SRINAGAR: Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah today addressed a special discussion in the Lok Sabha on Operation Sindoor, India’s unprecedented military and diplomatic response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that left 26 civilians dead. Condemning the attack and Pakistan’s alleged complicity, Shah presented a detailed account of the counter-terror operations launched since then and accused the opposition of undermining India’s national security interests.
The Home Minister confirmed that Operation Mahadev, a joint action by the Indian Army, CRPF and Jammu and Kashmir Police, culminated in the killing of three Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists in Dachigam on July 28. Among them were Suleman, Hamza Afghani (an Afghan national), and Zibran, all categorised as ‘A’ grade terrorists. Shah said these men were responsible for the Pahalgam killings and earlier attacks in Baisaran and Gagangir.
Shah told the House that following the attack in Pahalgam, which took place at 1 pm on April 22, he landed in Srinagar by 5:30 pm and chaired a joint security meeting the next day. He said intelligence inputs were received from May 22 onwards and were verified over two months using advanced signal-capturing equipment, eventually leading to the successful encounter.
He further revealed that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had arrested Bashir and Parvez, the locals who sheltered the militants, and that ballistics tests confirmed the rifles recovered from the Dachigam site were used in the Pahalgam attack. Eyewitness accounts and forensic matches of shell casings solidified the investigation, Shah said.
He reiterated that the three terrorists were Pakistanis, citing their voter ID numbers, made-in-Pakistan chocolates, and recovered weapons. “Despite all this, the former Home Minister is giving a clean chit to Pakistan. Why?” Shah asked, claiming that the global community now recognises Pakistan’s role in the attack.
Shah described Operation Sindoor as a retaliatory strike aimed not only at the terrorists but their handlers. “This was a precise and disciplined mission,” Shah said, detailing that India struck nine terrorist bases up to 100 kilometres inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). According to him, 125 terrorists were neutralised without a single Indian civilian casualty.
He said India followed due protocol, informing Pakistan’s DGMO about the military action on May 7 as an act of self-defence. “Earlier we used to absorb attacks; now we respond,” he said, invoking the surgical strikes post-Uri and air strikes post-Pulwama as precedent.
He alleged that Pakistan retaliated on May 8 by shelling Indian civilian areas, damaging places of worship and killing citizens. The Indian Air Force responded on May 9 by targeting 11 Pakistani airbases, effectively crippling their defence capabilities. A ceasefire was brokered by May 10 after a request from Pakistan, Shah said.
The Home Minister launched a fierce political offensive against the Congress and its leaders, saying the roots of terrorism lie in the “grave mistakes” made during partition and the subsequent policies of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Citing historical decisions like the 1948 Kashmir ceasefire, 1960 Indus Water Treaty, return of Haji Pir in 1966, and the Shimla Agreement of 1972, Shah accused successive Congress governments of strategic blunders.
Quoting Volume 29 of Nehru’s Selected Works, Shah criticised Nehru’s position on China and the UN Security Council. He also attacked the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation for its MoU with China and questioned Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with Chinese diplomats during the Doklam standoff.
Shah alleged that the opposition’s opposition to the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) in 2002 had allowed terrorism to flourish. “Whom were they trying to protect?” he asked, listing 27 major terror attacks between 2005 and 2011, including Mumbai 26/11, Hyderabad, Jaipur, and Pune.
He contrasted this with data from the BJP-led government, claiming a 70 percent drop in terrorist incidents between 2015 and 2025, an 80 percent reduction in civilian deaths, and a 123 percent increase in the number of terrorists killed. “The removal of Article 370 has broken the terror ecosystem in Kashmir,” he declared.
The Home Minister laid out a series of post-2019 measures aimed at dismantling terrorist support structures in Kashmir: selective arrests of sympathisers, cancellation of passports and contracts, suspension of the Bar Council, confiscation of properties under UAPA, and a crackdown on SIM card sellers. He said 702 mobile vendors had been jailed, 2,666 SIMs blocked, and all Hurriyat factions banned.
“Terrorists are now buried where they are killed — no funeral glorifications. Earlier, 132 days of hartal were observed annually in Kashmir. Now, for three years, it’s been zero,” Shah said.
He added that 98.3 percent polling in Panchayat elections proved that fear has receded in the Valley. Organisations like TRF, People’s Anti Fascist Front, and Khalistan Tiger Force had also been banned in recent years.
Shah concluded by reiterating that India’s soldiers, even in minus 43 degrees Celsius, are ready to neutralise any threat. “This is Narendra Modi’s India. We follow a zero-tolerance policy against terrorism. We will arrest or eliminate every infiltrator.”
He also warned that those who oppose laws like POTA or support vote bank politics at the cost of national security will find no sympathy from the current government.
Asserting that India’s response has shifted from restraint to decisive retaliation, Shah said, “Now, those who dare to send terrorists will face a price. Pahalgam is not just a tragedy; it’s a turning point.”
(The news story is based on PIB handout)
