A day after 25 tourists and a local resident were killed in a terror attack in J&K’s Pahalgam, Pakistan claimed that it had “nothing to do with it” — a denial that left Indian officials unconvinced with initial investigations suggesting the presence of “foreign nationals” among the attackers. Later, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri underlined that “cross-border linkages of the terrorist attack” were brought out in the Cabinet Committee on Secu- rity (CCS) meeting Wednesday. “We have absolutely nothing to do with it. We reject terrorism in all its forms and everywhere,” Pakistan Defence Minister Khwaja Asif told a Pakistani TV channel when asked about the deadliest terror attack on civilians in India since Mumbai 26 Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, “We are concerned at the loss of tourists’ lives in an attack in Anantnag district of.Jammu and Kashmir. We extend our condolences to the near ones of the deceased and wish the injured a speedy recovery.” Significantly, the attack comes a week after Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir’s statement that Kashmir is Islamabad's “jugular vein”. The remark had drawn a sharp response from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) at the time, and is now being viewed in Delhi as a “preemptive threat”. Delhi is also cynical about Islamabad’s denial on Wednesday even as The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow group of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit, is said to have claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack. According to security officials, the statements of victims and eyewitnesses indicate the role of at least four terrorists, including two believed to be “foreign nationals”, in the attack. Last week, addressing the Overseas Pakistani Convention in Islamabad last week, Munir had said: “Our stance is absolutely clear, it (Kashmir) was our jugular vein, it will be our jugular vein, we will not forget it. We will not leave our Kashmiri brothers in their heroic struggle.” Responding to questions on Munir’s remarks, MEA’s official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, had said: “How can anything foreign be in a jugular vein? This is a Union Territory of India. Its only relationship with Pakistan is the vacation of illegally occupied territories by that country.” Sources said India is looking at all strategic and security options now — as was evident from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s quick meeting soon after touchdown in Delhi Wednesday morning after his visit to Saudi Arabia. During the meeting, Foreign Secretary Misri, who did not accompany Modi to Saudi Arabia, briefed the Prime Minister, NSA Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar about the situation in Kashmir.
