Indian security agencies have uncovered a fresh strategy by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to obscure the origins of terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir: directing Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives to carry out strikes while attributing responsibility to the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP). The shift, according to intelligence officials, follows two back-to-back terror attacks in the Union Territory that have renewed concerns about a possible resurgence of militancy.

The New Attribution Strategy

Until recently, LeT's proxy outfit The Resistance Front (TRF) had been claiming responsibility for attacks in J&K. According to an Intelligence Bureau official, the ISI has now instructed affiliated groups to stop claiming strikes under the TRF banner. Instead, attacks carried out by Lashkar operatives will be attributed to the ISKP — a group with a comparatively limited documented ground presence in the region.

'The ISI has decided that while Lashkar would carry out the attacks, responsibility for every strike or terror activity would be attributed to the ISKP,' the official said.

This rebranding serves a dual purpose, according to officials: it gives the LeT and ISI operational deniability, and it complicates the task of Indian investigating agencies, which hold extensive data on Lashkar and TRF cadres but have far less intelligence on ISKP networks in J&K.

ISKP's Role: Publicity Over Ground Operations

Officials note that the ISKP has so far focused primarily on online radicalisation in Jammu and Kashmir rather than ground-level operations. The outfit reportedly prefers fostering a radicalised environment against India rather than direct kinetic activity.

Significantly, the ISI has reportedly been reluctant to give the ISKP a full operational mandate in J&K, fearing that doing so could alienate established groups — Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen — whose cooperation it still depends on. Nevertheless, officials say the ISKP stands to gain from the arrangement: being credited for attacks would amplify its online radicalisation campaign and elevate its perceived strength in the region.

The Balochistan Connection

The LeT-ISKP convergence in J&K mirrors a pattern already visible in Pakistan's western provinces. Facing severe losses at the hands of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Pakistani security forces reportedly turned to both the LeT and the Islamic State to bolster their position in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Officials say the two groups have since been conducting joint operations, making their coordination on a Kashmir strategy a natural extension of an already-established working relationship.

Notably, since the destruction of Lashkar's primary training facility in Muridke, near Lahore, the group has relocated a significant portion of its training infrastructure to areas close to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, where joint drills with ISKP operatives are reportedly ongoing.

Rebuilding Networks in J&K

Beyond the attribution strategy, intelligence officials say the ISI is pursuing a broader effort to rebuild its footprint in Jammu and Kashmir. This includes attempts to establish home-grown modules within the Union Territory and to recruit a fresh network of overground workers (OGWs) — individuals without existing police records — who can operate without immediate detection.

Indian security agencies, however, say they remain confident the recent attacks do not signal a sustained resurgence and have vowed to counter any revival of militancy. The unmasking of the ISI's latest attribution playbook, officials suggest, is itself a step toward neutralising it.