India arrests 200 Pakistan-backed terror operatives
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- Amit Shah announced on Monday that Indian security agencies arrested more than 200 'terror operatives' linked to Pakistan, calling it one of the largest such crackdowns in years and saying the network was the 'Shahzad Bhatti Network' backed by Pakistan's ISI.
- Shah said the operation thwarted planned 'subversive attacks' around India's 80th Independence Day on August 15, framing the timing as central to the plot's intent.
- The multi-state operation was carried out across 14 Indian states on August 12, three days before Independence Day, according to Shah.
- Agencies recovered pistols, live cartridges, grenades bearing Pakistan Ordnance Factory markings, and crude bombs during the raids, which Shah posted about on X.
- Pakistan's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment; Pakistan has historically denied Indian allegations that it backs militant groups blamed for attacks in India.
- The arrests come roughly a year after a four-day India-Pakistan military conflict triggered by India's attribution of the killing of 26 men at a tourist destination in Indian Kashmir to Pakistani attackers.
Why it matters: The arrests — framed by Shah as one of India's largest such crackdowns in years — explicitly name an ISI-backed network and recover weapons with Pakistani ordnance markings, hardening New Delhi's public case against Islamabad just over a year after the Kashmir-triggered four-day military conflict and ahead of Independence Day commemorations.
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