The April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which killed 26 people, including 25 tourists and one local, was allegedly planned and executed by Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Pakistan’s spy agency ISI, the Times of India has reported.

The attack, according to sources quoted by TOI, was carried out on direct orders from Pakistan’s political and military leadership, and is being described as a “LeT-ISI project” similar in scale and strategy to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

According to the report, Sajid Jutt, a Lashkar commander based in Pakistan, was given instructions by the ISI to deploy only foreign terrorists operating in Jammu and Kashmir. The idea was to keep local involvement to a minimum, and only on a “need-to-know” basis.

Investigators believe the attack was led by Sulaiman, a suspected former Pakistani special forces commando. He is believed to have trained at LeT’s Muridke headquarters in Pakistan’s Punjab province and crossed the Line of Control (LoC) into Jammu in 2022.

Satellite phone data placed Sulaiman in Tral forest on April 15, indicating he was in the Baisaran area, near the attack site, for about a week before the shooting. He has also been linked to the 2023 Poonch terror attack, in which Indian Army soldiers were targeted.

While local suspects Hashim Musa and Ali Bhai were under the radar during the initial investigation, only Sulaiman’s involvement has been confirmed so far. The report also clarified that Adil Hussain Thoker, a local initially believed to be involved, had no role in the attack.

India responds with Operation Sindoor

Following the brutal attack, India-Pakistan relations deteriorated further. The Indian government temporarily suspended provisions under the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan and launched a military operation named Operation Sindoor on May 7.

Under this operation, nine terror camps were targeted across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The action came as a strong message in response to the rising cross-border terror threats.

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