New Delhi: A retired Pakistan Army officer has claimed that Gen Shahab Aslam, director general of special operations of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was in direct contact with the terrorists who killed 26 innocent people in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22.
In an exclusive interview to ABP News, Major Adil Raja (Retd) of the Pakistan Army, disclosed that Aslam was not only issuing instructions, but was even overseeing the attack in real-time from Islamabad.
The retired officer, formerly of the ’18 Horse’ regiment of the Pakistan Army, also said that the order for the Pahalgam attack was issued by Asim Munir, now elevated to the rank of a Field Marshal, to ISI chief Asim Malik. Following this, Malik entrusted his most trusted officer, Aslam, with the responsibility to execute the operation.
Raja has claimed that he has evidence proving that Aslam was using two phone numbers — +92xxxxxx8714 and +92xxxxxxx997 — linked to his National Identity Card, to coordinate directly with the terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack.
Raja also said in his interview that the proof of Aslam’s involvement was provided to him by insiders currently working within the ISI. These sources confirmed that Aslam was speaking to the attackers from the ISI headquarters in Islamabad, directing the course of the operation over the phone.
This isn’t the first time Raja has revealed Pakistan’s military involvement in the Pahalgam attack. On May 5, he told ABP News that the attack was orchestrated at the behest of Munir.
Raja’s efforts to expose the nefarious activities of the Pakistani military and the ISI, have resulted in harassment to his family in the past. A few years ago, Raja released evidence showing financial corruption within the Pakistan Army and the ISI’s manipulation of regime changes, including the orchestration of former PM Imran Khan’s arrest. Following these revelations, Pakistan’s military responded by filing a sham counter-terrorism case against him in a UK court.
Subsequently, an ISI officer filed a defamation case against Raja in Britain in an attempt to suppress further disclosures. Over the past three years, Raja has consistently exposed the ISI’s undemocratic actions and its funding of terrorism with documented evidence. To silence him, ISI targeted his family, still residing in Pakistan.
Raja has claimed that his mother and sister have been placed under house arrest. They are not allowed to leave their residence or even speak to him on the phone. He further alleged that just a few months ago, male officers of the Pakistani military physically assaulted his mother and sister, pulling their hair and dragging them as a form of intimidation.