Ranit Kr. Singh , Srinagar — The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a comprehensive chargesheet establishing direct Pakistani involvement in last year’s April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed 26 lives. Orchestrated by Lashkar-e-Taiba/The Resistance Front (LeT/TRF) handler Sajid Saiffullah Jatt from Pakistan, the operation resulted in the targeted execution-style killing of 25 Indian tourists and one local pony operator. Technical analysis by the agency conclusively traced the IP addresses of both the social media accounts claiming the strike and subsequent automated denials directly to Pakistani cities, including Rawalpindi and Bahawalpur, while cross-border logistics were confirmed via recovered mobil devices originally sold in Pakistan.

The investigation provided a chilling, blow-by-blow account of the hours preceding the assault, revealing that the three heavily armed attackers—later neutralized by security forces—sheltered at a local hut the previous night. On the morning of the massacre, the terrorists sat near the scenic Baisaran meadow to eat lunch and track tourist movements before launching their coordinated assault at 2:23 PM. Moving systematically, the assailants utilized an M4 carbine and AK-47s to trap civilians in an enclosed "kill zone," explicitly verifying the religious identities of their victims and shooting non-Muslims at point-blank range before engaging in celebratory gunfire during their retreat.

Highlighting the cross-border orchestration, the investigative agency stated, “The hierarchical command structure, cross-border encrypted coordination, weapons logistics, and handler-driven tasking, as reflected in the charge sheet and corroborated by material evidence, leave no doubt that the attack was a Pakistan-sponsored terrorist operation, executed by LeT/TRF.”