Pakistan Army chief's dog whistle being seen as trigger for bloodbath

NEW DELHI: Pakistan's Army chief General Asim Munir's recent dog-whistle - wherein he termed Kashmir as Pakistan's "jugular vein" - is being seen as among the possible triggers for Lashkar-e-Taiba 's terror attack in Pahalgam coinciding with the visit of US vice president JD Vance , sources said.

While agencies have yet to form a definitive assessment, multiple intelligence officers said there were indicators that Munir's provocative address, in which he also focused on the differential treatment of Muslims and Hindus, may have emboldened The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of LeT, which has claimed responsibility for the attack, to plan a "spectacular strike".

LeT's top commander Saifullah Kasuri, alias Khalid, is suspected to be one of the plotters, according to an intelligence assessment. The role of two Rawalkot-based Lashkar commanders, one of whom is Abu Musa, is also under scrutiny, sources said.

On April 18, Musa organised an event in Rawalkot where he said, "Jihad will continue, guns will rage and beheading will continue in Kashmir. India wants to change demography of Kashmir by giving domicile certificates to non locals." Many of the victims in Pahalgam were asked to recite the 'kalma' (Islamic phrase of degradation of faith), and those who could not were shot dead.

TOI had reported last week that the Indian intelligence establishment viewed the anti-Hindu rhetoric as a calculated move - coinciding with protests against changes to the Waqf Act - to motivate Pakistan-based terrorists to regroup.

The preliminary assessment of the intelligence agencies is that around sixterrorists, supported by local auxiliaries, carried out the attack. "It seems the attackers arrived a few days prior to the attack, conducted reconnaissance, and then struck when they saw an opportunity. In early April (1-7), there were inputs that terrorists had conducted reconnaissance of some hotels. So, there wasn't an intelligence failure," a source said.