Pahalgam terror attack: NIA gets 5-day custody of two locals accused of harbouring Pakistani militants

An NIA spokesperson said, 'The accused have disclosed the identities of the three armed terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack. They confirmed that all three were Pakistani nationals affiliated with the banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.'

Srinagar: A local court in Jammu on Monday granted the National Investigation Agency (NIA) five-day remand of two men accused of sheltering the Pakistani terrorists behind the April 22 deadly terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people, most of them tourists, and left 16 others injured.

The two accused - Parvaiz Ahmad Jothar, a resident of Batkote, and Bashir Ahmad Jothar of Hill Park, both from Pahalgam - were produced before Additional District and Sessions Judge Ritesh Kumar Dubey, who remanded the two to NIA custody till June 27.

The arrests, made on Sunday, mark the first major breakthrough in the high-profile investigation into one of the deadliest attacks in Kashmir in recent years. Until now, progress in identifying the attackers had remained elusive.

According to NIA officials, the two men provided shelter and food to the three foreign terrorists responsible for the carnage.

“The accused have disclosed the identities of the three armed terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack. They confirmed that all three were Pakistani nationals affiliated with the banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba,” an NIA spokesperson said.

The terrorists, the agency said, had stayed at the homes of the two accused in the days leading up to the attack - a chilling revelation that confirms the presence of an active and well-protected foreign militant module operating inside a popular tourist destination.

The arrests have also significantly altered the course of the investigation. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, the Jammu and Kashmir Police had released sketches of three suspects: Pakistani nationals Hashim Musa and Ali Bhai alias Talha, along with a local resident Adil Hussain Thoker.

However, sources in the NIA have now confirmed that none of the three men depicted in the sketches were involved in the attack. “The sketches were based on initial field-level intelligence. But further investigation, including forensic and technical evidence, has identified a different group of individuals,” a senior officer said on condition of anonymity.

One of the attackers is now believed to be Suleiman Shah, a Pakistani terrorist already wanted for his involvement in the October 20, 2023, attack on workers building the Z-Morh tunnel on the Srinagar-Sonamarg highway. That assault left seven workers dead.

Shah’s accomplice in that attack, Junaid Ramzan Bhat, was killed in a gunfight with J&K Police on December 4 last year. Intelligence sources said the modus operandi in both attacks - including the use of terrain, the timing, and execution - bore striking similarities.

“The operational patterns are almost identical. That’s why there is high confidence that Suleiman Shah was involved in the Pahalgam incident too,” a senior intelligence official said.