Pak cries foul after US terror tag for Lashkar proxy, blames 'Indian propaganda'
In a statement, it said, "Pakistan has effectively and comprehensively dismantled concerned outfits, arrested and prosecuted the leadership, and deradicalised its cadres."In a familiar move, Pakistan called itself a 'frontline state against terrorism' and claimed it had 'contributed tremendously towards achievement of global peace through its counter-terrorism efforts.'The statement also rejected India's evidence-backed assertion of Lashkar's role in the Pahalgam killings, calling it a bid to 'misuse international forums to defame Pakistan.''India has a track record of exploiting such designations to push anti-Pakistan propaganda with a view to divert international attention from its irresponsible and rogue behaviour, including ongoing human rights atrocities, especially in IIOJ&K,' it said, using its preferred term for Jammu and Kashmir.Pakistan also demanded that the international community adopt 'objective and non-discriminatory policies' in the fight against terrorism. This came even as Islamabad, increasingly rattled by Baloch militants targeting security installations in Balochistan, sought action against the Majeed Brigade of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).Earlier in a statement, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Department of State had designated the TRF as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). India welcomed the decision.The US move is likely to have repercussions at the United Nations, particularly within the Security Council's 1267 Sanctions Committee, a key mechanism for global terror designations. India is expected to push for further international isolation of TRF and its parent Lashkar.Meanwhile, China, a permanent member of the Security Council which has routinely shielded Pakistan when it comes to sanctioning terrorists, reacted cautiously to the US move.'China calls on regional countries to enhance counterterrorism cooperation and jointly maintain regional security and stability,' said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian.- EndsMust Watch
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Hindustan Times
43 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
2 terrorists killed in overnight encounter in J&K's Kulgam
Two terrorists were killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district on Saturday, officials said. A CRPF vehicle moving past people standing on a roadside during an encounter between terrorists and security forces in the Akhal area of Kulgam district on Saturday. (PTI Photo) The overnight encounter began after security forces launched a cordon and search operation in a forest area at Akhal in the south Kashmir district, following specific intelligence inputs about the presence of terrorists there. After an initial exchange of fire between the two sides on Friday evening, the operation was halted for the night, the officials said. The cordon was strengthened, and additional reinforcements were rushed to the area. Firing resumed on Saturday morning, during which two terrorists were killed, the officials said. The identity and group affiliation of the slain terrorists are being ascertained, they added, noting that the operation is still underway. Operation Akhal is the third major encounter in the last seven days. Earlier on Wednesday, two terrorists were eliminated during Operation Shivshakti, in a gunfight with security forces near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, following an infiltration attempt. The encounter began on Tuesday night in the Kalsian-Gulpur area after Indian forces intercepted a group of terrorists attempting to infiltrate the border. On July 28, three Pakistani terrorists were killed during an encounter in J&K's forested Lidwas area near Harwan, located on the outskirts of Srinagar. The operation named 'Operation Mahadev' eliminated the terrorists who were behind the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. One of the terrorists was identified as Suleiman, the mastermind of the Pahalgam attack, while the others were identified as Afghan and Jibran. All three were senior operatives of the Pakistan-based banned group Lashkar-e-Toiba. (With PTI inputs)
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First Post
2 hours ago
- First Post
Imran Khan's sons urge Donald Trump to help their incarcerated father, say POTUS 'can make a difference'
Sons of former Prime Minister of Pakistan and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party (PTI) founder Imran Khan slammed the ruling Pakistani regime and pinned their hopes on US President Donald Trump for the release of their father read more Qasim and Sulaiman Khan, the sons of imprisoned former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, said their father was being held on 'trumped-up charges' and appealed Donald Trump to support their father's release. Image courtesy: Instagram/ khanjemima Sons of former Prime Minister of Pakistan and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party (PTI) founder Imran Khan slammed the ruling Pakistani regime and pinned their hopes on US President Donald Trump for the release of their father. On Friday, Sulaiman and Kasim Khan said that Trump is one person who could 'make a difference' to their incarcerated father's situation. The remarks from the sons came during their interview with British journalist Piers Morgan. The sons of the former cricketing legend called for attention to their father's incarceration for the first time publicly in May. The remarks from Kasim and Sulaiman came after their aunt Aleema Khan revealed that the two applied for visas to visit Pakistan. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In a post on X, she wrote: 'The ambassador has intimated that he is awaiting approval from the Ministry of Interior in Islamabad.' When Morgan asked Kasim whether he had any message for Trump, Imran Khan's son said: 'If anyone can make a difference, he (Trump) can.' A few days ago Suleiman and Kasim applied for their visas with the Pakistan high commission in London. The ambassador has intimated that he is awaiting approval from the ministry of interior in Islamabad. — Aleema Khanum (@Aleema_KhanPK) August 1, 2025 'We know that Trump has a great relationship with our father and vice versa. They had great conversations when they were both in office, and they seem to have mutual respect for one another," Kasim told Morgan. 'If Trump was able to make a statement or in any way speak to the establishment over there [in Pakistan] to get our father released, I know he's one of the few people who can, so of course we would love to kind of have a conversation with him or hope for some help from him or support.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'When we floated the idea of going, we were told by people in the Pakistani government that we would be arrested and from other people, we heard, you know, we had warnings from family members, inside sources, all sorts of people saying similar [things]," he added. During the interview, both sons also mentioned how they were struggling to get a visa to go and see their father. 'So we've still tried to get our visas. We are still looking to go at some point. We've applied for our visas, but we haven't had our responses yet. We'll see what happens,' Kasim said. They also pointed out how they have been facing threats of arrest if they arrive in Pakistan.
