Pakistan Responds to Pahalgam Terror Attack, Denies Involvement and Condemns Violence:

Pakistan government has provided an official statement on Wednesday regarding the terror attack that happened in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which took the lives of 26 people, most of whom were tourists. The attack was also condemned on a Pakistan government level as both the Foreign Ministry and Defence Ministry showed their concerns related to this incident while at the same time denying their involvement.

Statement from the Foreign Relations office

Shafqat Khan, spokesperson of Pakistan Foreign Ministry relayed the statement concerning sympathy with the destabilization of the region.

“The escalation in violence and the death of tourists in suicide attacks in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir is a matter of great concern to us. We would like to express sympathy to all the family members of the dead and wish the injured a safe return to health,” was Khan’s response.

Claims from Defense Minister Khawaja Asif

As so the minister of defense for Pakistan stated border policies of the country, Asif did explain that Pakistan has nothing to do with the incidents in Pahalgam after which they claim them to be a terrorist attack. He stressed his point that regardless of circumstance, Pakistan does in fact condemn terrorism in all its forms.

“Home grown this is, when the government is exploiting so many,’’ said Asif when referring to the so called domestic issues of India’s states such as: Northeastern Nagaland, asserting many Manipur, Chhattisgarh Kashmir and the quote unquote unexplained violence as inter-Indian issues, he says is the lure of outside interference,” claims Asif.

He reiterated the fact that civilians should never be the target of violence, explaining, “We do not support terrorism in any form, and there is no ambiguity in that.”

TRF Claims Responsibility

An attack was claimed by an entity known as The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Indian intelligence now connects TRF's activities more closely to LeT, suggesting that the group was formed to shed the association with religion because of preceding assumptions tied to Lashkar’s original identity.

India’s High-Level Emergency Response

With regard to the assault, Indian Premier Narendra Modi interrupted his official visit to Saudi Arabia and returned to New Delhi on Wednesday. He conducted an emergency meeting with major stakeholders like National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, External Affair Minister S. Jaishankar, and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.

The meeting discussed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir with the goal of furthering the investigation and outlining the response to the terror incident.