Srinagar, Aug 04:A detailed government report has confirmed that all three perpetrators of the April 22 Pahalgam massacre, which claimed the lives of 26 civilians, most of them tourists, were Pakistaninationals and senior commanders of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
The findings, made public following a counter-terror operation in the Dachigam-Harwan forest area on July 28, are being described by officials as “conclusive evidence” of cross-border involvement in one of the deadliest attacks in Kashmir’s recent history.
The report links the three slain terrorists to the Baisaran meadow attack, stating that Operation Mahadev, launched by Indian security forces, successfully traced and neutralised the assailants after weeks of surveillance and intelligence gathering.
“All three attackers were Pakistani nationals and senior LeT operatives who had been hiding in the Dachigam-Harwan forest belt since the day of the attack. No local Kashmiri was part of the shooting team,” the report states.
“For the first time we have government-issued Pakistani documents in hand that nail the nationality of the Pahalgam attackers beyond doubt,” the report quotes Union Home Minister Amit Shah as saying in Parliament on July 29.
According to the report, “all three attackers were Pakistani nationals and senior Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives who had been hiding in the Dachigam-Harwan forest belt since the day of the attack. No local Kashmiri was part of the shooting team.”
The three men have been identified as Suleman Shah aliasFaizalJatt, Abu Hamza alias ‘Afghan’, and Yasir alias ‘Jibran’. The report categorises them as A-grade and A++ LeT commanders, with Suleman Shah named as the mastermind and lead shooter, while Hamza and Yasir served as second gunman and third gunman and rear security respectively.
Pakistani-issued voter ID cards were recovered from Suleman Shah and Abu Hamza. “The voter serial numbers correspond to electoral rolls in Lahore (NA-125) and Gujranwala (NA-79),” the report states. A micro-SD card retrieved from a damaged satellite phone contained NADRA biometric data, including fingerprints and facial templates, confirming their Pakistani citizenship and addresses in Changa Manga (Kasur district) and Koiyan village near Rawalakot, it adds.
In addition, the report mentions the recovery of Pakistan-manufactured items. “Wrappers of ‘CandyLand’ and ‘ChocoMax’ chocolates were found in the same rucksack that carried spare magazines,” the report notes.
The lot numbers printed on the wrappers were traced to a May 2024 consignment shipped to Muzaffarabad, PoK.
The report provides multiple layers of forensic evidence. It says, “Ballistics confirmed a 100% match between shell casings found in Baisaran and the AK-103 rifles seized on 28 July.” It further adds,
“Mitochondrial DNA profiles extracted from blood on a torn shirt found at Pahalgam were identical to the DNA of the three bodies recovered in Dachigam.”
GPS data retrieved from a Garmin device on Suleman Shah matched eyewitness-reported firing positions. A Huawei satellite phone, pinging Inmarsat-4 F1 until July 25, helped locate the trio inside the Harwan forest belt. “Triangulation narrowed the search grid to 4 km²,” the report said.
The report also includes confessions from two Kashmiri residents, Parvaiz and Bashir Ahmad Jothar, who were detained for providing temporary shelter and food to the attackers at a seasonal hut on April 21. Their statements were cross-verified through location and surveillance data.
Detailing the movement of the terrorists, the report states: “On April 22, 2025, at approximately 14:30 hours, the trio carried out the shootings at Baisaran and escaped north-east toward Dachigam.”
Intelligence inputs confirm their infiltration via the Gurez sector in May 2022.
“The report also addresses the confusion caused by initial misidentification. It says that the sketches released by police on April 24 were based on photographs recovered from an unrelated December 2024 shootout, leading to erroneous public speculation. The actual attackers were different men,” it said.
Command-and-control links to LeT leadership in Pakistan have also been detailed. The report names SajidSaifullahJatt, based in Changa Manga, Lahore, as the main handler.
“Voice samples from the recovered sat-phone match his earlier intercepted calls. RizwanAnees, LeT’sRawalakot chief, was recorded organizing funeral prayers (ghibananamaz) for the three slain terrorists on July 29,”it said.
The report concludes by stating that the Pahalgam massacre was “planned, executed, and directed by Pakistani nationals operating under Lashkar-e-Taiba’s cross-border command structure.”
It is expected to be submitted as part of India’s official dossier to international bodies and diplomatic forums in the coming weeks.
