NIA names Hafiz Saeed as accused in 2025 Kashmir attack

India’s National Investigation Agency has formally named Pakistan-based militant leader Hafiz Muhammad Saeed as a key accused in a deadly 2025 terrorist attack in Kashmir, a significant step in a case that killed 26 civilians. The agency filed a supplementary chargesheet before a special court in Jammu on Monday, July 6, 2026, alleging Saeed masterminded the cross-border conspiracy behind the assault.

The attack occurred on April 22, 2025, in the Baisaran meadow near the tourist town of Pahalgam in Anantnag district. Officials said 25 tourists and one local horse handler were killed when gunmen opened fire after asking victims to state their names, in what investigators described as religion-based targeted killings. The new chargesheet names Saeed both in his individual capacity and as the chief of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and its proxy outfit, The Resistance Front (TRF). He has been charged under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, accused of conspiring from Pakistan to wage war against India.

This filing supplements an original 1,597-page chargesheet submitted by the NIA on December 15, 2025. That document had...