Assam will take action against persons who defend the Pahalgam terror attack, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday.

The chief minister was commenting on a social media post by the Assam Police stating that it had arrested Dhing MLA Aminul Islam in a case related to the comments he made about the attack that the authorities alleged were “misleading and instigating”.

Islam was arrested after he alleged that the Pahalgam attack was a “conspiracy to incite hatred and violence against Muslims” by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government, reported North East Live.

The remarks by the All India United Democratic Front legislator, which were widely shared online, had the “potential to create an adverse situation”, the police alleged.

In a social media post, the Assam chief minister said that the state authorities “will take the strongest possible action against anyone who dares to defend – directly or indirectly – the horrific, Pakistan-sponsored terror attack in Pahalgam”.

“Let it be known clearly: those who attempt to justify, normalise or dilute the brutal murder of innocent civilians are not exercising freedom of expression – they are standing against the soul of India,” he added.

Twenty-six persons were killed and 17 others were injured in the terror attack on Tuesday. The attack took place in the Baisaran area of Anantnag district. Militants fired at tourists, most of whom were from outside the state.

The terrorists targeted tourists after asking their names to ascertain their religion, the police said. All but three of those of the dead were Hindu.

This was the first major terrorist attack targeting civilians in Kashmir since the Union government revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in 2019.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the punishment meted out by India for the attack in Pahalgam will be “bigger than what the terrorists imagine”.

Modi vowed that India would “identify, trace and punish every terrorist and their backers” involved in the attack and “pursue them to the ends of the Earth”.

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