Pahalgam Attack Terrorists Killed, Confirms Shah

New Delhi: Armed with forensic and scientific evidence, Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday informed Parliament that all three perpetrators behind the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22 have been eliminated.

While participating in a special discussion on Operation Sindoor in Lok Sabha, Shah said Operation Mahadev was launched to nab the perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack, during which three terrorists — Suleiman Shah, Hamza Afghani (Afghan) and Zibran — were on Monday shot dead in a joint operation of the Indian Army, CRPF and the Jammu and Kashmir police in Dachigam, Kashmir.

Suleiman was a category A commander of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT). He was involved in the terrorist attacks in Pahalgam and Gagangir. Afghan and Jibran were also category A LeT terrorists and were involved in the killing of tourists in Baisaran Valley on April 22.

The Union home minister congratulated the jawans of Army's 4 Para, CRPF and Jammu and Kashmir police on behalf of the House and the entire nation for this success.

Shah told the House that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had already arrested the people who had given shelter to these three terrorists. He added that when the bodies of these three terrorists came to Srinagar, four people identified them as perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack. After this, on the basis of the Forensic Science Laboratory report of the cartridges found at the site of the Pahalgam terrorist attack, they were matched with the three rifles recovered from these three terrorists in Dachigam.

The Union home minister informed the Lok Sabha that these three rifles were transported to Chandigarh on Monday night by a special plane and their empty shells were generated by firing. After this, the shells found in the Pahalgam attack were matched with the barrels of the rifles and the shells that came out after the firing. It was then confirmed that the citizens were killed in Pahalgam with these three rifles.

"Six forensic experts have confirmed to me on a video call this morning that these are the same bullets used in the Pahalgam attack," Shah said, adding the security forces had recovered Pakistani voter IDs of two of the killed terrorists as well as chocolates and weapons made in Pakistan.

Two persons, Bashir and Parvez Ahmed Jothar, who had given shelter to the terrorists on the day of the Pahalgam attack, were arrested on June 22. During interrogation, Bashir and Parvez revealed that on the night of April 21 at 8 pm, three terrorists, carrying AK-47s and an M9 carbine, had come to them, Shah said, adding that the mother of Bashir and Parvez has also identified the three killed terrorists.

As per the NIA, Parvaiz and Bashir had knowingly harboured the three armed terrorists at a seasonal ‘dhok’ (hut) before the attack and had provided food, shelter and logistical support to the terrorists, who killed the tourists on the basis of their religious identity, making it one of the most gruesome terrorist attacks ever. A total of 26 persons were killed in the attack.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, the home minister said that through Operation Sindoor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi worked to finish the masters of the terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack. And on Monday the Indian Army and the CRPF also killed the three terrorists behind the Pahalgam attack.

“Modiji killed those who sent the terrorists through Operation Sindoor and our security forces killed those terrorists who were involved. Through Operation Sindoor, such a lesson has been taught to the terrorists and their masters that no one will dare to do such a thing for a long time to come,” said Shah.

Shah further said the day LeT and its proxy outfit, The Resistance Front (TRF), took responsibility for the Pahalgam attack, the government decided to hand over investigations to the NIA.

The Union minister revealed that immediately after the attack, the Army, BSF, CRPF and the Jammu Kashmir police made full arrangements to ensure that these terrorists could not leave the country and flee to Pakistan. He told the House that at the beginning of the investigation of the attack, discussions were held with the families of the deceased. A total of 1,055 people, including tourists, mule owners, pony owners, photographers, employees and shop workers, were interrogated for more than 3,000 hours and all this was recorded on video.

Describing Pakistan as the root of all terrorism, Shah said Pakistan was a mistake committed by the Congress. "Had they rejected Partition, there would have been no Pakistan."

Shah also attacked the Opposition party for giving a "clean chit" to Pakistan for the Pahalgam attack while referring to former Union home minister and Congress MP in Rajya Sabha P. Chidambaram's recent reported remarks that those behind the Pahalgam massacre could be "homegrown terrorists.”

Shah said between 2005 and 2011, there were 27 terrorist attacks, but what did the Congress government do? "They just sent dossiers to Pakistan, but now after the scrapping of Article 370, there are no local terrorists in Kashmir. Terrorists are being sent from Pakistan to Jammu and Kashmir."

"From 2004 to 2014, there were 7,217 terrorist incidents in Kashmir. From 2014 to 2025, these reduced by 70 per cent to 2,150. From 2004 to 2014, 1,770 civilians died. This reduced by 80 per cent to 357 from 2014 to 2025. From 2004 to 2014, the number of deaths of security forces was 1,060. This decreased to 542 in our time. And there was a 123 per cent increase in the deaths of terrorists," Mr Shah said.

Attacking Congress, the Union home minister said underworld don Dawood Ibrahim fled in 1986 when Rajiv Gandhi's government was in power. Terrorists Syed Salahuddin, Tiger Memon and Anis Ibrahim Kaskar fled in 1993 when the Congress government was in power. When Riyaz Bhatkal fled in 2007 and Iqbal Bhatkal fled in 2010, again it was a Congress government at the Centre.