Soldiers in India-administered Kashmir on Friday blew up the family homes of Adil Hussain Thokar and Ashif Sheikh, two suspects wanted in connection with Tuesday’s massacre in Pahalgam that left 26 civilians dead.
Indian security forces have launched a giant manhunt for the suspects. Police say they are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), designated a terrorist organisation by the United Nations.
They have issued wanted posters with sketches of three men: Indian national Adil Hussain Thoker, as well as Pakistani citizens Ali Bhai and Hashim Musa. Indian forces are also searching for Indian citizen Ashif Sheikh.
Members of the two Indian fugitives’ immediate families were detained for questioning after the attack, the officer and their relatives said.
Relations plunge to their lowest level in years, with New Delhi accusing Pakistan of supporting "cross-border terrorism" after gunmen carried out the worst attack on civilians in Muslim-majority India-administered Kashmir for a quarter of a century.
Sheikh’s sister Yasmeena said soldiers cordoned off the area around the house, in Kashmir’s southern Tral area, overnight from Thursday to Friday. “One soldier climbed over the mud compound wall of our home, and climbed back after a while,” said Yasmeena, who gave only one name. “After some time, a big frightening blast brought the house down. Everything inside is destroyed,” she said, adding that no one was inside at the time.
A police officer said soldiers also destroyed Thokar’s family home in the neighbouring Bijbehara area in the same manner early Friday. Police said they were part of a LeT faction called The Resistance Front (TRF).
“Both have been active for three to four years, and are part of TRF which is an offshoot of LeT,” a police intelligence officer told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorised to speak to the media. “They are wanted militants involved in earlier attacks as well on security forces,” the officer added.
Police have offered a two million rupees ($23,500) bounty for information leading to each man’s arrest.
Pakistan detains Indian border trooper
Pakistani paramilitary rangers held an Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) trooper who allegedly crossed into Pakistani territory earlier this week, according to media reports from Islamabad and New Delhi on Friday.
Kashmiri students in states including Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh were allegedly asked to leave their rented apartments or university hostels, Jammu and Kashmir Students Association says.
The incident occurred on Wednesday in the Kasur district along the international border in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
A senior Pakistani official confirmed to Dawn that the Indian trooper, identified as Constable PK Singh of the 182nd battalion, was “apprehended after crossing the border."
According to the Press Trust of India, the trooper was identified as PK Sahu.
Sahu’s commanding officer contacted Sahu's father, Bholanath Sahu, on Thursday night.
According to PTI, a “flag meeting” between officers from the BSF and Pakistani Rangers was expected to be held to negotiate the trooper’s “safe release.”
Senate rejects Indian accusations
Pakistan’s Senate unanimously passed a resolution on Friday rejecting India’s accusations that Pakistan was linked to an attack on tourists in Kashmir this week.
The Senate “rejects all frivolous and baseless attempts to link Pakistan with the Pahalgam attack” and condemns a “campaign by the Indian government to malign the Pakistan government”, it said, adding that the nation was “prepared to defend its sovereignty”.
