Hamas, Pak trying to link J&K terrorism to fight against Israel
Soldiers return after searches around Baisaran meadow on Wednesday
NEW DELHI: With parallels being drawn between the terrorist attack at the picnic spot in Pahalgam and the Oct 7 attack carried out by the terror outfit Hamas in Israel, intelligence sources have pointed to multiple visits by senior Hamas functionaries to Pakistan over the past year.
A Hamas team recently visited Jaish-e-Muhammed's headquarters in Bahawalpur besides a Pakistani Army facility, which houses their combat simulation centre, inaugurated by Army chief Asim Munir last month. The area hosts the Bahawalpur Corps, a Pakistani military formation tasked with border defence and rapid deployment due to its strategic proximity to Rajasthan.
In Feb, top Lashkar-e-Taiba and JeM cadres gathered in Rawalakote, PoK, on '
Kashmir Solidarity Day
' for a speech by senior Hamas functionaries, sources said. The gathering, organized under the banner of Al Aqsa Floods — a reference to the mosque in Jerusalem, which is claimed by both Jews and Muslims and has long been an inflammable point of discord — was addressed by Hamas spokesperson Khalid Qaddoumi. Agencies here viewed the event as an attempt to link their jihadi campaign in J&K with the Palestinian fight against Israel, framing both as a 'resistance against occupation'.
There have been clear indications of Hamas's increased presence in Pakistan in the last one year, especially after its Oct 7 terror attack on Israel in 2023.
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Last year in Jan, Qaddoumi was invited to address Pakistan Parliament. Significantly, welcoming Qaddoumi, a Pakistani lawmaker had claimed that India and Israel had planned an economic corridor — the Indian Middle East Eurpean Corridor — aimed at countering the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). 'That plan is now buried under the rubble of Gaza,' he gloated.
Hamas leaders' visit to Pakistan came soon after Ismail Haniyeh, the then chief of Hamas, had sought help from Pakistan in their fight against Israel. When Haniyeh was assassinated on July 31, 2024, in Tehran, prompting Pakistan to declare a national day of mourning.
'Hamas leaders also held an 'al-Aqsa million march' in Karachi last year. Qaddoumi referred to Pakistan as an 'elder brother' in gratitude to Islamabad for agreeing to host 15 Palestinian prisoners freed under a ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Hamas,' a source recalled.
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