Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday (July 30, 2025) that in the past six months, no local had joined any terrorist group in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). Those being killed in security operations in the Union Territory were all foreigners, he said.

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He said there should be no doubt that the three terrorists killed during Operation Mahadev on July 28 were the ones who carried out the Pahalgam terror attack, as the investigating agencies had matched their photos, and the evidence was backed by forensic reports.

Opposition protests

Mr. Shah was speaking on the success of Operation Sindoor in the Rajya Sabha. As he began his speech, Opposition leaders protested and shouted slogans demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi be present in the House.

Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said the Prime Minister should have been present. Responding to this, Mr. Shah said, “I am enough for you, if he comes here, you will be affected more. On what basis is Khargeji objecting? On most important issues, his party does not let him speak in the House.”

‘CRPF tailed attackers’

Speaking about Operation Mahadev, Mr. Shah said, “It is clear that Lashkar-E-Taiba (LeT) was involved in the attack.” He identified the three killed terrorists as Suleman, alias Faizal Jatt, Hamza Afghani and Zibran.

He said questions are being raised about the timing of the killings. “I wanted to kill them the next second (after Pahalgam). They were hiding in unreachable heights; for 22 days the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans who tracked them in the jungle survived with food sent through drones,” the Minister said.

To questions on how the terrorists were entering India, he said, “They have built tunnels (along the border); there are some nallahs (water bodies); one cannot build even a post there; the force of water is such. We are finding technological solutions for this gap.”

He said the priority of the Congress was its vote bank and not to end terrorism. The Opposition wants to secure its politics of secularism and appeasement, he alleged.

“The day Pahalgam happened, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) collected empty cartridges (from the Baisaran meadow). Forensics was done. After the three terrorists were killed, the rifles found with them were matched with the empty shells. It was established that the same weapons were used. At Pahalgam, 44 cartridges were found to be from M4 rifles, and 25 bullets were fired from two AK-47s. There is no doubt that these were the terrorists who carried out the attack. Their sketches were made; they were tracked,” Mr. Shah said.

He said that the intelligence agencies got the information about the particular location of the terrorists on May 22, a month after Pahalgam.

“Intelligence Bureau and military intelligence did further investigation and on 22 July, a LoRa (communication device) was pinpointed (at Dachigam, where the terrorists were killed). I got numerous messages, including from the relatives of those killed in Pahalgam, that the terrorists should be shot in the head. I want to tell the families that they were shot in the head,” Mr. Shah said.

He said the terrorists, by killing people in the name of religion, wanted to give a message that Kashmir will never be free of terrorism.

He said a former Congress Chief Minister from Maharashtra remarked that all that the BJP does is name operations after Hindu Gods, referring to Operation Mahadev, named after Lord Shiva. “I want to say that the name is not only associated with a Hindu God, it was also a war cry of Shivaji Maharaj, this is symbolic of India’s response to the attack on India’s sovereignty. What name did you want to give? This should not be looked at from the prism of Hindu or Muslim,” he said.

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He added, “Peace can only be brought by inducing fear in them (Pakistan), they are not going to mend their ways.” Had the attack happened during the tenure of the Congress, it would be sending dossiers and arranging dialogues with the neighbouring country, he said.

Dismissing the allegations made by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh that the 26/11 Mumbai attack was carried out by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Mr. Shah said, “A Hindu can never be a terrorist. False cases were foisted on nationalist outfits; no case could stand in the court of law.”