New Delhi/Srinagar, Sep 24 — In a significant breakthrough, Jammu and Kashmir Police have arrested Mohammad Yousuf Katari, accused of providing logistical support to terrorists involved in the April 22 Pahalgam attack that claimed 26 lives.
Katari, a resident of Kulgam and a key operative of Lashkar-e-Taiba’s proxy outfit The Resistance Front (TRF), was picked up for questioning two days ago and later arrested. Officials said forensic analysis of weapons seized during July’s Operation Mahadev, in which three Pahalgam attackers were neutralised, linked Katari to the group. He allegedly assisted terrorists killed in Dachigam forest and helped them navigate through Kulgam months before the attack.
Police said Katari, who held a contractual job and occasionally taught local children, came in contact with terrorists recently and began facilitating their movements. He has been remanded to 14-day police custody.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), probing the wider conspiracy, had earlier arrested two Pahalgam residents—Parvaiz Ahmad Jothar and Bashir Ahmad Jothar—for sheltering the terrorists. Another suspect from Handwara was also interrogated for financing the plot. Investigators have been scrutinising 450 phone numbers tied to 80 ongoing terror cases.
The probe has uncovered a foreign funding trail linked to Malaysia, with money routed to TRF through intermediaries. One operative, Yasir Hayat, allegedly transferred ₹9 lakh to Shafat Wani under instructions from Pakistani handler Sajad Ahmed Mir. Funds were reportedly moved via Malaysian accounts to sustain TRF operations in Kashmir.
Agencies said TRF was floated by Pakistan’s ISI as a Lashkar proxy to create the illusion of a local Kashmiri resistance and provide Islamabad with plausible deniability.
The dossier being compiled will map TRF’s recruitment, radicalisation, and financing networks, enabling India to press for renewed global scrutiny of Pakistan, including possible re-entry into the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Grey List.
