Indian statement on Kashmir attackers 'replete with fabrications', says Pakistan

The Indian home minister's account of forces killing who he said were three Pakistanis involved in the April attack on Hindu tourists in the Indian-administered Kashmir was "replete with fabrications", Pakistan's foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah told parliament on Tuesday that the three militants killed in a gun battle in a Kashmir forest this week were the perpetrators of the April 22 attack and that New Delhi had found evidence to back it.

Pakistan has denied involvement in the attack in which 26 men were shot dead - the worst assault on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai attacks - and sought an independent investigation.

"The account given by the Indian home minister is replete with fabrications, leading to serious questions about its credibility," Pakistan's foreign ministry said.

Pakistan questions credibility

Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan dismissed the Indian narrative as politically motivated, suggesting the militants' deaths were timed to coincide with parliamentary debate for domestic consumption.

"Is it a mere coincidence that the alleged perpetrators of the Pahalgam Attack were killed at the start of the Lok Sabha debate?" Pakistan's foreign ministry statement asked, challenging the credibility of Shah's forensic evidence claims.

Pakistan accused India of acting as "judge, jury, and executioner" while rejecting Islamabad's earlier offer for an independent international investigation into the April attack.

Military escalation dispute

The attackers, who India said were Pakistani nationals backed by Islamabad, had opened fire in a valley popular with tourists in Kashmir's scenic, mountainous region of Pahalgam, before fleeing into the surrounding pine forests.

It led New Delhi to target what it called "terrorist infrastructure" in Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, leading to four days of intense fighting in May between the nuclear-armed neighbors before they agreed to a ceasefire.

"India attacked Pakistan without any verifiable evidence or credible investigation into the Pahalgam incident," Khan said Thursday. "The airstrikes conducted on the nights of May 6 and 7, 2025, resulted in the martyrdom of innocent men, women, and children—not the destruction of any terrorist infrastructure."

"Pakistan deterred India through conventional capabilities, with restraint and responsibility guiding our actions," the statement noted, rejecting Indian accusations of "nuclear blackmail" as deflection from New Delhi's escalatory behavior.

The Foreign Office reiterated that any normalization of relations must be based on respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, and UN Charter principles, rejecting India's push for a "new normal" in bilateral ties.

*With input from Reuters