NIA Charge Sheet Exposes Pakistan-Backed Lashkar–TRF Plot Behind Pahalgam Massacre
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday filed a comprehensive charge sheet against the Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), its frontal outfit The Resistance Front (TRF), and other accused in connection with the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which left 26 people dead.
The attack—one of the deadliest in Jammu and Kashmir in recent years—had pushed India and Pakistan to the brink of a full-scale military confrontation.
Filed nearly eight months after the massacre, the 1,597-page charge sheet was submitted before a special NIA court in Jammu.
It lays out, in detail, the cross-border conspiracy orchestrated from Pakistan, the operational chain of command, financial and logistical support mechanisms, and the specific roles played by each accused in planning and executing the attack.
According to the NIA, seven accused have been named, including Sajid Jatt, a Pakistan-based commander of TRF and a close associate of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed.
The agency said Jatt was the key handler and supervisor of the Pahalgam attack and has been linked to several targeted killings of non-Kashmiri civilians in Jammu and Kashmir since 2021, reflecting a sustained terror campaign aimed at communal polarisation and destabilisation of the region.
The Pahalgam attack, the charge sheet notes, involved religion-based targeted killings, with 25 tourists and one local civilian gunned down in a calculated assault designed to spread fear, disrupt tourism, and provoke wider unrest.
The NIA has formally charged the banned LeT/TRF as a legal entity, holding the organisation criminally liable for planning, facilitating, financing, and executing the attack.
The charge sheet also names three Pakistani terrorists—Faisal Jatt alias Suleman Shah, Habeeb Tahir alias Jibran, and Hamza Afghani—who directly carried out the killings.
All three were neutralised by security forces in a major encounter in the Dachigam forest area of Srinagar on July 28, bringing the operational cell to an end.
In addition, the NIA has named two residents, Parvaiz Ahmad Jothar and Bashir Ahmad Jothar, who were earlier arrested for harbouring, guiding, and providing logistical assistance to the Pakistani terrorists. Investigators say their support enabled the attackers to move, hide, and execute the assault with precision.
Legally, the agency has invoked stringent provisions under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Arms Act, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), including sections related to terrorist acts, criminal conspiracy, and waging war against the Government of India.
The charge sheet is backed by forensic evidence, digital trails, witness statements, financial links, and intelligence inputs, underscoring what the NIA describes as a clear case of state-supported terrorism emanating from across the border.
Officials said the filing of the charge sheet marks a critical step toward prosecution and international accountability, reinforcing India’s position on Pakistan-sponsored terror networks operating through proxy outfits like TRF to mask LeT’s involvement.
Villagers sit near the coffin of Adil Hussain Shah, killed in a terror attack near Pahalgam, in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, India, April 23, 2025.
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