IDs, chocolates, rifles: Shah says ‘100% proof’ Pahalgam attackers were Pakistani

New Delhi, July 29: Participating in a special discussion on Operation Sindoor in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted that India has “100% proof” that the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack was carried out by Pakistani terrorists.

Sharing details of Monday’s Operation Mahadev, which neutralised the assailants, Shah identified the three slain terrorists as Suleman alias Faizal, Afghani, and Jibran.

“Suleman and Afghani were A-category terrorists affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba, while Jibran was also a notorious and wanted terrorist. All three were directly involved in the killings at Baisaran valley in Pahalgam. They have now been eliminated,” Shah informed the House.

To conclusively establish their identities, the Home Minister said individuals previously detained for aiding the terrorists — by providing food and shelter — were brought in and confirmed their involvement.

“Once the bodies were brought to Srinagar, the detained aides identified them as the same individuals who carried out the Pahalgam attack,” he said.

Shah also took a sharp swipe at senior Congress leader and former Home Minister P. Chidambaram for his recent remarks questioning the origin of the attackers.

“I was saddened to hear Chidambaram raise doubts about where the terrorists came from. We have irrefutable evidence - Pakistani voter ID cards, Pakistani-made chocolates, and weapons—all found on their persons,” Shah said.

He added that M-9 and AK-47 rifles recovered from the encounter site were flown to Chandigarh for forensic analysis.

“Empty cartridges found at the Pahalgam site and bullets from test-firing the seized weapons have been matched. The ballistic report is in my possession,” he told the House, adding that six forensic experts confirmed the match via video call earlier.

Shah further accused the Congress of a history of being “soft on terror” and questioned the party’s approach during its years in power.

Recalling the 2008 Batla House encounter, Shah said, “Instead of standing with martyr Mohan Sharma, Congress leaders—including Salman Khurshid and Sonia Gandhi—shed tears for the terrorists with an eye on vote bank politics.”

He also criticised the Congress-led UPA government’s decision to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), which had been enacted by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

“POTA was scrapped in December 2004. What followed was a series of deadly terror attacks,” he said, listing incidents such as the 2005 Ram Lalla tent attack, the 2006 Mumbai train blasts (which killed 186 people), the Doda massacre (44 killed), the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts (57 killed), and the 26/11 Mumbai attacks (246 killed).

He concluded by saying that the Pahalgam attackers have been brought to justice, but demanded that the Congress and the Leader of the Opposition answer for “their political leniency” that allegedly allowed hardcore terrorists to operate with impunity during their rule.

Shah’s sharp rebuttal came in response to Opposition claims that the Pahalgam attackers had managed to flee the country after killing 26 tourists, and that the Home Minister should be held accountable.

With inputs from agencies