control system, to establish its origin and target. There were reports the Pak military also launched Turkish-made ‘Songar’ armed drones, all five variants of which are made by Ankara-based defence company Asisguard.
The five variants are differentiated by the weapons they carry – 5.56 x 45 mm assault rifle, 2 x 40 mm grenade launcher, 6 x 40 drum-type grenade launcher, and 3 x 81 mm mortar gripper. The non-lethal version can carry eight tear gas canisters.
(Manas Dasgupta)
