Pak terrorists met Hamas leaders in PoK 2 months before Pahalgam attack

Jayanta Kalita
TNNUpdated: Apr 26, 2025, 22:51 IST IST

Was Pahalgam inspired by Hamas’s raid into Israel in October 2023 that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza? We don’t know yet. But what we do know is that Pakistani terrorist groups are now collaborating with Hamas and that’s bad news for India

The terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam that claimed the lives of 26 civilians bore an uncanny resemblance to the October 2023 Hamas strike in Israel, according to the country’s ambassador to India Reuven Azar.
“There are similarities between the Pahalgam attack and what happened on October 7 [2023] in Israel. Innocent tourists were enjoying their vacation in Pahalgam, while in Israel, people were celebrating at a music festival,” he told news agency PTI.

A security source told TOI that some Hamas leaders also held an ‘Al-Aqsa million march’ in Karachi last year. “Qaddoumi referred to Pakistan as an ‘elder brother’ in gratitude to Islamabad for agreeing to host 15 Palestinian prisoners freed under a ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Hamas,” the source added.Why Pakistan's deep state is getting desperateA day before the gathering at Rawalakot, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army chief Asim Munir had reportedly visited Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK, which Islamabad calls Azad Kashmir.This marked a shift from the usual tradition of the Pakistani PM releasing a video message and the military chief making a routine statement on the occasion of ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’.Pakistan’s desperation is understandable given the Modi government’s repeated assertions that PoK is next on agenda after the withdrawal of Article 370 that gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.In May last year, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told news agency PTI that India will never give up its claim on PoK but it won't have to capture it by force because its people, on their own, would want to be part of India after seeing the development in Kashmir.He was referring to the normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir following the scrapping of Article 370, something which has been disrupted by the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. medium120641466More recently, the government’s PoK agenda was articulated by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar when he said that India was “waiting for the return of the stolen parts of Kashmir [by Pakistan]” for the issue of Kashmir to be fully resolved.Speaking at Chatham House in London, he said: “Look, in Kashmir, we have actually done a good job solving most of it. I think removing Article 370 was step number one. Then, restoring growth, economic activity, and social justice in Kashmir was step number two. Holding elections with a very high turnout was step number three.“I think the part we are waiting for is the return of the stolen part of Kashmir, which is under illegal Pakistani occupation. Once that is done, I assure you—Kashmir will be solved.”Israel banned LeT, will India outlaw Hamas?Israel continues to press India for designation of Hamas as a terrorist organisation. It was learnt to have discussed this issue with the Indian authorities in the aftermath of reports on Hamas leaders’ presence in PoK.New Delhi has not yet banned Hamas despite its unqualified support for Israel on terrorism and strong condemnation of the October 7 2023 terror attacks. Officially, India continues to maintain its ties with Palestine, reiterating its support for a two-state solution.In 2023, Israel outlawed Pakistan-based LeT, accused of carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Israel's then ambassador to India Naor Gilon had expressed hope that New Delhi too would declare Hamas a terrorist outfit, saying information about the group's activities had been shared with the Modi government.In response to a question on Hamas in Parliament, the external affairs ministry merely said that designation of an organisation as a terrorist outfit is covered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and is considered as per provisions of the Act by relevant government departments.With inputs from agencies","@type":"NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":"https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-plus/defence-security/pak-terrorists-met-hamas-leaders-in-pok-2-months-before-pahalgam-attack/articleshow/120641226.cms","inLanguage":"en","headline":"Pak terrorists met Hamas leaders in PoK 2 months before Pahalgam attack","keywords":"shehbaz sharif,s jaishankar,rajnath singh,kashmir,hizbul mujahideen,hamas,bahawalpur","url":"https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-plus/defence-security/pak-terrorists-met-hamas-leaders-in-pok-2-months-before-pahalgam-attack/articleshow/120641226.cms","datePublished":"2025-04-26T13:38:00+05:30","dateModified":"2025-04-26T22:51:00+05:30","description":"Defence & Security News: Was Pahalgam inspired by Hamas’s raid into Israel in October 2023 that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza? We don’t know yet. But what we do know is th","thumbnailUrl":"https://static.toiimg.com/thumb/msid-120642105,width-1280,height-720,imgsize-100368,resizemode-6,overlay-toi_sw,pt-32,y_pad-40/photo.jpg","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Jayanta Kalita","url":"https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toireporter/author-Jayanta-Kalita-479246147.cms"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Times Of India","url":"https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.toiimg.com/photo/msid-92877370/92877370.jpg","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.toiimg.com/thumb/resizemode-4,width-1280,height-720,msid-120642105/120642105.jpg","width":1280,"height":720},"isAccessibleForFree":false,"isPartOf":{"@type":["CreativeWork","Product"],"name":"Times of india","productID":"timesofindia.com:showcase"},"hasPart":{"@type":"WebPageElement","isAccessibleForFree":false,"cssSelector":".paywall"}}