On its earlier claim, the statement said that “shortly after the attack in Pahalgam, a brief and unauthorised message was posted from one of our digital platforms”.
The LeT offshoot now claims that after an “internal audit”, they have reasons to believe that it was the result of a “coordinated cyber intrusion,” which they blamed on Indian agencies. This is the first time that the TRF has withdrawn its claim over a terror attack.
Incidentally, their denial came just hours after Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif denied Pakistan’s involvement in the attack, suggesting instead that the incident was orchestrated by India to stoke regional tensions. His argument was that there is nothing called the TRF and that the LeT was extinct.
“…The group they name doesn’t even exist here. Lashkar-e-Taiba is extinct. If the parent doesn’t exist, how can the offshoot take birth here?” he told Yalda Hakim of in an interview Thursday.
Sources in the Indian security agencies laughed off the fresh claims by TRF and said it clearly shows Pakistan is under pressure, not just from the international community but also because of the strong condemnation of the Pahalgam attack by Kashmiris themselves.
They said the TRF is also clearly under pressure from the ISI and they are now trying to distance themselves.
They added that this also means that the body camera footage shot by the terrorists will not be revealed and Pakistan will continue to blame this on India and local insurgents.
ThePrint was the first to report that a group of terrorists, including two locals and two Pakistani terrorists, wearing body cameras, had killed 25 tourist and one local Kashmiri.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