The Print
2 hours ago
- The Print
ThePrint Exclusive: Government ID cards, family testimony nail Pakistan links of Pahalgam killers
This week, though, hard evidence emerged from the bodies of the three terrorists killed in Kashmir's Dachigam, firmly establishing ties between the perpetrators of the Pahalgam massacre, Pakistan and the Lashkar. Two of three terrorists alleged to have carried out the attack in Pahalgam, intelligence sources told ThePrint, carried copies of their digital Pakistan government-issued identification, enabling their precise identification with stored biometric information. There was no one, back in the summer of 1998, seeking vengeance for Leela's sindoor. The then Union home minister Lal Krishna Advani had promised to punish the perpetrators of the wedding procession massacre at Chapnari, among the first in a series of communal mass killings that have claimed the lives of more than 700 Hindus and Sikhs in Kashmir. The prosecution of men accused of involvement in the massacre, though, collapsed for want of evidence. New Delhi: Leela Devi was sitting by the side of the bullet-riddled body of her husband of one day, Khem Raj, when the police finally arrived, clutching the only thing that remained of her marriage—Khem Raj's cheap rubber sandals. The body of the second bridegroom killed that day, Leela's brother Sesh Ram, who had been married to Dugdi Devi three days earlier, lay nearby. There were over 20 others dead, all members of the wedding procession from the hamlet of Kadal, who were accompanying another of Leela's brothers, Om Parkash, to his wedding at Korda. Evidence independently obtained by ThePrint also shows the Government of Pakistan has been aware of ongoing terrorist operations by the Lashkar and Jaish-e-Muhammad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, but has done nothing to shut them down. The evidence of involvement of Pakistani nationals in Pahalgam, a senior Indian intelligence official told ThePrint, will enable India to push the international community harder for action against top jihadist leaders, like Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Masood Azhar Alvi. 'The Pahalgam investigation shows that Pakistan-based terrorist groups have not only been involved in these killings,' he said, 'but that the government has been lying when it tells the international community that they have been shut down.' Following threats of sanctions by the multinational Financial Action Task Force, Pakistan had jailed some senior jihadists alleged to have links to the 26/11 attack on Mumbai. The country also promised action to end operations by the Lashkar and Jaish, which it had earlier proscribed. The NIA's evidence shows that the promise has been flagrantly violated. Also Read: Weeks after India's Operation Sindoor strikes, JeM reopens pool at Bahawalpur terror centre Killers in the database Evidence now gathered by India centres around national identification cards, issued by Pakistan's National Database Registration Authority or NADRA, to two of the terrorists killed in the Dachigam forests—cards mistakenly described by Union Home Minister Amit Shah as election identification cards in Parliament this week. The NADRA card system is the equivalent of India's Aadhaar cards, linked to a database with biometric information. Each card entry also holds geographical information on the holder, their family and cellphone records. The NADRA cards show that one of the perpetrators was Habib Tahir, from the village of Koiyan near Khaigala in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir—a former college student who dropped out of college in Rawalakot. Long involved with the Jama'at-e-Islami political party, local WhatsApp messages circulated among Jam'aat cadre in Khaigala and obtained by ThePrint show, Tahir then joined the Jama'at-ud-Dawa, the parent organisation of the Lashkar. Family sources told ThePrint that the Lashkar chief in Rawalakot, Rizwan Anees, had called Tahir's brother, who works in Saudi Arabia, to tell him of the firefight in Dachigam, where troops of the 4 Paracommando Regiment shot dead the Pahalgam perpetrators on 28 July. The following day, Rizwan visited the family in Koiyan, the family said, and asked to conduct a memorial prayer service for the slain terrorists. However, the terrorist's maternal uncles, Asif Akram and Jannat Akram, demanded that Rizwan leave the village, the family told ThePrint. 'Asif and Jannat said that the Lashkar was responsible for brainwashing their nephew and sending him to his death,' a witness said. 