The killing by security forces in Kashmir of three men – identified by Home Minister Amit Shah in Parliament as the terrorists who carried out the ghastly attack in Baisaran – was a breakthrough that security forces and intelligence agencies say they had been working on for over two months

Suleiman Shah alias Faisal Jatt, Hamza Afghani, and a man identified only as Jibran, were killed after a two month-long pursuit centered on a 40-km ridge in the forested mountains connecting Kashmir and Jammu, according to officials who did not wish to be identified.

For the Modi government, the killings served as a face-saver of sorts in the midst of a heated debate in Parliament on Operation Sindoor. The government seemed to have little else substantial to offer to the Opposition’s demand for accountability for the Baisaran attack, the lapses in security for tourists visiting the Valley, the balance sheet for the military action against Pakistan, and about the truth of US President Trump’s claims that he mediated a ceasefire between India and Pakistan. DMK MP Kanimozhi even reminded the House that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had apologised to the nation for failing to prevent the Mumbai 2008 terrorist attacks.

Security sources said it was sheer coincidence that weeks of gathering human and tech intelligence suddenly culminated in a positive result on July 28 – the first day of the debate. But they also acknowledged the poor optics, as it has led to many questions about the timing, undermining the value of the outcome.

The timeline matters. Records for May, June and July on South Asia Terrorism Portal are revealing about the heightened activity by security forces in these three months. The Army's Chinar Corps had scheduled a press conference to announce the killings of the three terrorists on the same day, but left it to the government to announce it in Parliament, which Shah did on July 29, the next day.

Shah went to town with the announcement in the Lok Sabha, praising the CRPF, Army's 4 Para, and the IB for what he said was a stellar job in tracking the men. He said the families of the victims had conveyed to the government that they wanted the perpetrators to be shot in the head, and he wanted them to know that is exactly how they had been shot.

Celebration vs clarity

But celebration is no substitute for clarity. While sections of the BJP’s core domestic political constituencies may be satisfied, the victorious announcement of the killing, and the implied suggestion that justice had been done, cannot be the end of the investigation. After all, it was the government that said in the first instance that the terrorists were from Pakistan, and that the Pakistan state was complicit in this terror plot. So it is now up to investigators to connect the dots, and provide a more complete picture of “The Resistance Front”, the group that initially claimed the attack, and its links, as alleged, to the Lashkar-e-Toiba. Who were these men, and how were they identified as Pakistani? Who were they in contact with in Pakistan? 

Claiming there was irrefutable proof of their Pakistani identity, Shah said “voter ID cards” had been found on the three men who had been killed. Pakistan does not have a system of voter identity cards, only a system of national identity cards. Why would the men be carrying their own IDs? He also mentioned wrappers of chocolates with Pakistani names that gave away the men's identity. This is much like Pakistan claiming in the early days after the 2008 Mumbai attack that the gunmen at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus were Hindus and Indians since they were wearing a red thread on their wrists.

Only an investigation can resolve the unanswered questions. How did the men cross the LoC and what were their local networks? They are said to have infiltrated into India either in 2022 or 2023. How were they able to survive detection both before and for weeks after the Baisaran attack? Moreover, what about the 40 or more terrorists who are said to have infiltrated the LoC and presumably still remain at large in Jammu and Kashmir Loose ends and questions remain, and the government cannot hope to duck these just by shouting down the questioners. Even if the government talks around the Opposition's questions by characterising them as “anti-national” or “Pakistan's talking points”, they will not go away, especially for India's diplomatic efforts to convince the world that the Pakistani state was behind Baisaran.

India has a poor reputation when it comes to the investigation and prosecution of terror cases. As two recent acquittals show, either investigators work overtime to foist false cases on and prosecute the wrong persons, or they are found wanting in building up a strong case against the accused. The July 7, 2006 Mumbai train bombings were arguably the biggest terrorist attack in the country. As many as 187 people were killed and over 800 people were injured. After 17 years, the Bombay High Court's acquittal on July 21, of all the 12 men accused in the case, overturning their conviction by the trial court, has exposed a faulty investigation conducted under political pressure, in which the men were wrongly accused and cases fabricated against them, while the real perpetrators made good their escape. 

On the other hand, all accused in the Malegaon blasts case, including former Bhopal MP Sadhvi Pragya, were acquitted by the trial court on July 31. In this case, the judge remarked there was “strong suspicion” against the accused, but the prosecution had failed to produce any solid evidence against them. The remark by the Home Minister in parliament a day before the acquittal that “there are no Hindu terrorists” and Pragya's own jubilant statement after the acquittal that “saffron has won”, only adds to the skepticism about the investigation. 

Contrast with 26/11

The reason why India was successful in drawing the link between the Pakistan-based LeT and the 10 terrorists who unleashed three days of violence in Mumbai in November 2008 was because the Mumbai police caught one of those gunmen alive. The case was prosecuted in India, and Ajmal Kasab was judicially executed after his conviction. Pakistan was shamed enough to make some arrests on its soil, and conduct a trial, though, predictably, the matter petered out amid recriminatory India-Pakistan exchanges over evidence.

Five years after it was “integrated” into India by means of constitutional changes that stripped it off its special status and downgraded it into a union territory, Jammu and Kashmir remains a different territory. As the Baisaran incident showed, terrorism did not evaporate with Article 370, as the government claimed. Since 2022, it’s the security forces that were being targeted in ambushes and attacks in the Rajouri Poonch area, losing many men without even knowing where the bullet came from. Security officials say this was the first time when the militants were spotted and killed, before they drew their guns and hit a soldier or two. 

All the same, the failure to capture the men alive does not bode well for the NIA investigation, which seems destined to go the way of the Pulwama suicide bombing case. The case, which the NIA brought to the chargesheet stage, is at a dead end. The main accused, Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar and his brother Rauf Asghar, and their cousin Ammar Alvi, are based in Pakistan. Eventually, 15 of the 19 persons named in the case were all declared killed in various encounters in J&K. Pakistan has not responded to India's letters rogatory. Many questions about the Pulwama attack remain unanswered, as it seems they will about the Baisaran attack. 

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