Amit Shah: All Pahalgam Attack Terrorists Shot in the Head During Operation Mahadev

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha that all three terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack were neutralised with headshots during Operation Mahadev, carried out on the outskirts of Srinagar.

“A month after the Pahalgam attack, we received intel on the presence of terrorists. The Intelligence Bureau and Military Intelligence confirmed their identities, and by July 22, we had tracked their wireless sets and pinpointed their exact location,” Shah said during a discussion in Parliament.

The Home Minister said he had received numerous messages from citizens urging that the terrorists be “shot in the head” once found. “It’s a coincidence that all three were shot in the head during the encounter,” he remarked.

Chidambaram’s Remarks Draw Sharp Response

Shah also responded to criticism from Congress leader and former Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who had recently questioned the justification for Operation Sindoor, asking whether there was concrete evidence that the Pahalgam attackers were Pakistani nationals.

“Two days ago, Mr. Chidambaram asked for my resignation and doubted the link to Pakistan. I want to ask him — were you trying to protect Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Taiba, or these terrorists? Are you not ashamed? Just look at what Mahadev did. On the same day he questioned us, all three terrorists were eliminated,” Shah said.

Earlier this week, Chidambaram had stirred controversy in an interview by suggesting that “homegrown terrorists” could have been behind the Pahalgam attack, prompting sharp political reactions.

Later, defending his remarks on social media, Chidambaram said his statements were misrepresented. “Trolls come in many forms. The worst kind cherry-picks sentences, mutes words, and paints a distorted picture,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter), asserting that his full interview was selectively edited to malign him.