'Inshallah, we will shower bullets': Lashkar commander Abu Musa called for bloodshed in Kashmir 5 days before Pahalgam attack

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Abu Musa called for bloodshed in Kashmir days before the Pahalgam attack.

Top Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Abu Musa had called for bloodshed in Kashmir just days ahead of the ghastly attack on tourists near Pahalgam in Kashmir.

In a rally held in Rawalkot's Khai Gala in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on April 18 in the memory of two terrorists neutralized by Indian security forces, Musa called for attacks in Kashmir in retaliation to India's decisions on abrogating Article 370 and Article 35A in Kashmir.

"India removed Article 370 and 35A to change the demography. You deployed your 10 lakh army. You wanted to echo 'Ram Ram' in Pulwama, Poonch, Rajouri. Lashkar-e-Taiba accepts your challenge," Musa is heard saying in a video of the rally shared online.

Musa further talked about avenging the death of "martyrs" and called for bloodshed in Kashmir.

"Modi, inside your closed courtrooms, you passed your orders. But the battlefield belongs to the mujahideen. Try it, Inshallah, we will shower bullets, slit your necks, and honour the sacrifices of our martyrs," he said.

The remarks assume significance in view of the timing, coming just 5 days ahead of the terror attack in Pahalgam that has left 26 confirmed dead so far. The attack, the deadliest in the valley since the Pulwama attack in February 2019.

The April 18 rally, attended by several terrorist leaders in Pakistan, was held to pay "tribute" to the two militants - Akif Haleem and Abdul Wahab - who were killed by Indian forces under the long-running Operation All-Out.

Haleem was killed in Kupwara on March 17 by the 21st battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles. Wahab, affiliated with LeT and its shadow outfit PAFF (People's Anti-Fascist Front), was neutralised in an encounter in Sopore on April 24, 2024. Both belonged to the same family in PoK.

The attack in Pahalgam also comes close on the heels of Pakistan Army chief Gen Asim Munir describing Kashmir as the Islamabad's "jugular vein".

"Our stance is absolutely clear, it was our jugular vein, it will be our jugular vein, we will not forget it. We will not leave our Kashmiri brothers in their heroic struggle," he had said while addressing the Overseas Pakistanis Convention in Islamabad on April 16.