Government IDs, Biometric Data Nail Pahalgam Terrorists' Pakistan Links

NDTV

11 hours ago

Washington:
The three Pahalgam terrorists, who were killed during Operation Mahadev in Jammu and kashmir's Kashmir's Dachigam on July 28, were Pakistani nationals and senior operatives of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), evidence collected by security forces firmly establishes. These terrorists had been hiding in the Dachigam-Harwan forest belt since the day of the Pahalgam attack, and no local Kashmiri was part of the shooting team, according to the proof report accessed by NDTV.
Three terrorists-- Suleman Shah alias Faizal Jatt, Abu Hamza alias "Afghan" and Yasir alias "Jibran" were killed by Indian security forces on July 28 under operation Mahadev. Per the findings of Indian agencies, Suleman Shah, an A++ Laskar commander, was the mastermind and lead shooter of the Pahalgam attack. Hamza and Yasir were A-grade Lashkar commanders. Hamza was the second gunman during the shootout, while Yasir was the third gunman with rear security responsibility.
Pakistani government documents, including voter ID cards and Smart ID chips, were also recovered from the terrorists' bodies, which nails their connection to the neighbouring country.
The report issued by the Home Ministry shows that two voter slips issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan were found in the pockets of Suleman Shah and Abu Hamza. The voter serial numbers on the slips correspond to electoral rolls in Lahore (NA-125) and Gujranwala (NA-79), respectively.
Security forces also recovered a memory card from a damaged sat-phone of the terrorists, which contained the NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority) biometric records of all three men. These records have information about their fingerprints, facial template and family tree, which confirm their Pakistani citizenship and addresses in Changa Manga (Kasur district) and Koiyan village near Rawalakot in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Wrappers of "Candyland" and "Chocomax" chocolates--both made by Karachi-based companies--were also found in the bag of the terrorists, which also contained extra ammunition. The lot numbers printed on the wrappers match the consignment sent to Muzaffarabad in PoK in May 2024, the report said.
Entry Route And Timeline Established
Evidence shows that the three terrorists crossed the Line of Control (LoC) near the Gurez sector in May 2022. Intelligence bureau intercepts have placed their first radio check-in from the Pakistani side during the time.
On April 21, 2025, the terrorists moved into a seasonal hut ('dhok') at Hill Park, 2 kilometres from Baisaran valley, the report found.
"Two detained Kashmiri helpers, Parvaiz and Bashir Ahmad Jothar, confessed to sheltering them overnight and providing cooked food," according to the report.
The terrorists trekked to Baisaran meadow on the morning of April 22. They carried out the shooting that killed 26 civilians later in the day before escaping northeast toward Dachigam. The GPS waypoints recovered from Suleman Shah's Garmin device matched the exact firing positions reported by eyewitnesses. Shell casings at the scene also matched the three AK-103 rifles recovered from them on 28 July.
Forensic And Technical Confirmation
The intelligence agencies test-fired the 7.62X39 mm casings found in Baisaran valley against the three AK-103 rifles seized from terrorists on 28 July. It was found that the striation marks were a 100 per cent match.
A mitochondrial profile extracted from blood on a torn shirt found at Pahalgam was also found to be identical to the DNA of the three bodies recovered in Dachigam.
It was also found that a communication device used by the trio had been pinging the Inmarsat-4 F1 satellite every night between April 22 and July 25. Triangulation narrowed the search grid to four square kilometres inside the Harwan forest in Kashmir.
Command And Control Links Inside Pakistan
It was found that Sajid Saifullah Jatt, LeT's south-Kashmir operations chief (resident of Changa Manga, Lahore), was the overall handler. The voice samples from the recovered sat-phone matched with his earlier intercepted calls, the report said.
Moreover, Rizwan Anees, LeT Rawalakot Chief, visited the families of the dead attackers on July 29 to organise "Ghibana namaz"(funeral prayers without bodies) and was filmed by locals, and the footage is now part of the Indian dossier.
Confusion Over Initial Sketches
Jammu and Kashmir Police had earlier released sketches of Hashim Musa, Ali Bhai alias Talha, and local Adil Hussain Thoker on 24 April 2025 after the Pahalgam attack.
After Operation Mahadev, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) clarified that those sketches were based on a photograph found on a phone retrieved from an unrelated December 2024 shoot-out; the actual attackers were different men.