E-Paper
Pahalgam attack: NIA charge sheets LeT’s Hafiz Saeed; details Pakistan’s role
Hafiz Saeed has been named in his individual capacity for the conspiracy and also as the chief of LeT and its proxy outfit, TRF
Prefer HTon Google
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday filed a charge sheet against Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed, detailing Pakistan’s role in last year’s terror attack in Pahalgam’s Baisaran meadow, in which 25 tourists and a pony operator were killed. The attack triggered a four-day armed conflict between India and Pakistan.
The federal anti-terror probe agency said Saeed, a designated terrorist, was named in the supplementary charge sheet, filed in a Jammu court, in his individual capacity for the conspiracy and also as the chief of LeT and its proxy outfit, The Resistance Front (TRF).
The agency said in a statement that the charge sheet was filed in continuation of the original 1,597-page charge sheet submitted on December 15 last year. “...provides details of Pakistan’s conspiracy, Hafiz Saeed’s role, and supporting evidence collected by NIA in the case through meticulous scientific investigation and on-ground examination,” the agency said.
ALSO READ | They ate under tree, then unleashed massacre at 2.23pm: Pahalgam attackers' trail of terror
Saeed is India’s most-wanted terrorist. He has been behind assaults, including the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. The NIA has charged him under sections related to terrorism of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. “NIA has also invoked the penal section against the accused for waging war against India and hatching a conspiracy from across the border in the charge sheet,” the agency said.
The NIA said the investigations are continuing to unravel the complete conspiracy by Pakistan, which has been actively sponsoring terrorism on Indian soil from across the border.
In its first charge sheet, the NIA identified the three Pakistani terrorists who killed the tourists—Faisal Jatt alias Suleman, Habeeb Tahir alias Jibran Bhai, and Hamza Afghani, who was killed during Operation Mahadev in July 2025. It named TRF leader Sajid Saifullah Jatt, aka Langda, and two locals, Bashir Ahmad Jothatd and Parvaiz Ahmad, who were arrested last June.
ALSO READ | LeT, GoPro, link to a 2024 attack: NIA details Pakistan's role in Pahalgam attack
The LeT/TRF were named for their role in planning, facilitating, and executing the terror attack.
The NIA has concluded that the terror attack “involved religion-based targeted killings by the Pak-sponsored terrorists”.
HT exclusively reported details of the first charge sheet. It stated that Sajid Saifullah Jatt shared the coordinates of the Baisaran meadow with the attackers. It added that one of the terrorists involved was also part of a terror strike on the Srinagar-Leh highway in October 2024.
The charge sheet said the three terrorists had lunch outside the Baisaran meadow before launching their attack, and indulged in celebratory firing after it. It cited data retrieved from two phones recovered from the terrorists and said chats showed Sajid Jatt giving directions to the terrorists. The charge sheet said screenshots of the Alpine Quest app showed coordinates of locations near Baisaran Park. The NIA said both phones were sold in Pakistan based on data from the Indian arm of the phone manufacturer Xiaomi.
ALSO READ | One year of Operation Sindoor: How India crippled terror to avenge Pahalgam killings
On April 21, 2025, the three arrived outside the hut of Parvaiz Ahmad, roughly one km from the meadow, and demanded a safe place and food in the name of Allah, according to the charge sheet. He recognised them for what they were, and let them into the hut. Ahmad, his wife Tahira, and their infant child were present. The three asked that their weapons be hidden and asked for food. While eating, they spoke about the 2025 Amarnath Yatra, camps of security forces, and their movements, the charge sheet said.
The charge sheet said they also spoke to Jatt. The terrorists sheltered in the hut for around five hours and left at around 10 pm, after getting Tahira to make them some rotis and taking some spices and a cooking pot. Before leaving, they gave Ahmad ₹3000.
Jothatd and Ahmad saw the terrorists the next morning (April 22, 2025), the charge sheet said, when they reached Baisaran Park for work. The three were sitting outside the fence, but the two did not think to warn security forces, tourists, or even their fellow pony operators.
ALSO READ | Massacre, hunt, elimination: The 93-day operation to track Pahalgam attackers with Pak links
The NIA’s first charge sheet said that the investigation conclusively established that the terror attack was planned, directed, and controlled from Pakistan. It said that LeT and its proxy TRF orchestrated the entire conspiracy through Pakistani handler Sajid Jatt, who coordinated terrorist movement, drone drops, weapons supply, and communication using Pakistan-origin phones.
“The hierarchical command structure, cross-border encrypted coordination, weapons logistics, and handler-driven tasking, as reflected in the charge sheet and corroborated by material evidence, leave no doubt that the attack was a Pakistan-sponsored terrorist operation, executed by LeT/TRF,” it said.
India launched Operation Sindoor in the early hours of May 7, 2025, in response to the terror attack. It struck terrorist infrastructure and military installations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir before the May 10, 2025, ceasefire.
