India Adopts Misleading Narrative Amid Pahalgam Attack to Malign IIOJK’s Peaceful Struggle: APHC

Violence in conflict zones often conceals deeper political motives—such is the case with the recent attack on tourists in Pahalgam, which Kashmiri leaders claim is a staged attempt to tarnish their legitimate movement for freedom.

The All Parties Hurriyat Conference Azad Jammu and Kashmir (APHC-AJK) has strongly condemned the recent attack on tourists in Pahalgam, located in Indian illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). Leaders of the group have called the incident a deliberate move to discredit the peaceful freedom movement of Kashmiris.

Ghulam Muhammad Safi, the APHC-AJK convener, issued a statement alleging that Indian intelligence agencies were behind the attack. According to him, this act was orchestrated to shift the focus away from growing unrest caused by the controversial Waqf Amendment Act, which has sparked mass protests across the region.

Safi claimed that the Modi-led Indian government, rattled by these protests, is now resorting to diversion tactics to avoid international scrutiny. He pointed out a pattern: every time a senior U.S. official visits India, violent incidents mysteriously occur in IIOJK, seemingly designed to present the freedom struggle as a terrorist threat.

The convener stressed that such attacks are part of a larger campaign to link Kashmiri resistance with extremism. He recalled the 2000 Chhattisinghpura massacre, in which the Indian army was accused of killing innocent Sikh civilians, as another example of such tactics.

Safi asserted that the attack in Pahalgam aimed to communalize and criminalize the Kashmiri movement, portraying it falsely as an act of terrorism. He reiterated that Kashmiris remain committed to their peaceful demand for the right to self-determination.

Despite the violence, he emphasized that such incidents would not deter the people of IIOJK. He appealed to the international community to investigate the Pahalgam incident independently and to address ongoing human rights abuses in the region. He also expressed sympathy with the families of the victims.

Other APHC-AJK leaders, including Advocate Pervez Ahmed and Mushtaq Ahmed Butt, joined in condemning the attack. They reinforced the demand for an impartial probe into the matter.

Separately, Syed Faiz Naqsh Bandi and Shameem Shawl, senior APHC-AJK figures, urged global organizations such as the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to dispatch fact-finding teams to Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front also questioned how such violence could occur in a heavily secured tourist zone like Pahalgam. Meanwhile, in Brussels, Kashmir Council Europe Chairman Ali Raza Syed called the attack a gross violation of international law, particularly since it targeted innocent, unarmed civilians.