Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday delivered a strong rebuttal in the Lok Sabha to senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram’s remarks questioning the origin of terrorists involved in the recent Pahalgam attack. Shah accused the former Home Minister of “giving a clean chit” to Pakistan by suggesting the attackers might be homegrown.

“Yesterday, former Home Minister Chidambaram ji asked what proof we have that the terrorists came from Pakistan. I want to ask him — what does he gain by trying to shield Pakistan? When someone raises such doubts, it indirectly clears Pakistan of its involvement,” Shah asserted during the Monsoon Session.

Referring to evidence recovered during Operation Mahadev, where three terrorists were neutralized, Shah said, “Our agencies recovered Pakistani rifles, chocolates, and even two Pakistani voter ID cards from the slain terrorists. That leaves no room for doubt.”

Shah identified the terrorists as Suleman, Afghan, and Jibran, and confirmed they were neutralized during the operation. He added that locals who had previously supplied them with food were detained and later helped confirm the identities once the bodies were brought to Srinagar.

“The people who aided them were already under detention, and they identified the terrorists. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested those who gave them shelter,” Shah informed.

He also detailed the forensic verification process, stating that cartridges recovered from the attack site were matched with the seized rifles. “The FSL report is complete, and additional forensic tests conducted in Chandigarh have confirmed without doubt that these three men carried out the Pahalgam terror attack,” he added.

Shah’s fiery response follows Chidambaram’s earlier statement questioning the government’s transparency. Chidambaram had said, “Have they identified the terrorists? Where did they come from? For all we know, they could be homegrown.”