NEW DELHI: The April 22 terror assault in Pahalgam that claimed the lives of 26 civilians was a conspiracy hatched by Pakistan’s ISI and terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba on the instructions of the nation’s political and navy brass and executed solely by Pakistani terrorists, in line with sources within the safety institution.In what sources described as an LeT-ISI venture akin to the 26/11 Mumbai assault, ISI gave particular instructions to Pakistan-based Lashkar commander Sajid Jutt to deploy solely international terrorists working in J&Ok. To make sure secrecy, no Kashmiri terrorist was taken on board. He was directed to make sure minimal native involvement on a “need-to-know” foundation.The assault was led by Sulaiman, a suspected former Pakistani particular forces commando who had participated in coaching at LeT’s Muridke hub in Pakistan’s Punjab earlier than crossing the LoC into the Jammu area in 2022. Two different Pakistanis have been additionally within the hit squad. Satellite tv for pc telephone evaluation has revealed that Sulaiman’s location on April 15 was in Tral forest, indicating he was within the neighborhood of the assault website at Baisaran for nearly per week earlier than the incident.Sulaiman was additionally concerned within the April 2023 assault on an Military truck in Poonch by which 5 troopers have been killed. Nonetheless, he laid low for the following two years. Sources didn’t reveal the identities of the 2 different Pakistani terrorists. Though J&Ok Police had suspected the function of Pakistani terrorists Hashim Musa and Ali Bhai, probe has solely confirmed Sulaiman’s function until now. There isn’t a corroboration of the function of native terrorist Adil Hussain Thoker as a facilitator, both.Even the 2 locals arrested by NIA final month – Parvaiz Ahmad Jothar and Bashir Ahmad Jothar, each from Pahalgam – are believed to have had a restricted function, having supplied the Pakistani terrorists meals, shelter and different logistics in return for just a few thousand rupees. They’ve additionally denied any data of the terrorists’ plan to hit vacationers in Baisaran.There are presently about 68 international terrorists and three native terrorists lively within the Valley.