Pakistan 'dismantles' terrorist network linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, claims links to Pahalgam attack 'belies ground realities'

Pakistan claimed on Friday (July 18) that it has dismantled the terrorist network linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The country said that any effort to link the April 22 Pahlagam attack in Jammu and Kashmir with the defunct terror outfit was against reality. The Foreign Office made the remarks in a statement, a day after America designated The Resistance Front (TRF) (a proxy of LeT) as a "foreign terrorist organisation" and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist for its involvement in the Pahalgam attack.

"Pakistan has effectively and comprehensively dismantled concerned outfits, arrested and prosecuted the leadership, and deradicalised its cadres,” the Pakistan statement read. The statement further said that the investigation into the Pahalgam attack is "still inconclusive." Moreover, the statement added, "any linkage with LeT, a defunct organisation banned in Pakistan, belies ground realities".

Pakistan claimed that the country condemns terrorism in all forms and manifestations, has zero tolerance against terrorism, and it is the cornerstone of its policy to cooperate internationally against terrorism.

The TRF was the terror organisation that claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack in which 16 people were killed on Indian soil during an open fire by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam. Most of the people killed were tourists. The attack further soured the India-Pakistan ties as it followed the Operation Sindoor by India, under which nine terror sites were targeted in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Furthermore, India also temporarily suspended the Indus Waters Treaty agreement with Pakistan following the attack. Still, Pakistan kept dodging the blame for the terrorist attack and denied any link to it. This response resonated with all the other previous attacks on Indian soil by Pakistan.