RAWALPINDI: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, on Tuesday said that India hadn’t provided a “shred of evidence for its baseless allegations” against Pakistan concerning the Pahalgam attack, adding that India was involved in “undertaking cross-border terrorism inside Pakistan.”
Relations between Pakistan and India have plummeted to their lowest level in years following the April 22 attack in Indian-occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which killed 26 men, mostly tourists, and was one of the deadliest armed attacks on civilians in the disputed Himalayan region since 2000. Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front, said it “unequivocally” denied involvement in the attack, after an initial message that claimed responsibility.
Following the incident, New Delhi, without providing any evidence, implied Pakistan backed the attackers — an allegation that Islamabad has strongly denied. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for a neutral probe into the incident.
Lt Gen Chaudhry said that seven days had passed since the Pahalgam incident but, so far, India had not provided a “shred of evidence” for its “baseless allegations” against Pakistan.
“We will present to you how India has been found to operate a terror network inside Pakistan in which explosives, IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and other materials are being provided to terrorists to target not only military but also innocent civilians,” he said.
The army’s spokesperson said the evidence he was presenting was just “one small part” of India’s “state-sponsored terrorism”.
“Four days ago, on April 25, an Indian-trained and sponsored terrorist, who was a Pakistani citizen, was arrested near the Jhelum bus stand from whom one IED, two mobile phones, and Rs70,000 were recovered,” he said, adding that further investigation yielded an Indian-origin drone from his house along with Rs1 million in cash.
The DG ISPR said that a forensic analysis of the retrieved materials showed “irrefutable” evidence that could be examined by any credible independent agency.
“The handler was a junior commissioned officer (JCO) of the Indian army, Subedar Sukvinder,” Lt Gen Chaudhry said. “The Indian officer had sent an IED and instructed the terrorist to collect it from a point.
“The evidence I’m putting forth before you [shows] how India is carrying out terrorism in Pakistan [through] serving officers and JCOs of the Indian army.”
He said further forensic analysis showed the involvement of four Indian army officials in the situation: Major Sandeep Verma alias Sameer, the main handler and a commanding officer of the Indian army in occupied Kashmir; Subedar Sukvinder alias Sikander; Havildar Amit alias Adil Aman: and another Indian soldier.
He said that Major Sandeep had hired terrorist Abdul Majeed and aired an alleged audio exchange between the two discussing the mode of payment.
“Just see, just hear what is being said by an Indian serving major. He is saying that ‘we conduct terrorism from Balochistan to Lahore’; He is telling the details of entry and how terror financing is carried out,” Chaudhry added.
The DG ISPR said the audio clip was “what you call irrefutable evidence of state-sponsored terrorism” collected from just one terrorist cell that the military was putting forth in today’s press conference.
Chaudhry said the Indian-trained terrorist had carried out four acts of militancy through IED attacks and that the IEDs were transported through drones.
He added that it was not the Indian intelligence agency RAW but the Indian army that was doing such activities of state-sponsored terrorism.
“The terrorist’s fourth attack took place after the Pahalgam incident,” he said, adding that a location near Nadala was shared with Majeed to retrieve the IED on April 22 and carry out the attack the next day at a populated bus stand.“
The DG ISPR said the terrorist was apprehended on April 25.
“Post-Pahalgam, because of the designs of terrorism that they have, they tasked all their assets, the terrorists operating in Balochistan, and we have credible intelligence for that, the Fitna-al-Khawarij and the independent terrorist cells … to increase their activity,” he said, using the state-designated term for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
This, he said, was manifested two nights back when security forces killed 54 terrorists attempting to infiltrate through the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s North Waziristan district.
DG ISPR said the total number of terrorists killed was 71 so far after 17 more were taken out later.
Earlier today, the Pakistan Army shot down an Indian quadcopter drone near the Line of Control (LoC) in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, state media reported. The development came as Indian and Pakistani soldiers reportedly traded fire along the Line of Control for a fifth straight night, after four years of relative calm.
Indian links in Jaffer Express attack
Earlier today, the Pakistan Mission to the United Nations said the country had “credible evidence” proving that the Jaffer Express attack was “externally sponsored by its regional adversaries”, according to a press release issued today.
The Jaffar Express train was hijacked on March 11 when Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) terrorists ambushed the Peshawar-bound train carrying 440 passengers, opening fire and taking hostages.
Security forces launched a two-day operation, concluding on March 12. DG Chaudhry had said that all 33 terrorists were neutralised, but no hostages were harmed in the final rescue phase.
