Shocking link to Pahalgam attack: Hamas leaders made multiple visits to PoK in last one year

Security personnel stand guard a day after a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. (PTI)

Amid comparisons being drawn between the terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on Tuesday and by Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023, for their similarity, sources have revealed that the senior Hamas functionaries made several visits to Pakistan over the last one year, hinting at the involvement of the terror group in the attack on tourists in India.

A report in the Times Of India citing intelligence sources says that a Hamas team visited Jaish-e-Muhammad's headquarters in Bahawalpur recently. The team also paid a visit to a newly-inaugurated Pakistan Army facility which houses their combat simulation centre.

The area where the Hamas team visited houses the Bahawalpur Corps, a Pakistani military formation responsible for border defence and rapid deployment due to its proximity with Rajasthan.

Then in February, senior Hamas functionaries addressed a rally on 'Kashmir Solidarity Day' in Rawalakote, PoK,that had top Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad cadres in attendance. The rally was addressed by Hamas spokesperson Khalid Qaddoumi, a development Indian agencies saw as an attempt to link the jihadi campaign in Jammu and Mashmir to the Palestinian fight in Kashmir.

In January last year, the Hamas spokesperson was also invited to address the Pakistan Parliament. During Qaddoumi's visit there, one Pakistani lawmaker referred to the Indian Middle East Eurpean Corridor that India and Israel had planned and remarked: "That plan is now buried under the rubble of Gaza."

The visit by the Hamas leaders to Pakistan came in the wake of Ismail Haniyeh, the then chief of Hamas, seeking Pakistan's assistance in its fight against Israel. When Haniyeh was killed in Israeli strikes in Tehran in July last year, Pakistan declared a national day of mourning.

A source cited by TOI further said that Qaddoumi referred to Pakistan as an ‘elder brother’ in gratitude for Islamabad agreeing to host 15 Palestinian prisoners freed as part of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

So far, Indian security agencies have pointed to the direct involvement of 26/11 mastermind and Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed in carrying out the Pahalgam attack. The sources cited by TOI now confirm the meeting between Hamas operatives and the Lashkar chief.