New Delhi: In a significant development in the Pahalgam terror attack investigation, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has formally flagged the need to examine possible operational, financial, and ideological links between Pakistan-backed terror groups and the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas.
For the first time in an active domestic terror probe, India's premier anti-terror agency has officially named Hamas, stating in its chargesheet that further investigation is required to establish whether the accused organisations—Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and its proxy outfit, The Resistance Front (TRF)—maintain connections with the Gaza-based group, as well as with Al-Qaeda and its global affiliates.
The disclosure follows intelligence assessments drawing structural and tactical parallels between the methods used by Hamas in West Asia and the execution of the April 2025 ambush in South Kashmir’s Baisaran Valley, which claimed the lives of twenty-six people, primarily tourists. Investigators revealed that the Pahalgam attackers deployed a pattern highly reminiscent of Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades, which involved separating victims by religion, recording the killings in real time using body-mounted action cameras, and executing casualties at close range. Intelligence agencies had previously flagged the presence of several Hamas leaders in Pakistan, where they were reportedly observed interacting with commanders of LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) at public rallies and closed-door meetings to discuss broader operational matters.
According to Indian security officials, the strategy to integrate internationally active extremist groups is being driven by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in a bid to scale up the intensity of proxy warfare against India. Officials note that unlike Pakistan-backed outfits that have traditionally relied on sporadic or localized attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, Hamas possesses highly advanced tactical proficiency and combat experience gained through sustained, continuous warfare. Security experts warn that if the ISI succeeds in facilitating a transfer of West Asian combat strategies, battlefield tactics, and propaganda methods to regional proxies, Indian security forces will confront a far more complex and dangerous form of multi-domain warfare.
The shift toward global networks is also being viewed as a desperate tactical pivot by Islamabad following the severe degradation of domestic terror networks during Operation Sindoor, the targeted Indian tri-services campaign launched in May 2025 that destroyed major cross-border camps and neutralised over a hundred terrorists. Security officials indicate that since those conventional proxies lost substantial infrastructure, the ISI has held multiple coordination meetings in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to push for international training support. By utilizing these battle-hardened global networks to sustain a continuous loop of deniable proxy warfare, Pakistan aims to keep Indian border forces constantly engaged while avoiding the severe international escalation risks associated with direct, state-to-state military conflict.
(Inputs from IANS)