Sanjay Pandita
Early Times Report
Jammu, June 24: A Special Court in Jammu on Monday granted the National Investigation Agency (NIA) a five-day remand of two brothers accused of harbouring the Pakistani terrorists involved in the April 22 Pahalgam massacre in Baisaran Valley, Anantnag district, which claimed the lives of 26 people—mostly tourists—and left 16 others injured.
The accused, Parvaiz Ahmad Jothar of Batkote and Bashir Ahmad Jothar of Hill Park, both residents of Pahalgam in south Kashmir, were arrested by the NIA on Sunday. Their arrest marks the first major breakthrough in the case.
Soon after being detained in south Kashmir, the duo was shifted to Jammu and produced before Additional District and Sessions Judge Ritesh Kumar Dubey, who remanded them to NIA custody till June 27 for further interrogation.
According to the NIA, the two “knowingly” provided food, shelter, and logistical support to three Pakistani terrorists at a seasonal dhok (hut) in the Hill Park area, located just 3 kilometres from the massacre site in Baisaran Valley.
This revelation has significantly reshaped the direction of the investigation and led to the first official confirmation that the attackers were Pakistani nationals affiliated with the banned terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Previously, the Jammu and Kashmir Police had released sketches of three suspects: two Pakistanis, Hashim Musa and Ali Bhai, and one local militant, Adil Hussain Thokar. However, during interrogation, the arrested brothers did not identify these individuals as the attackers.
Instead, the NIA now believes the perpetrators include Suleman Shah, a Pakistani national previously involved in the Z-Morh tunnel killings in October 2024, where seven workers were shot dead. Shah’s associate in that case, Junaid Ramzan Bhat, was killed in a police encounter in December.
Photos recovered from Junaid’s phone showed Shah with three others, which were later shown to Parvaiz and Bashir. Both identified them as the same men they had hosted shortly before the April 22 attack. Several independent eyewitnesses also confirmed spotting the same individuals near the crime scene.
The two brothers have been booked under Section 19 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. Their arrests come after extensive questioning of more than 2,000 locals across Kashmir in the aftermath of the killings. Authorities had earlier announced a Rs 20 lakh reward for information leading to a breakthrough in the case. |
