India charges alleged Pahalgam ‘mastermind’

NEW DELHI: India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday filed charges against Pakistan’s Hafiz Saeed for allegedly being behind an attack on tourists in India-held Kashmir last year.

The Pahalgam incident sparked a major military escalation between the countries after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the attack, without evidence, and proceeded to unilaterally suspend the Indus Waters Treaty and launch attacks on Pakistani territory, which were effectively responded to by the armed forces.

Saeed was charged with “waging war against India and hatching a conspiracy from across the border”, according to an NIA statement.

India had previously blamed a little-known group known as ‘The Resistance Front’ for the attack. Now, it has charged Saeed, alleging that the group is a proxy of the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit.

Pakistan has consistently denied any involvement in the attack and has repeatedly sought evidence from India regarding its claims. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif even offered an independent probe into the matter, but New Delhi was not amenable to any of these measures.

The JuD chief, who was previously tried in Pakistan on terror financing charges, was also accused by India of masterminding the Mumbai attacks of 2008.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2026