NIA charge sheet arms India to call out Pakistan’s Pahalgam bluff globally

NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a comprehensive 1,597-page charge sheet in the Pahalgam attack case. The charge sheet was filed eight months after the attack; the investigation was a comprehensive one by the NIA.

While the NIA lists all the operational details apart from naming the terrorists, handlers and masterminds, one of the most crucial aspects of the document is the direct link to Pakistan that the agency has managed to list. The charge sheet would serve as an important document for India to call out Pakistan again in the International community.

An official said that Pakistan has repeatedly denied its role in the attack and said that India's allegations were baseless. Pakistan also cried foul when India executed Operation Sindoor to avenge the Pahalgam attack. While the charge sheet was painstakingly prepared by the NIA, the priority was not to take the case to trial and secure a speedy conviction. This would further cement India's charge against Pakistan and its direct involvement in the attack, another official said.

Pakistan's intention was clear while it planned the attack. Not only did the establishment want a diversion from the issues it was facing at home, but it also wanted to disrupt the thriving tourism industry in Jammu and Kashmir. The establishment did manage to briefly derail the industry, but it is back in business.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that Pakistan initially tried to pass off the attack by stating it was the locals from Jammu and Kashmir who carried it out. This was aimed at building up public anger against the Kashmiris and dividing J&K and the rest of India, the official said. This, too, worked very briefly for Pakistan.

NIA officials say that there are key elements in the charge sheet that pin down Pakistan. Two Android mobiles were recovered from the site at which Operation Mahadev took place. It was during this encounter that the three Pakistani terrorists were gunned down by the security agencies at Dachigam. The NIA managed to find crucial evidence which established that the terrorists were of Pakistani origin. (IANS)

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