NEW DELHI: Hashim Musa, a Pakistani terrorist identified behind the Pahalgam massacre, is a former para commando of Pakistan army’s special forces, investigations into the terror conspiracy have confirmed.
Sources told TOI that Musa, now a hardcore terrorist working with Pakistan-based LeT, was sent by outfit masterminds to J&K to unleash terror attacks on non-locals as well as security forces.
“It is possible that he was loaned by Pakistan special forces, like Special Service Group (SSG), to LeT,” an officer of the security establishment here said in what further underlines the nexus between jihadi outfits and Pakistan’s state actors.
Musa key perpetrator in Kashmir strikes: India
Para-commandos of the Pakistani special force, SSG, are highly-trained in unconventional warfare and specialise in covert operations. The intensive and rigorous training regimen focuses on physical conditioning and mental fitness, besides strategic thinking. SSG commandos are adept at handling sophisticated weapons as well as in hand-to-hand combat, and have high navigation and survival skills.
A senior officer said Musa’s army background – confirmed during the questioning of 15 Kashmiri overground workers (OGWs) who have emerged as key suspects in the Pahalgam attack probe for facilitating the Pakistani assailants by arranging logistics and helping in reconnaissance – is being seen as evidence of ISI’s role in the Pahalgam terror attack, as also in earlier strikes in Kashmir.
The latter include Oct 2024 terror attacks at Gagangir, Ganderbal, in which six non-locals and a doctor were killed, and at Buta Pathri, Baramulla, which left two army personnel & two army porters dead.
Musa has emerged as the common perpetrator in all three attacks. Junaid Ahmad Bhat and Arbaaz Mir, two other local terrorists trained in Pakistan, were also involved in the Gagangir and Buta Pathri attacks but were neutralised in separate encounters by security forces in Nov and Dec 2024.
