Political firestorm erupts as Chidambaram questions Pakistan link in Pahalgam terror attack

As the parliament is all set to discuss the Operation Sindoor—the military campaign India had launched against the terrorist hubs in Pakistan—on Monday, a fresh political storm has erupted over senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram's reported remark questioning the alleged Pakistani links to the attack.

Chidambaram, a former Union home minister, said in an interview to an online portal that there was no evidence to buttress the government's claim that the attackers had come from Pakistan.

"They are unwilling to disclose what the NIA has done all these weeks. Have they identified the terrorists, where they came from? For all we know, they could be homegrown terrorists. Why do you assume that they came from Pakistan? There's no evidence of that," he told The Quint.

Twenty-six people, mostly tourists, were killed as terrorists sprayed bullets on them after verifying their religious identity at Pahalgam on April 22. The attack led to an intense diplomatic and military confrontation between India and Pakistan, with New Delhi alleging crosss-border links to the attack.

Chidambaram, however, noted that the government still couldn't identify and arrest the attackers.

"Where are the terrorist attackers? Why have you not apprehended them, or even identified them? A news item had emerged about the arrest of a few people who gave the attackers shelter. What happened to them?,” he asked.

The BJP lashed out at the former minister’s remarks and accused him of defending Pakistan. “Once again, the Congress rushes to give a clean chit to Pakistan – this time after the Pahalgam terror attack,” said BJP leader Amit Malviya in a post on X.

"Why is it that every time our forces confront Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, Congress leaders sound more like Islamabad’s defence lawyers than India’s opposition?,” he added.

Union minister Shobha Karandlaje said Pakistan has a long and bloody history of infiltrating terrorists into India, but the Congress continues to downplay such heinous acts time and again.

“There seems to be something deeply flawed in Congress' DNA , always raising doubts on Bharat, always going soft on those who attack our people,” she said.

Hitting out at Chidambaram’s statement, BJP MP Darshan Singh Choudhary said the Congress leader should think before making such statements. 

"The entire world knows where they came from," he said. Why do we need proof when Pakistan is providing the proof to the world".

The Congress has not officially responded to Cidambaram’s remarks, but party leaders accused the BJP of trying to divert the real issue.

"We all know that the BJP always wants to divert from the real issue, and the real issues is of the Pahalgam terror attack and the failure of the government to continue with Operation Sindoor, the surrender of Mr Modi to Trump's Social Truth,” said Congress MP Manickam Tagore.

“We are very clear that this is a diversionary tactic by the BJP, and we will not fall into their trap. Congress has been clearly saying that Pakistan must stop the export of terrorism to India. Congress stands with the Forces in the fight against terrorist groups,” he added.

Another Congress MP Imraan Masood defended Chidambaram’s statement and asked how our borders were secured if the terrorists had come from Pakistan.

“They came, committed the act and left. We will ask if they were airlifted and airdropped, where they came from, and where they went. We have the right to know,” he said.

Similar views were shared by his fellow MP Pramod Tiwari who alleged that the “dangerous game” being played in Jammu and Kashmir is not beneficial for the nation.

“We want to know who those terrorists are, where they came from, and why they have not been caught till now,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Congress and other opposition parties are looking to corner the government in parliament on its silence over India’s reported losses in the military confrontation and on US President Donald Trump’s claims that he had brokered a ceasefire between New Delhi and Islamabad.

India