'There was an argument with Rizwan and his guards, which ended in a scuffle.' The second NADRA card—which was stored on a high-frequency encrypted communication device used by the terrorists—identifies the second perpetrator as Bilal Afzal. The card, seen by ThePrint, bears numbers suggesting Afzal was a resident of the Lahore area, and his father's name is Muhammad Afzal. Afzal is believed to have operated in Kashmir for several years under the code-name Suleman Shah, carrying out a succession of operations in last year's killings of construction workers in Gagangir. The three men, according to two Indian intelligence officials, were part of several teams operating under the command of Sajid Saifullah Jatt, a senior Lashkar operative who served in south Kashmir's Kulgam for several years from 2005. Sajid is believed to live in the village of Changa Manga near Lahore, with his ethnic-Kashmiri wife. Pakistan govt complicity Even though Pakistan's government has repeatedly claimed to have ended the operations of the LeT and JeM, documents obtained by ThePrint show both groups have continued to hold public functions in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Three days before the Lashkar terrorists were killed in Dachigam, Jaish commanders in Bairmang had asked local administrators to do a Ghaibana Namaz, or funeral rites conducted without the presence of a dead body, for a terrorist killed in Kashmir. Led by Noman Shahzad, the JeM's head in the Pakistan-occupied district of Bagh, the organisation had requested District Magistrate Raja Muhammad Zulfiqar Khan for permission to hold Ghaibana Namaz. A letter signed by Khan on 26 July had denied permission for the rally on the grounds that personnel displaying weapons might disturb the peace. Following the district administration's orders, the Jaish held a small prayer meeting in Barmang, residents told ThePrint. However, weapons were not allowed to be displayed. The district magistrate's letter, though, establishes that Pakistan is aware that proscribed jihadist groups continue to send operatives to engage in violence in Kashmir, but chooses not to crack down even after the Pahalgam massacre. Last year, ThePrint had reported the Lashkar's announcement of a Ghaibana Namaz for Lashkar terrorists Abdul Wahab, also known by the alias Abu Saifullah, and Sanam Jafar, who were killed near Sopore in north Kashmir in a firefight with Indian forces. The Lashkar had claimed Wahab was the fifth resident of Barmang to be killed fighting with the group in Kashmir. The terrorist group called the slain men 'great warriors who were martyred fighting the tyrannical Indian Army'. Video obtained by ThePrint also showed armed Jaish cadre firing shots in the air at a Ghaibana Namaz for slain terrorist Hafiz Mohammad Arsalan in 2022. Lashkar leader Naseer Ahmad told a gathering in Muridke, held soon before the Pahalgam massacre, that 'the ideological offspring of Hafiz Mohammed Saeed will continue his jihad'. Earlier, Lashkar co-founder Amir Hamza, internationally sanctioned for his role in raising terrorism funding, delivered a sermon in Murdike urging 'jihad against the infidels'. Local Lashkar leader Rizwan Hanif, speaking in Khaigala, close to Pahalgam attacker Tahir's village, urged followers to prepare for 'our jihad against the cow-worshippers'. Failed investigation in previous cases Lack of evidence, like the NADRA cards, has previously led to the investigation of massacres of Hindus in the Jammu region being stonewalled. The investigation into the wedding procession in Chapnari illustrated the problems. Abid Husain, known by the code name Abu Maaz, the LeT commander held responsible for the massacre and two other mass killings of Hindus that summer at Sarawan and Chhana-Thackrai, was shot dead in 1999. There was no hard evidence, however, to link him to Pakistan or the Lashkar. Five Indian nationals from the Doda area were prosecuted for their role in enabling the massacre, but all were acquitted for lack of evidence. Local resident Farooq Ahmed, arrested in 1998 but acquitted in 2006, left the village of Kastigarh soon after, and is now believed to be living in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, police say. Abdul Qayoom Hajam, Mohammad Rafiq and Ataullah Mohammad, all residents of the hamlet of Bhatta Deesa, were also arrested in 1998, but again acquitted. 'Even the persons, who in fact had disclosed the names of the accused, did not support the case of the prosecution and specifically denied their involvement in the occurrence,' the Jammu and Kashmir High Court had recorded while acquitting the accused. 'They went to the extent of saying that the accused facing the trial were not the assailants.' Local resident Manzoor Ahmad Gujjar was sentenced to life imprisonment for allegedly assisting another Lashkar-e-Taiba massacre—the killing of 22 children, women and men at the village of Prankote in April 1998. Later, though, the high court had acquitted Manzoor, saying there was 'no evidence to connect him with the alleged occurrence'. Manzoor, however, continued to be held under preventive detention laws, on the grounds that he was a threat to the security of the state. The high court, however, ordered his release in 2007. The most egregious failure to secure justice was in the case of the massacre of 36 Sikh residents of the village of Chattisinghpora in Kashmir on the eve of a visit by then-United States President Bill Clinton. Lashkar operative Muhammad Suhail Malik, who had confessed to the media to killing 36 Sikh residents of Chattisinghpora, was acquitted for lack of evidence and repatriated to Pakistan in 2015. 'All these cases had to be investigated by police, who had no access to suspects across the Line of Control, nor assistance from Pakistani authorities,' an official involved in the Doda investigation told ThePrint. 'The fact that we finally have hard evidence will hopefully lead the international community to step up and pressure Pakistan.' (Edited by Mannat Chugh) Also Read: Pakistani accomplices, shootouts, sealed chargesheet—how the 7/11 blasts case fell apart
