NIA court issues arrest warrant against Pakistan-based LeT ‘commander’ Saifullah for his role in attacks in J&K

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A special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Jammu has issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Saifullah, linked to several major attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, including the 2025 Pahalgam attack.

“Keeping in view the fact that the accused person is at large and the investigating agency has not been able to procure his attendance in the ordinary manner. As such a general warrant of arrest (non-bailable) is issued against Saifullah,” reads the order.

The NIA has mentioned the name of Saifullah, a resident of Changa Manga village in Pakistan’s Kasur, in the case as one “operating from Pakistan and providing weapons, funds and directions to terrorists in the Kashmir Valley”.

According to the NIA, it busted a deep-rooted LeT module earlier in the year headed by Pakistani terrorist Abdullah alias Abu Hureira, who was arrested with another Pakistani accomplice, Usman alias Khubaib, and three local operatives. The agency said that the J&K Police had intercepted an LeT operative in Pandach area of Srinagar in March and this led “to the successful arrest of the entire group, particularly Abdullah, who had been on the run for 16 years, and successfully established bases outside the Union Territory”.

The NIA said Telegram IDs linked to Saifullah were recovered from one of the arrested Pakistani terrorists and revealed that he had provided directions for attacks on security forces, civilians and government establishments.

The NIA said Saifullah was also known in the terror ranks by the aliases of Sajid Jatt, Ali Bhai, Habibullah Malik, Langda, Noomi, Numan, Usman Habib and Shani. “He is a key figure in the terror outfit’s operations and has remained active for over two decades,” the NIA said.

Saifullah also acted as a terrorist commander of LeT between 2005 and 2007 in Kulgam district and later exfiltrated to Pakistan, the NIA said.

The court has forwarded the arrest warrant to the Senior Superintendent of Police, Kulgam, “as the last known address of the accused is Yamrach village (in the district in south Kashmir) for execution of the warrant”.

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