The attack was the deadliest terror attack on India's security personnel in Kashmir since 1989
Image used for representational purpose. Pic/iStock
Four years ago, on 14 February 2019, a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying more than 2500 Indian security personnel from Jammu to Srinagar on National Highway 44 was attacked by vehicle-borne suicide bomber in Pulwama district’s Lethapora. This left 40 Indian CRPF personnel being killed and many others injured.
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The attack – also known as 2019 Pulwama attack – was the deadliest terror attack on India's security personnel in Kashmir since 1989.
Jaish-e-Mohammed, a militant group with its roots in Pakistan, claimed that it was responsible for the attack in Pulwama. The militant group had also released a visual of the perpetrator – Adil Ahmad Dar, a 22-year-old from Kakapora – who joined the group a year ago.
According to reports, the last time Dar's family had seen him was in March 2018, when he went out for a bicycle ride and never came back. Despite Masood Azhar, the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed, being known to operate there, Pakistan denied any involvement in connection with the attack.
Following the incident, there was uproar and mourning the death of the security personnel in the attack. Security personnel who died in the incident were given state funerals in their home states. Ex-gratia compensation of Rs. 12 lakh ($15,000) per family of killed security personnel, as well as government jobs for the next of kin, were declared by the Punjab government. Pakistan's most-favorable-nation status was withdrawn by India. India had raised 200% customs duty on all Pakistani goods imported to India . The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) was urged by India to add Pakistan on the "blacklist". As a result, The Financial Action Task Force had put Pakistan “grey list” to comply with 27 conditions within a given time frame.
Following intelligence inputs, a joint force made up of the 55 Rashtriya Rifles, the CRPF, and the Special Operations Group of India engaged in an anti-terrorism encounter operation in the wee hours on February 18 while on the hunt for the perpetrators in Pulwama, killed two terrorists and two supporters.
After the attack, Kashmiri students in various regions of India witnessed backlash, including violence, harassment, and eviction from their houses. Many Indians responded by offering to take in Kashmiris who may have been ousted.
Also read: IN PHOTOS: India pays tribute to Pulwama martyrs
Twelve Mirage 2000 jets of IAF crossed the Line of Control on February 26 and dropped bombs on Balakot, Pakistan. India asserted that it attacked a Jaish-e-Mohammed training facility and killed several terrorists—between 300 and 350, according to reports. The IAF jets allegedly dropped their payloads before immediately reversing course over the Line of Control, prompting Pakistan to claim that they scrambled jets to intercept the Indian Air Force jets.
In retaliation for the Indian bombing the previous day, the Pakistan Air Force launched an airstrike into Jammu & Kashmir on February 27. India and Pakistan both agreed that Pakistan's airstrike had not damaged anything. However, an Indian MiG-21 was shot down over Pakistan and its pilot was captured during the subsequent fight between Indian and Pakistani jets. On March 1st, Pakistan released the pilot.
44 people, including Jaish-e-Muhammad members, were detained by Pakistan on March 5. Some of those detained were listed by India in a dossier it sent to Pakistan after the incident in Pulwama. Pakistan stated that those detained would be held for at least 14 days and would face legal action if India produced additional proof. Family members of JeM leader Masood Azhar, including his son Hamad Azhar and his brother Abdul Rauf, were detained.
The car used in the bombing was believed to be carrying more than 300 kilogrammes (660 lb) of explosives, including 80 kilogrammes (180 lb) of the high explosive RDX and ammonium nitrate, according to initial investigations. According to Lt Gen Hooda, the explosives may have been stolen from a construction site. Initially declaring that it was impossible for them to have crossed the border illegally, he subsequently added that he could not rule it out.
The National Investigation Agency was able to determine and authenticate the suicide bomber's identity because of the DNA matches between Adil Ahmad Dar's father and "meagre parts of the car" used in the attack. However, even after a year of investigations, the NIA was unable to locate the explosives' origin. 19 accused were named in the charge sheet that the NIA submitted in August 2020.
Seven of the accused had been killed by August 2021 by Indian security forces, while seven others had been arrested.
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