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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Friday a probe into the April killing of 26 tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir remained inconclusive, hours after the United States designated a Lashkar-e-Taiba-affiliated group as a terrorist entity, and accused India of using such listings to spread an anti-Pakistan narrative internationally.

The group in question, The Resistance Front (TRF), also known as Kashmir Resistance, was blacklisted by Washington on Thursday as a “foreign terrorist organization” and “specially designated global terrorist” in connection with the April 22 attack in Pahalgam.

In a statement, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the group had claimed responsibility for the assault before withdrawing its statement, and described TRF as a “front and proxy” of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based outfit banned under US law.

Responding to the development, Pakistan’s foreign office said it had “zero tolerance” for militant entities, though any link between TRF and Lashkar-e-Taiba “belies ground realities,” noting the latter was a defunct group that had been banned in Pakistan.

“Investigations into the Pahalgam incident, that happened in the internationally recognized disputed region of IIOJK, are still inconclusive,” the statement read, using Pakistan’s official abbreviation for Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

“Pakistan has effectively and comprehensively dismantled concerned outfits, arrested and prosecuted the leadership, and deradicalized its cadres,” it continued.

The foreign office also said India had a track record of leveraging such terror listings to deflect global scrutiny from its human rights record in Kashmir and elsewhere.

“India has a track record of exploiting such designations to push anti-Pakistan propaganda with a view to divert international attention from its irresponsible and rogue behavior, including ongoing human rights atrocities, especially in IIOJK,” the statement said.

Pakistan cited its cooperation with international partners against extremist groups and the arrest of high-profile militants, including Sharifullah, the alleged mastermind of the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing in Kabul that killed 13 US service members and about 170 Afghan civilians.

In April, after India blamed Pakistan for the Pahalgam attack, Islamabad called for a neutral and impartial investigation.

The attack triggered days of cross-border hostilities, with India targeting what it described as “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan on May 7. The escalation — involving missiles, drones and artillery — left dozens dead before a ceasefire was announced on May 10.

The foreign office said Pakistan urged the international community to adopt “objective and non-discriminatory policies” on counterterrorism and called for other groups, such as the Majeed Brigade of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), to be designated under US law.

Pakistan has repeatedly accused the BLA and other separatist groups operating in the volatile southwestern province of Balochistan of being Indian proxies, a claim New Delhi denies.

With input from Reuters

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s religious affairs minister, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, on Friday downplayed his earlier remarks about “40,000 missing pilgrims” in the Middle East, saying the number reflected outdated travel records, not mass disappearances, amid growing scrutiny of undocumented religious travelers in the region.

The clarification follows media reports, citing official data, that around 40,000 Pakistani pilgrims to Iran, Iraq and Syria had either gone missing or overstayed in the past decade, prompting the government to draft a new pilgrimage monitoring policy and raise the issue with host countries.

Each year, thousands of Pakistani Shia pilgrims travel to religious shrines in these countries, but host governments have repeatedly flagged the issue of undocumented or unreturned visitors.

Speaking to Arab News a day earlier, Mustafa Jamal Kazi, Director General of Immigration and Passports, said most of the disappearances occurred in Iraq due to the lure of employment in its booming construction sector, and that the exploitation of religious tourism for begging was among the most common motives for absconding.

He also confirmed the officially stated number of missing pilgrims, saying these people “never returned during the last almost one decade.”

“My reference to 40,000 pilgrims was never intended to give the impression that thousands of Pakistanis are missing abroad,” the religious affairs minister said in a statement. “The real issue is that older paper records have not yet been fully transferred to our central digital registry.”

He said the religious affairs ministry had launched a modern digital portal where pilgrims and group organizers are issued QR-coded e-cards, allowing families and the government to access real-time travel data.

“This step will eliminate room for misunderstanding or propaganda, and ensure timely sharing of pilgrim data with officials in Iran, Iraq, and Syria,” the minister said, calling the move a key measure toward secure and accountable pilgrimage.

Yousaf also appealed to tour operators and prospective pilgrims to register their information on the new system by August 31 to avoid being flagged as part of “incomplete lists.”

“Our goal is to make every Pakistani’s journey safe,” he said. “Let’s work together to show the world that our records are transparent and that Pakistan is using modern technology to ensure responsible oversight.”

As part of broader reforms, the government has also abolished the traditional “Salar system” — in which private group leaders managed logistics — and introduced a centralized framework under the new Ziyarat Management Policy, holding licensed organizers accountable for each pilgrim’s return.