The deadly terrorist attack that shook Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22, killing 26 people—many of them tourists—has been identified as a meticulously planned operation by Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI and terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). According India TV reports, the attack was executed entirely by foreign terrorists, under the direct oversight of Pakistan’s political and military leadership.
As per India TV Sources say the operation mirrored the scale and secrecy of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and was designed to avoid detection by excluding any involvement of Kashmiri operatives. Lashkar commander Sajid Jutt is said to have been instructed by ISI to deploy only Pakistani terrorists, keeping the entire plan strictly compartmentalized.
The attack squad was led by Sulaiman, a suspected former Pakistani special forces commando trained at LeT’s Muridke facility in Pakistan’s Punjab province. He reportedly infiltrated into Jammu in 2022 with an M-4 rifle and remained under the radar for two years before leading the Baisaran valley killings in Pahalgam. Satellite data placed Sulaiman in the Tral forest on April 15, indicating he had been in the area nearly a week before the strike.
Investigators believe Sulaiman may also have been involved in the April 2023 Army truck attack in Poonch, in which five Indian soldiers were killed. His long dormancy and sudden reappearance have raised alarm within the security establishment about the sophistication of the ISI-LeT strategy.
Though earlier suspicion had fallen on Pakistani terrorists Hashim Musa and Ali Bhai, only Sulaiman’s role has been confirmed so far. The identities of the two other Pakistani attackers remain unknown.
Authorities have categorically stated that no local terrorist was involved in executing the attack or aware of its planning. Two Pahalgam residents, Parvaiz Ahmad Jothar and Bashir Ahmad Jothar, were arrested by the NIA last month for providing food, shelter, and logistical support to the attackers for a small payment. However, both men have denied any knowledge of the planned killings.
The name of another suspected local facilitator, Adil Hussain Thoker, has surfaced in connection with the plot, but his role has not been verified.
According to the latest intelligence, 68 foreign terrorists and three local terrorists are currently active in Kashmir.
