New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency on Monday “named Hafiz Saeed, founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, as an accused in the Pahalgam terror attack case. The supplementary chargesheet was filed before the NIA Special Court in Jammu, more than a year after the attack killed twenty-six people in the valley, NIA said.”
The NIA has charged Saeed in two capacities, as an individual and as chief of both Lashkar-e-Taiba and its proxy group The Resistance Front. He has been charged under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The agency has also charged him with waging war against India and hatching a conspiracy from across the border.
This chargesheet is filed in continuation of the original 1,597-page chargesheet the NIA had already submitted in the case. It contains details of Pakistan’s conspiracy, Saeed’s role, and evidence collected through scientific investigation and on-ground examination, the Agency said.
Background of the Case
The attack took place on April 22, 2025, at Baisaran meadow near Pahalgam. Twenty-five tourists and one local resident were killed when gunmen opened fire. The case was first registered as an FIR by the local police station in Pahalgam before it was handed over to the NIA by the Union Home Ministry.
The NIA filed its first chargesheet in the case on December 15 last year. In that chargesheet, the agency named Pakistani handler Sajid Jatt as an accused, along with three terrorists killed by security forces during Operation Mahadev in July 2025, and two other arrested accused. The banned LeT and TRF were also named as legal entities for their role in planning and carrying out the attack. Three Pakistani nationals were identified as the actual attackers. All three were killed later in a security operation.
Who Is Hafiz Saeed
Saeed founded Lashkar-e-Taiba in the late 1980s. He is designated a global terrorist by the United Nations, largely for his alleged role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. He has lived in Pakistan for years despite India’s extradition requests, which Pakistan has not acted on. This is the first time he has been directly named as an accused in the Pahalgam case, not just as head of a banned organisation.
What Comes Next
The NIA says its investigation is not over. The agency is examining digital evidence, financial transactions and communication records to trace the full network behind the attack, and more chargesheets could follow if new accused are identified.
The case will now proceed before the NIA Special Court in Jammu. Saeed remains in Pakistan, outside the reach of Indian authorities, so the legal process against him will move ahead without his presence in court.
The Larger Picture
The chargesheet comes at a time when India-Pakistan relations remain tense over several issues linked to the attack. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 last year, days after the Pahalgam killings, as a military response against terror infrastructure. The two countries also remain locked in a dispute over the Indus Waters Treaty, which India suspended in the aftermath of the attack.
Families of the victims marked one year since the attack only weeks before this chargesheet was filed. For them, the naming of Saeed is being seen as a sign that the investigation is still active and has not slowed down.
The chargesheet gives India a formal legal document naming Saeed directly, something it did not have before. Whether this adds any real pressure on Pakistan to act against him remains uncertain, since India’s past extradition requests for Saeed have not been acted upon.
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