Pahalgam attack: Pakistan Defence Minister demands international probe, NYT reports

File picture of Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Pakistan believes an international investigation is needed into the killing of 26 men at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, and is willing to work with international investigators, the New York Times reported on Friday (April 25, 2025), quoting Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif.

Mr. Asif told the newspaper in an interview that Pakistan was “ready to cooperate” with “any investigation which is conducted by international inspectors.”

India holds that there were Pakistani elements to the attack on Tuesday (April 22, 2025), but Islamabad has denied any involvement.

Since the attack, both sides have unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with India putting the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines.

Mr. Asif told the newspaper that India had used the aftermath of the terrorist attack as a pretext to “suspend the water treaty and for domestic political purposes”. He accused India of taking steps to punish Pakistan “without any proof, without any investigation”.

‘Don’t want war to flare up’

“We do not want this war to flare up, because flaring up of this war can cause disaster for this region,” Mr. Asif told the newspaper.

The Resistance Front claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media message. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the TRF is a front of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. The MHA banned the outfit under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in 2023.

TRF not from Lashkar: Asif

But Mr. Asif disputed the allegation that the TRF is from LeT. He said in the interview that Lashkar-e-Taiba was “defunct” and had no ability to plan or conduct attacks from Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

“They don’t have any setup in Pakistan,” he said, according to the newspaper.

“Those people, whatever is left of them, they are contained. Some of them are under house arrest, some of them are in custody. They are not at all active,” the official said.