In a major revelation made in the Pahalgam terror attack, the security agencies have identified one of the terrorists involved in the attack as Hashim Musa, a Pakistani national and former para commando in the Pakistan Army. Hashim Musa has been working with the Pakistani Islamic terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba and was sent to Jammu and Kashmir to carry out terrorist attacks.
“It is possible that he was loaned by Pakistan special forces, like Special Service Group (SSG), to LeT,” an officer of the security establishment told TOI.
According to the authorities, Hashim Musa’s army background was confirmed during the questioning of 15 Kashmiri overground workers (OGWs). It is notable that these OGWs are being seen as key suspects in the Pahalgam attack probe for facilitating the Pakistani jihadis. They are accused of arranging logistics and helping in reconnaissance, hinting at the role of Pakistan’s ISI.
Other than the Pahalgam attack, Hashim Musa was also involved in the October 2024 terror attacks at Gagangir, Ganderbal, in which six non-locals and a doctor were killed, and at Buta Pathri, Baramulla, which left two army personnel & two army porters dead. In the Gagangir and Buta Pathri attacks, two local terrorists trained in Pakistan, Junaid Ahmad Bhat and Arbaaz Mir, were involved. The two jihadis, however, were killed in separate encounters by security forces in November and December 2024.
