India’s former home minister P. Chidambaram has ignited a political storm by questioning New Delhi’s assumption that gunmen behind April 22 massacre of tourists in Kashmir came from Pakistan—remarks that drew immediate rebuke from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Pahalgam
In an interview published ahead of a special parliamentary debate on New Delhi’s military operation against Pakistan, Chidambaram said authorities had not presented evidence establishing the attackers’ origins.
He suggested investigators should not rule out the possibility of “homegrown” perpetrators. “Why do you assume that they came from Pakistan?” he asked, pressing the government to disclose what the National Investigation Agency has established so far.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP Government has been facing criticism since its Operation Sindoor against alleged Pakistan-based militants as India suffered a loss of several fighter jets including high-tech French Rafales during May 7-10 conflict.
The political row in New Delhi unfolded as the Indian Army announced that three suspects were killed during “Operation Mahadev” in the Lidwas–Dachigam forests on the edge of Srinagar. Several Indian outlets, citing security officials, identified one of the dead as a Lashkar-e-Taiba commander alleged to have masterminded the April attack.
Why India is facing much broader fallout of conflict with Pakistan
However, independent confirmation of those identities and links was not immediately available. International outlets reported the encounter and noted the lack of official confirmation tying the slain men to the Pahalgam killings.
The April 22, 2025, assault in the Baisaran meadow above Pahalgam was the deadliest attack on civilians in India since 2008, leaving 26 people dead—most of them Hindu tourists—and injuring many more.
The incident shocked the country, battered Kashmir’s crucial tourism sector, and triggered days of escalatory military conflict between India and Pakistan in May before a ceasefire took hold. New Delhi and Islamabad have since offered divergent explanations for how the hostilities ended and who was responsible for the massacre.
On Monday, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh opened a rare, day-long debate in the Lok Sabha on “Operation Sindoor,” the codename India used for its post-attack response, describing the strikes as a calibrated campaign to degrade militant infrastructure while avoiding civilian casualties.
He dismissed suggestions that outside pressure forced India to halt the fighting, insisting instead that New Delhi paused after meeting its objectives. The Ministry of Defense echoed that framing in an official statement, as opposition leaders pressed for fuller disclosure of operational details and losses.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who announced the ceasefire between two South Asian neighbors on May 10, has said his administration’s diplomatic intervention averted what could have gone a nuclear conflagration.
Chidambaram’s remarks go to the heart of the competing narratives that have hardened since April. BJP figures seized on his interview to charge that the Congress party habitually undermines national security by questioning Pakistan’s role.
Congress leaders counter that demanding transparency about the investigation—and about India’s military decisions—strengthens accountability without diminishing support for security forces. The New Indian Express, Times of India, and other Indian outlets chronicled the rapid exchange of barbs; later in the day, Chidambaram said “trolls” had stripped his interview of context.
While Indian media attributed Monday’s firefight casualties to figures allegedly tied to Lashkar-e-Taiba and the April attack, officials had yet to release a comprehensive, public account connecting the deaths to the Pahalgam case as of Monday evening in South Asia. We noted the absence of immediate, on-record confirmation. The Kashmir region, where militants have fought Indian rule for decades, has seen periodic spikes in violence since New Delhi revoked the area’s limited autonomy in 2019.
Follow for more: Twitter (X) | Facebook | Instagram | LinkeIn
Kiran Asim is a writer who covers the U.S., Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East. Her reports and analyses look at the geostrategic issues and contemporary developments and their economic and political implications. She also writes about society and education.
