Pak defence attachés blame Hurriyat frustration, deny army’s role in tourist killings in Kashmir
New Delhi: The Pakistani diplomatic corps in New Delhi is trying to create a narrative that the Pahalgam terror attack was the handwork of the Hurriyat cadre and that there is discontent in Kashmir and other parts of India with the current government’s “divisive” policy.
Making their first public appearance after Phalagam terror attack on Tuesday evening on the occasion of Iran Embassy’s event held at a hotel in the city two Pak defence attachés -- Rameez Niaz, the Naval Advisor, and Mudassir Saeed, Defence Advisor (DA) – appeared tense and somewhat nervous knowing that they were centre of attention at the gathering that had presence of foreign diplomatic corps, and Indian media.
When questioned by Indian media, the duo tried to explain that Pakistan Army or its government had no role in the terror attack, nor could the attackers be part of cross-border groups.
Both Saeed and Niaz tried to reason out that several factions of the previously peaceful Hurriyat Conference are frustrated with India's portrayal of normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir. The two attaches added that the Hurriyat Cadre could be feeling betrayed and are possibly losing relevance and to prove their significance, this misadventure might have been carried out by a home-grown terror group at the instigation of the Hurriyat Conference.
Niaz tried to explain that this kind of attack on tourists was strange and different from the usual tactics of terrorists active in Kashmir. While trying to prove that this incident might have been carried out by a home-grown terrorist organization in Jammu and Kashmir, Niaz mentioned that in the previous terrorist attacks, tourists were never targeted, but this time only they were the target.
This is the same narrative that came from Pakistan on Thursday. The Pak ministers in Islamabad said that the Pahalgam attack was the result of the Indian government’s own failures and incompetence.
