India files charges against Hafiz Saeed over Pahalgam attack

NEW DELHI: India’s National Investigation Agency has filed charges against Hafiz Saeed, accusing the Pakistan-based figure of orchestrating last year’s attack on tourists in Pahalgam in India-held Kashmir.

According to an NIA statement, Saeed has been charged with waging war against India and hatching a conspiracy from across the border. India had earlier blamed The Resistance Front for the incident, but now alleges the group operates as a proxy of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The Pahalgam attack triggered a sharp military escalation between Pakistan and India after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the assault without presenting evidence. India then unilaterally suspended the Indus Waters Treaty and carried out attacks on Pakistani territory, to which Pakistan’s armed forces responded.

Pakistan has consistently rejected any role in the attack and has repeatedly asked India to share evidence supporting its allegations. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had also offered an independent investigation into the incident, but India did not accept that proposal. Saeed, the chief of Jamaatud Dawa, had previously faced trial in Pakistan in terror financing cases and was also accused by India of planning the 2008 Mumbai attacks.